Blind Guardian - S�o Paulo - 09/09/2011

Blind Guardian � 09/09/2011 � Via Funchal � Sao Paulo � Brazil

    More than four years after their last concert in Sao Paulo, the Bards came back to prove once again that they are a great band when it comes to play live.

The concert started with Sacred Worlds, the opening song from their last and pretty enjoyable album, At The Edge Of Time.

Despite the fact that Hansi Kush in short hair and thinner than ever is looking like an insurance salesman, he is singing better than he ever sang.

They followed it with a one-two punch of classics in the shape of  Welcome To Dying and Nightfall, making the crowd sing along with them every single word. Blind Guardian have a big and very dedicated following in Brazil, proved by the audience of about 6 thousand people and their interaction with the German band. Furthermore, the band always get to play in Sao Paulo on the best venue in the city, with great acoustics and an excellent view of the stage wherever you are.

Next song was Fly, from the predecessor and OK album, A Twist In The Myth. However the place went mad with the next song, Time Stands Still ( At The Iron Hill ). The group was clearly enjoying the fact of being back here.

No time to rest, cause the band already launched into Bright Eyes, one of their most well-known songs here, due to having heavy rotation of the video on the local MTV back in the days of Imaginations From The Other Side.

They went back to At The Edge Of Time with Traveler In Time and the best song from that album, Tanelorn ( Into The Void ).  

And then it was time for Hansi to feel the power of the audience. If he wanted, he wouldn�t need to sing Lord Of The Rings, the whole audience would sing for him. In sequence, the mighty Valhalla and Majesty.

Closing the first part of the show, the band executed the long and kind of annoying And Then There Was Silence. It kind of took the pace off the concert. Actually, to be quite honest, it was boring. An unnecessary overindulgence.

For the encore, Wheel Of Time, also from the new album and the moment that everybody was waiting: The Bard�s Song -In The Forest ( I guess even the people outside of the venue sang that along ) and the perennial classic, Mirror Mirror.

A very entertaining concert, but one thing puzzled everybody: NO Imaginations From The Other Side ? How come ? Nobody understood. Also, how about ditching 14 minutes of And Then There Was Silence to play Imaginations� and one more song like Born In A Mourning Hall or The Script For My Requiem ? It�s just a suggestion�

But, those were minor quibbles, the fans thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Metal Bards one more time.