Stratovarius playing full Visions performance at PPUSA

[Rebel]

Just saw this on facebook, can't say it's ideal, but still happy to be going. What does this honorable forum (And Mr. Cool Edit, because I'm sure he's going to comment whether I want him to or not) think of doing a full album performance, and Visions in particular.

[RazielSR]

Well I think its amazing. Visions is an absolute masterpiece and I just hope they will do an amazing performance. Anyway I would prefer Episode if we talk about the TT era and I think it would be better if they played Nemesis. I think that this lineup will feel maybe more comfortable playing Nemesis. Maybe it is a bit strange to see them playing now this "old" album? And more if you have in mind how amazing and astonishing Nemesis is.

[SentineLEX]

I honestly think Visions is a bit overplayed. They do all the good songs on a semi-regular basis, and other than Holy Light's specific solos, I think most of us could've been happy with the six Visions songs on Live in Tampere. But then again, I'm biased against the album.

I'd prefer Infinite, if only to hear Infinity, but realistically I'd like to hear Episode (and then you get Stratosphere, which I personally prefer to Holy Light), Elysium (for the title track and more fitting for PowerProg), or Nemesis.

Or include, alongside Visions, a huge medley like they used to do in 2003 with songs from the first four albums, except now take snippets from the entire Tolkki era. Or at least Episode to Elements, Pt. 2, and do some fan favorites with some hidden goodies.

Like Father Time - Uncertainty - Forever Free - Visions - Destiny - Fantasia - Phoenix - Liberty.

Original Medley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIsW03mmOdc

[SentineLEX]

Personally I'm just happy to see a thread whose OP and content is not singlehandedly Mr. Cool Edit for once xD

[R.F.]

They mentioned this Visions show in a recent interview. I don't really get why Visions. It is not an anniversary or something, or is it?

[mocobhc]

I suppose it's because it seems that Visions is something special for all five of them: They all see Visions among the top three Stratovarius albums, and Rolf and Lauri (if I remember correctly) had their first encounters with Stratovarius when they heard songs from Visions. So maybe they agreed that this album is one of the most influential one for the current lineup and "deserves" such a special treatment

I'm happy they chose this album because it's my favourite (not counting the three new ones which I prefer over all the old ones) But I still am curious what "other stuff" they're gonna play, still think it would not be appropriate to play something of the "usual" song collection at that occasion. Just hope they don't do cover songs again, not because they can't do them, but because there are loads of their own songs that would be worth playing once!

[Empathica1928]

I hate to be 'that guy' but I don't know if Timo's voice will serve many of those songs well. Might well be shot by the time they get to the title track. That one's just a monster. My favorite band in the world but I worry so much about Timo's live vocals these days when performing such difficult material.

Visions is one of my favorite Strato albums. Not #1, but certainly top 5. Has some of my all-time favorite Strato songs, BUT there are a couple songs I'm not crazy about and I think Infinite slightly edges it out in terms of quality from start to finish. But given the time it came out and the precedent it set.. very very very important album in power metal.

[Rebel]

I hate to be 'that guy' but I don't know if Timo's voice will serve many of those songs well. Might well be shot by the time they get to the title track. That one's just a monster. My favorite band in the world but I worry so much about Timo's live vocals these days when performing such difficult material.

Visions is one of my favorite Strato albums. Not #1, but certainly top 5. Has some of my all-time favorite Strato songs, BUT there are a couple songs I'm not crazy about and I think Infinite slightly edges it out in terms of quality from start to finish. But given the time it came out and the precedent it set.. very very very important album in power metal.

See, I don't think TK's voice will be necessarily 'bad', because he's been talking up how good of shape he's in in interviews, and of course, as time goes on, musicians get better at figuring out the whole 'international flights' thing. I know Matt Smith from Theocracy used to have trouble with his voice when he flew to Europe, but I saw something he posted about getting some really helpful tips to help his voice stay in shape.

Still, the further you go back in the discog, the more difficult the songs are to sing, and if he could do an alright job on Visions, he could do an exceptional job with Nemesis. If his voice was not a factor, I would prefer Episode like many, but really all of those albums, even Episode (Which I think is a perfect power metal album), has songs that I would cut from the setlist to make room for other material.

To the person who brought up Elysium, I'm guessing if we didn't hear that one on the Jorg farewell tour, we're not going to hear that one ever. As I recall, Jorg really wanted to play that one, but TK puts together the setlists himself, and for whatever reason it's just never made it's way onto the set. Certainly if it ever was going to be played, I'd guess it would be at PPUSA, but given that the band almost never goes past a 90 minute setlist, between Visions and the song Elysium, you've taken up almost the whole show.

[Empathica1928]

It's a shame, too, because I shown Elysium to many, MANY metalheads who are fans of various styles of metal and other music in general, and just about everyone has been floored with it, or at least the final 6 minutes, with the choirs etc. If there's one place to do it, I think it should be at Wacken the next time they go there, and it should be professionally filmed. It would honestly be another milestone for the band.