17.10.2009 Epica

Metal Female Voices Fest VII

Oktoberhallen Wieze (Belgium)

The best was saved for last. The Dutch band Epica entered the stage under loud applause of the audience to present their new album „Design Your Universe“ that had been released that day and to record the concert for a possible DVD.
According to this they brought up the big guns: great light show, pyro effects and a Medusa fire dance during which Simone Simons equipped with a special inflamed helmet was supported by two also inflamed dancers. Perhaps Epica was also under considerable strain due to the fact that they won the MFVF award for the best MFVF show. But not only optical a lot was offered to the audience. This was my first Epica concert and in relation to their live performance the songs on CD do not sound even noteworthy. Wow, what a voice! The new songs couldn’t be heard before, except the video release of “Unleashed”. So guitarist Mark Jansen asked the audience who already has heard the new songs. Many cheered and waved their hands, leading Mark to say with a big grin on his face: “Oh, so you are the ones who downloaded them illegally...”.
But not only songs of the new album like “Samadhi” or “Martyr Of The Free World” were played, also old pearls like “The Phantom Agony”, “Sancta Terra” or the beautiful “Cry For The Moon”. Another highlight was the duet of the After Forever song “Follow The Cry” performed by Floor Jansen, the ex-singer of After Forever, together with Simone. Floor announced afterwards that she has a new project called Revamp and will be recording new songs very soon. That made not only me hoping to see her on stage of the next Metal Female Voices Fest VIII.
So, finally this has been my personal highlight of the day and also the audience seemed to think like me because there was no other show where the vibes were that excited. This will not be my last Epica concert, for sure!

Setlist:

Samadhi
Resign to Surrender
Unleashed
Martyr of the Free Word
Fools of Damnation
Sensorium
The Imperial March
The Price of Freedom
Burn to a Cinder
Tides of Time
Follow in the Cry (with Floor Jansen)
The Phantom Agony

Encore:

Sancta Terra
Cry for the Moon
Kingdom of Heaven
Consign to Oblivion

Weblinks:

	Epica Website of the Dutch band Epica.
	Metal Female Voices Fest Homepage of the Metal Female Voices festival at Wieze (Belgium).
	Oktoberhallen Homepage of the Oktoberhallen at Wieze (Belgium).