The first post-pandemic jaunt to Bristol's boat was to see a band who've I've watched numerous times but will always return to. Having successfully navigated the diversion around a closed bridge (though leaving was a different story) I parked up in the dry dock pretty much next to the bus and went over to the pub next door to meet up with the guest MoM Tog for the evening (and band superfan) Mike Evans. After a bit of chat and a pint it was back to the boat before the doors to stake our place on the balcony, mainly for m'colleague to get a good vantage point.
As we watched the room fill out a little, shouting down to friends we spotted, it wasn't long after the door opened that the opening act Virtual Symmetry (8) came to the stage, crammed at the front of it, the instrumental members getting their prog metal sound off to a technical melodic beginning, guitars and keys in unison before the vocalist bounded on stage and the show began. I'd never seen the Swiss/Italian band before but they're a slick prog metal unit with a sound owing to Dream Theater, DGM and Circus Maximus, allowing the melodies to stand out, rather than relying on heaviness.
Virtuoso guitar/bass/drums/keys and vocals were all on show as frontman Marco Pastorino, a member of Even Flow/Temperance/Fallen Sanctuary/Wonders, engaged with crowd bringing them forward towards the stage so the atmosphere felt a bit different to that of a State Funeral enforced Bank Holiday Monday night. They did an admirable job ploughing through their set well keeping the tempo high to keep the crowd on side. Receiving a big applause when they finished, they looked genuinely appreciative of their reaction.
A strong start and a quick changeover, seriously the changes throughout the night were like lightning, meant that France's Fractal Universe (8) were up and running before many could get back from the bar. Upping the stage show with some smoke blasts, they play a heavier, more aggressive style of prog metal, with growled vocals, thrashier guitars and death metal influence. Still they had enough melody to win over those of the power metal persuasion, their live show is breakneck and pummels you with twin guitars, plenty of blasting and also a lot of sax from frontman Vince Wilquin who swapped between vocals/guitar and sax a few times throughout their set.
The varying pace changes and overall heaviness made for a different overall feel but with the number of people headbanging along to the death metal riffs it was evident that they had won over the now slightly bigger crowd, through both their music and stage presence, exuding excitement throughout, climaxing with Vince and his Sax playing in the crowd with guitarist Hugo Florimond joining him as they took a walk around the boat to finish off their show.
With the excitement building and two strong supports, it was time for Tom S Englund to lead his troops out on to the stage again as he has done throughout the ups and down of his bands existence. His tall figure took to the stage and the anticipation was palpable as Evergrey (9) are one of those bands that don't necessarily have the largest of followings (in the UK) but certainly have the most devoted. For me they are a archetypal example of the sort of metal Sweden produces brilliantly. Heavy, melodic, emotive and with enough progression to never sound too one dimensional and band that have in their repertoire songs such as Save Us, King Of Errors and Recreation Day, the former two book ending the set at the beginning and end, can be considered to be masters of their craft. Ever the affable frontman despite the dark often gothic nature of Evergrey's lyrics, Tom S Englund has one of the best voices in music, aided by keyboardist Rickard Zander for the choral parts.
Kicking off with Save Us as I said, it was a strong way to start off, they set about drawing most of the set from their three most recent albums A Heartless Portrait: The Orphean Testament getting four with the excellent Call Out The Dark and Midwinter Calls in the main set and Blindfolded opening the three song encore which included a costume change. Escape Of The Phoenix meanwhile brought the darker realms of Where August Mourn, In Absence Of The Sun and Eternal Nocturnal. Sprinkled in the set were Weightless and a personal favourite A Silent Arc but for me the older tracks such as A Touch Of Blessing and Recreation Day that really bulked this out to being one hell of a setlist.
Delivered slickly by Englund and his band of merry men, they all seemed at ease with each other on stage the trade offs between Englund, guitarist Henrik Danhage and bassist Johan Niemann (the one man wah pedal) were all seamless the three having a great time up the front as Rikard Zander adds the synths and orchestrations to give the massive Evergrey live sound, which even in Thekla (where bands can struggle) was clear as Jonas Ekdahl keeps the rhythms going behind the kit. The experience was on display and the crowd lapped up every single moment of it clapping and cheering along. Evergrey have the heaviness and melody of both of their support bands together.
An 8:30 start and a 10pm finish was much appreciated for those of us that have to travel but we got an hour and a half of sublime Swedish melodic prog metal on a Monday evening.
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