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Symphony X Concert Review
Early last year I went on a tremendous kick of ‘The Odyssey’. I listened to it exclusively, I listened to it everywhere I went, and I did so for a good two weeks. I became so attuned to it that I couldn’t drive down the street without counting the number of Honda Odysseys that I passed and then spontaneously breaking out into wild verse: “Held prisoner by the eye!” The soccer moms must have thought me quite mad.
Eventually I was able to put ‘The Odyssey’ aside and take up other things, both in life and music, but Symphony X have since then held a particularly place high in my personal pantheon. And so, 2007 has been a gift of a year with the band not only releasing the long-awaited follow-up but also touring the states as a headlining act. As soon as I heard they were stopping at The Pearl Room in Mokena, I knew that I had to attend, regardless of price, time, or opening acts. Some things you just don’t miss.
Along with two carloads of companions, I arrived at the venue with plenty of time to spare before the local openers took the stage at 6:00. I hadn’t planned to arrive that early, but it turned out to be lucky that we did, considering how much of an issue it was getting into the place. Fortunately, with the gracious help of Symphony X’s tour manager and Sanctity’s lanky drummer, I managed to get in, get my press passes, and still find a good spot towards the front before the top of the hour.
The first band to go on was Sacred Dawn, a local power metal group whose talents surpass their short catalogue. Although they have formed just in the past couple years, the members are all well-aged and fully competent with their instruments, which has been enough to land them the opening spots for many of the heavy/power metal tours that come through The Pearl Room.
They had not changed dramatically from when I had seen them last year, opening for Kamelot, but something still felt different. It may have just been the style of the new material, but they somehow seemed less aggressive, at least vocally, than they had the year before. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, since Lothar Keller has a strong, lower-pitched voice with a good vibrato that is well suited to that style, but he can also range up into some Halford-esque screams at times, which were always the audience’s favorite parts. He also plays lead guitar for the band and does so rather well, showing his diverse talents with techniques like tapping and sweeps, things that one doesn’t too often see from a Chicago suburban band. Although I hadn’t seen the band in close to a year, many of their songs were strong enough to resurface in my mind with only a little help.
After about half an hour, the band reminded us for the fourth time to check out their merch and new album, then ceded the stage to respectable applause. Although I can’t call them my favorite power metal band, they are clearly better and more original than a decent number of bands with bigger contracts.
Second to the stage was the Californian group Echoes of Eternity. I was most unfamiliar with them, and as they set up reproached myself for not looking into them more before the show. Their set up followed rather standard procedure and they began playing rather quickly, but they looked incomplete. They technically had a a full line up—drummer, two guitarists (one of whom had been checking a mic), and a bassist—but as their first song got under even the band themselves didn’t look as though they were ready to engage the audience. Soon enough, as I should have expected, the final member of the band dashed on stage to begin the verse, and I remembered why Echoes of Eternity had been so forgettable for me.
The band’s vocalist is named Francine Boucher, and although she doesn’t have a bad voice by any means, it is rare indeed that a female metal vocalist will have a style that appeals to me. Francine’s voice is pleasantly honest, not affecting to any operatics or a range that she can’t maintain, but I felt nearly no energy from it at all. To her credit, though, her stage presence did make up for that some, as I imagine her tremendous bustier did for some others in the audience.
Even so, Echoes of Eternity’s half-hour set was less than enthralling. Aside from Francine, the band took on an almost exclusively supporting role, both musically and in terms of presence, as it so frequently is with female-fronted groups, which made their one-trick pony character all the more obvious. They were thankfully more competent than some others in their field and may very well still mature into a successful group, but as of now I’m not terribly impressed.
By the time they wrapped up with gracious thanks, it was right around 7:20. Sanctity was to take the stage next and wasted no time in getting their gear out. After my brief encounter with Jeremy at the door I was more interested than I might have been to see how their set turned out, but I admit that I hadn’t invested much more time in them than I had in Echoes of Eternity. I did recall, though, that they sounded like Testament, which can be hit or miss, and that I was interested to see how well they carried this over to a live setting, particularly as such a young group.
The band managed to set everything up within their prescribed 20 minute layover, but there seemed to be a problem with a amplifier on the side of the stage. Once during the layover and another time soon into their set, it erupted with an absolutely deafening burst of solid white noise that would have cowed even the hardiest hardcore clubber or noise mechanic. After it was harnessed the first time the amp still wasn’t working properly, which delayed Sanctity’s set another 10 minutes or so, but eventually everything was worked out and they were ready to get under way.
I’m not sure whether they were making up for the extra delay or always open a show like they did that evening, but either way, my hat is off to them. It’s rare that an audience can be so quickly galvanized by an opening act, especially after a long layover, but from their very first notes, Sanctity had total command. Lead guitarist Zeff Childress hopped atop one of the amps at the front of the stage, laid down a lead in the classic thrash tradition to grab our attention, and from then on the band were on overdrive. Although Zeff remained the most eccentric and eye-catching member throughout, each of the four showed a great amount of energy and stage poise, especially for such a young band. Jeremy, whom I wouldn’t have pegged as the drummer, really knew how to carry the band’s energy with style stood up often to point at the crowd or accent a beat with a particularly hard hit. Derek Anderson, on the opposite side of the stage, was a little out of my view, but from what I could see he did a fine job keeping the crowd engaged. And in the middle was Jared MacEachern, the band’s vocalist and rhythm guitarist, whose gruff shouts and hell-raiser attitude capped off the band’s look and feel perfectly.
Although their recorded material is rather ballsy and anthemic in itself, the live show is really where it comes into its own. The band would goad on individual members of the crowd, laughing wildly, pointing them back to the almost constantly roiling pit. During such songs as ‘Beneath the Machine’, the band would push on even further, windmilling, headbanging, howling, and standing back-to-back in the time-honored metal traidtion for the guitar harmonies; essentially, combining all rock star elements into a single show and doing a fine job of it.
Sanctity do have some more singalong, rock ‘n’ roll moments that seem a little out of place in their throwback thrash attack, but even these could not derail the energy of their live show, which now ranks highly among top surprise openers I’ve seen. With just the right mixture of crude humor, raw energy, and down-to-earth affability, this young group have the ability to help keep real thrash metal on the table.
Because of the amp issue they were only able to play for half an hour, so at around 8:20 they reminded us to come meet them at the merch tables and took their bows. A friend later on said he wasn’t much impressed, but from where I was standing it looked like he must have been the only one, since Sanctity departed to a host of raised fists and cheers.
And then the long wait began. It’s always long, waiting for the headliners—or at least feels this way—but this time around it was long in earnest. For the next forty minutes we waited, maybe three of us in the audience nodding our heads to the new Clutch album that was playing, and everyone else complaining that it wasn’t Dream Theater any more, never mind the fact that we’d heard ‘Another Day’ in all its saccharine soprano sax glory at least five times already. Until Clutch came on, Dream Theater had been the only band playing during layovers, and I could see dozens of people around me singing along under their breath to each song. I suppose that sort of thing is to be expected at a prog show, but the Clutch worked just fine for me.
Good thing, too, because by the time the lights finally went down at 9:00, ‘Another Day’ would have had time enough to play through at least another 10 times in a row. All things considered, though, I decided it would have been worth it as the bombast of ‘Oculus ex Inferni’ washed over the crowd and the Paradise Lost backdrop was lit up. The stage was laid out with the drum kit and keyboards balancing the back of the stage, each in their own corner with an empty space in the middle. The effect was rather grand, since the each was beneath one of the armies on the backdrop—the hell-spawned legions of red above Jason and the cooler blue angels over Michael.
The arrival of the band itself was rather straightforward in contrast, with each member coming out in the darkness to their positions with perhaps a brief gesture to the crowd. Once the intro was through, though, and they picked up with the beginning to ‘Set the World on Fire’, the stage exploded with lights and we got the grand introduction we’d been waiting for.
From what I’ve heard of it so far, ‘Paradise Lost’ is easily the band’s heaviest album and they really made us feel it that night with one of the thickest guitar tone’s I’ve ever heard at The Pearl Room. Part of this, though, could simply have been Michael Romeo being magic, which some have half-jokingly suggested is the only way he can play what he does. I had planned to study him intently throughout their set and, perhaps foolishly, try to glean some of his tricks for future reference, but it was a hard thing to do with Russell Allen positioned right in front of me.
I’d read that he had a great stage presence and was uncommonly tall to boot, but both were understatements, and within a few short minutes, I became convinced of the two following things. First, Russell has one of the most consummate and complete stage presences I have seen; even before his voice enters the equation I’d consider him a first-rate front-man. The second thing—and this, I believe, is the source of all his power—is that he is James Brown in Blackbeard’s body. He’s easily 6’2”, 6’3”, with long black hair, a full beard, a husky figure and bulging arms, but he struts the stage with such attitude and belts out a voice that no doubt has the Godfather of Soul checking himself in his grave. Although Symphony X’s music is obviously an integral factor, I firmly believe that Russell Allen and his tremendous crossover appeal is one of the most significant figures in progressive music today.
Of equal talent and flair, although perhaps not so much in the visual sense, is Michael Romeo. Before seeing him I had the odd suspicion that he was aloof and humorless, perhaps because so many guitar heroes are, but I now see that I did him an injustice. Although he was rather focused on his guitar for most of the set instead of the crowd, his smiles and quiet banter with Russell showed him to be having as much fun as anyone. And besides, with the riffs and solos he lays down on record, who can blame him for being focused on stage?
Although none of the members were duds on stage, aside from Russell and Romeo, Symphony X on stage are more akin to the prog band standard where members allow their playing to do the speaking for them. And speak it did, with each of them turning in fantastic performances: Mike LePond’s dexterous fingers on bass and crucial vocal harmonies, Michael Pinnella’s dancing fingers on the synths, and Jason Rullo’s sure hands pacing it all from his high-rise kit.
After ‘Set the World on Fire’, the band played through the rest of ‘Paradise Lost’s first half with hardly a moment to breath in between, finally wrapping it up with the title track. Although I myself had only heard these all only once before, many in the crowd knew all the words already. This turned out to be a lucky thing, since Russell’s microphone wasn’t working properly for a while. Sometimes it was too low, at other times hardly functioning at all, and even when he went to his back-up mic there still was a problem, which left him using Romeo’s instead for a while. Despite the difficulties, the impact on the band’s set was minimal, speaking well to both his own quick thinking and the attentiveness of the running crew.
By the end of the ‘Paradise Lost’ section, everything was working well, and the remainder of the set came off without a hitch. There were surprisingly few from ‘The Odyssey’, only ‘Inferno’ that I can remember; I suppose the older songs were there to balance out the heavy sampling from ‘Paradise Lost’. Although essentially the entire set was a highlight, particular tracks that I remember include the likes of ‘Sea of Lies’ and ‘Of Sins and Shadows’.
A brief instrumental break about three quarters of the way through allowed Russell to step back for a couple minutes and regain his breath. Although he hadn’t missed anything to that point, it was becoming apparent that he was a little tired. After the way he stretched his range, imbued each line with wild vigor, and kept interacting with the crowd, anyone would be tired.
In his absence, I could focus on the rest of the band, and each one of them more than proved their salt. Romeo’s riffs are as solid as a metronome, whether they’re chugging on the offbeat or flying off on some crazy tapping escapade, and the rest of the band never missed a beat. Some have said that Symphony X are a Dream Theater clone, which is rubbish, but even if they were, the quality of their live show would validate their existence for me.
Russell returned shortly, sounding better than ever, and they powered through the rest of the hour-long set. When they left the stage, some in the crowd were already screaming for ‘The Odyssey’ while the rest cheered, clapped, or held up the horns with arms crossed into an X shape.
A few minutes later, Russell playfully poked his head out from the wings, retreated again, and soon emerged. Once he took the microphone, he had to wait almost a full minute for the cheers to subside, and he looked visibly impressed, even beyond the play-acting that the crowd so enjoyed.
The rest of the band emerged individually with Russell introducing them to us, each to great cheers. When Romeo’s turn came, though, there was no need to name him since nearly every fan in the audience was chanting his name. After the introductions, a few more antics followed, with Russell telling us we were probably the best stop on the tour so far and pretending to be surprised when we booed other cities that he’d said were contenders.
A couple minutes more of this and then it was time to address the encore. I had heard it was going to be ‘The Odyssey’ itself, all 25 minutes of it, but had not dared to expect it. Russell, though, asked if we wanted it, and after massive cheers acquiesced, acknowledging that, ‘The Odyssey’ is ‘The Odyssey’, and that it was indeed a pretty good song.
Good nothing. Great. Better still for the band having the fortitude and ambition to play it live. An epic in the studio is one thing, but an epic of that magnitude played live is truly exceptional.
From the symphonic overture to the soulful theme of Odysseus, the rage of Polyphemus, the suave seduction of Circe, the instrumental encounter with Scylla and Charybdis, and the final return of the triumphant champion of Ithaca, not a single piece was overlooked. And, just like the rest of their set, it flew by, and as soon as it was over I was wishing they would play it again. They are only human, though, however much we may thing otherwise at times, and after the final reprise of Odysseus’s theme Symphony X took their final bows together, thanked us for being so patient with them over the years, and promised to come back soon.
A friend said after the show that it was in his top five of all time, easily, and I can’t say that I disagree. Despite all the issues and annoyances throughout the night—from the problems at the door to the ill-placed mosh pit to the overzealous boyfriends in the front row pushing everyone away from their girls—through it all Symphony X will be remembered without a blemish. Although it is customary for bands to play the ‘we’ll come back soon’ card, in this instance in particular I hope that it is true. After all, in Russell’s pirate fantasy The Pearl Room is a port o’ call—“The Black Pearl, mateys!”—so it seems quite fitting indeed to expect Blackbeard in these waters again sometime soon.
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