Stratovarius Community

The band played their first show yesterday. This was the setlist:

- My Eternal Dream
- Eagleheart
- Against the Wind
- In My Line of Work
- The Kiss of Judas
- Phoenix
- Lost Without a Trace
- Under Flaming Skies
- Bass Solo
- Will the Sun Rise?
- The Lost Saga
- SOS
- Unbreakable
---
- Forever
- Shine in the Dark
- Hunting High and Low

For me this is a missed chance. The band is in such a good place right now, creatively speaking. Where is Feeding The Fire? Where is Rise Above It? Where is Man In The Mirror?
Why are Eagleheart, The Kiss of Judas and Phoenix still there? Did Elements, Visions and Infinite consist of just one song to be played to the end of the world? Timo even completely forgot the lyrics to Phoenix.
Why a bass solo? We all know the guys can play. It's just wasted minutes in which the band could've played a song!

Why isn't the setlist like this:

- Intro
- My Eternal Dream
- Twilight Symphony
- Man In The Mirror
- Distant Skies
- Season of Change
- I'm Still Alive
- Lost Without a Trace
- Rise Above It
- The Lost Saga
- Will The Sun Rise
- If The Story Is Over (acoustic)
- Shine In The Dark
---
- Against The Wind
- Feeding The Fire
- Hunting High and Low



Oh well, it's only the first show. Let's hope they'll switch things up a bit more along the way.

NO TURNING BACK!!

VITTU!

Raven wrote:NO TURNING BACK!!

VITTU!

Would also be great. As long as it's something fresh. Not 5 new songs + the same songs they've been playing for ten years now.

Love the fact that Lost Saga was played though.

I'd really love to see an old & new show though. In 2014 they played all of Visions, now let's get a show where they play all of Eternal!

It's a very tricky situation, a band like Stratovarius.

There are so many albums with so many good songs that so many fans love. And so many classic songs. Even 10 years ago the band had to pick and choose because there were so many songs from just the Episode-Infinite era alone to pick from. Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

Hell, a couple years ago they played Hands of Time. Hands of fucking Time, and not a single member in the band was in the group when that song was written! Not complaining, because Hands is an amazing song, but it goes to show how much material they have to choose from.

But now we have a new lineup, with 4 albums under their belt since Matias joined... I think it's time for the band to play a majority of songs from those 4 albums, or at least from Elysium through Eternal, and leave three or four classics for the encore, like the ones I mentioned above.

To be fair, they did play 5 songs from the new album which is great. I can't imagine how tough it must be to make a setlist these days when you only have so much time to play.

SentineLEX wrote:I'd really love to see an old & new show though. In 2014 they played all of Visions, now let's get a show where they play all of Eternal!

I think it's too early for that. And people off course want to hear old songs as well. But for the fast majority of shows since 2009 they've been playing the same old songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over..... again.

There are 180+ songs to pick from. And of course there has to be the singalong classic in every show. But one is enough. I think they made a good start by not playing Black Diamond. Hunting High and Low in the encore is enough. Now it's really time to ditch Eagleheart, The Kiss of Judas and Phoenix for something different, fresh and surprising.

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

Empathica1928 wrote:It's a very tricky situation, a band like Stratovarius.

There are so many albums with so many good songs that so many fans love. And so many classic songs. Even 10 years ago the band had to pick and choose because there were so many songs from just the Episode-Infinite era alone to pick from. Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

Hell, a couple years ago they played Hands of Time. Hands of fucking Time, and not a single member in the band was in the group when that song was written! Not complaining, because Hands is an amazing song, but it goes to show how much material they have to choose from.

But now we have a new lineup, with 4 albums under their belt since Matias joined... I think it's time for the band to play a majority of songs from those 4 albums, or at least from Elysium through Eternal, and leave three or four classics for the encore, like the ones I mentioned above.

To be fair, they did play 5 songs from the new album which is great. I can't imagine how tough it must be to make a setlist these days when you only have so much time to play.

Do longer shows pay more? If they do, I wouldn't be against seeing less shows with longer setlists. Obviously not in the middle of a huge tour, but in the downtime, like last year. Having 20+ songs or even a medley or two would allow them to mix up the setlist.

rikkertje wrote:

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

It's actually interesting how Hunting High and Low has been slowly taking Black Diamond's place over the years. First you had Black Diamond at the end of every show, then Hunting made its way into nearly every encore, then the two swapped places, and now there's probably more shows without Black Diamond than there are without Hunting.

Empathica1928 wrote:It's a very tricky situation, a band like Stratovarius.

There are so many albums with so many good songs that so many fans love. And so many classic songs. Even 10 years ago the band had to pick and choose because there were so many songs from just the Episode-Infinite era alone to pick from. Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

Hell, a couple years ago they played Hands of Time. Hands of fucking Time, and not a single member in the band was in the group when that song was written! Not complaining, because Hands is an amazing song, but it goes to show how much material they have to choose from.

But now we have a new lineup, with 4 albums under their belt since Matias joined... I think it's time for the band to play a majority of songs from those 4 albums, or at least from Elysium through Eternal, and leave three or four classics for the encore, like the ones I mentioned above.

To be fair, they did play 5 songs from the new album which is great. I can't imagine how tough it must be to make a setlist these days when you only have so much time to play.

x2
you got meet them halfway, im not a super fan of new stuff, but im happy to hear it, and take whatever they play from the tolkki era.

rikkertje wrote:

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

Dream Theater tried that one time by not playing metropolis, guess how that turned out.
you cant ask a band not to play the hits, thats what most people goes to the show.




FREEEEBIRRDD!!!

rikkertje wrote:There are 180+ songs to pick from. And of course there has to be the singalong classic in every show. But one is enough. I think they made a good start by not playing Black Diamond. Hunting High and Low in the encore is enough. Now it's really time to ditch Eagleheart, The Kiss of Judas and Phoenix for something different, fresh and surprising.

I agree with that, would've been happier if they'd play songs from the last four albums instead of these. I also like the idea to switch between Black Diamond and Hunting as encore. But of course I don't mind a bass solo
But right now, it's simply great to see that they play such a lot from Eternal and still have the possibility to switch with other songs from this album! I'm sooooo curious how The Lost Saga was live...

adrian9 wrote:

rikkertje wrote:

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

Dream Theater tried that one time by not playing metropolis, guess how that turned out.
you cant ask a band not to play the hits, thats what most people goes to the show.




FREEEEBIRRDD!!!

I know there has to be a classic, check the setlist I proposed in my first post.

But, Metropolis is one song. Strato used to play Speed of Light, Kiss of Judas, Eagleheart, Hunting, Black Diamond every show. I think that's too much. They've been doing that for years.

Now they already cut that to three of those five. But still I think it can be cut even more. I agree that either Black Diamond or Hunting has to be part of the show. But not all those songs should be in the same show. It gets boring and there are so many good songs ranging from 1995 to 2015 that deserve way more attention.

rikkertje wrote:

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

I agree somewhat, I don't think they all need to be played in one show. Hunting High And Low seems to be taking Black Diamond's place, which is good, it's starting to get old.
I like the older, popular songs they did but it's not needed to play all of them all the time, maybe just one or 2 would suffice, so as to keep the fans happy while still bringing fresh material.

rikkertje wrote: Why isn't the setlist like this:

- Intro
- My Eternal Dream
- Twilight Symphony
- Man In The Mirror
- Distant Skies
- Season of Change
- I'm Still Alive
- Lost Without a Trace
- Rise Above It
- The Lost Saga
- Will The Sun Rise
- If The Story Is Over (acoustic)
- Shine In The Dark
---
- Against The Wind
- Feeding The Fire
- Hunting High and Low

I wish they'd do Twilight Symphony and Season of Change more often, I really like those and I don't think they're played as often as they should be.

Southern_Cross wrote:

rikkertje wrote:

Empathica1928 wrote:Songs like Speed of Light, Black Diamond, Hunting High and Low, etc. - you can't just get rid of those.

And that's where I disagree. I think you can get rid of those. Well, play one each show and switch them ualong the tour. These songs became classics because the guys played them a lot. Now it's time to give other songs the chance to be classics as well.

I agree somewhat, I don't think they all need to be played in one show. Hunting High And Low seems to be taking Black Diamond's place, which is good, it's starting to get old.
I like the older, popular songs they did but it's not needed to play all of them all the time, maybe just one or 2 would suffice, so as to keep the fans happy while still bringing fresh material.

Exactly my point.

I'd say if they must play older songs, to hit a classic or 2, but try to bring back some of the lesser played ones. That, along with the songs from the new album, would make for a great setlist.

I was in Tampere yesterday, and for me this setlist works perfectly, I saw them on the "mini" Visions tour twice, so the different setlist worked well for me.

For some reason I had trouble hearing the guitars though, and the sound was generally bad, which usually never happens at Tavastia, but Pakkahuone is just bad, even with Helloween / Gamma Ray the sound was bad.

Either that or I just need to have my ears checked

Please remove "Unbreakable" and "Under Flaming Skies" otherwise its a great setist

Rage1979 wrote:Please remove "Unbreakable" and "Under Flaming Skies" otherwise its a great setist

Dude! The only song off Elysium AND the only song off Nemesis in the set, and you don't want them to be played live?

:grouplaff::grouplaff::grouplaff:

Biggest facepalm ever.

Since Jani had so much input on the album and the current band has 2-3 Stratoguys in it, maybe we'll see some Eternal songs on the Cain's Offering tour?

Actually, why not more this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frjcW0XlcBo

rikkertje wrote:The band played their first show yesterday. This was the setlist:
- In My Line of Work

I just saw a show. It was fourth show of current tour. Instead of In My Line of Work band played Feeding the Fire from new album. It was first time when band played this song on current tour. Black Diamond has been added to setlist. It was played on third and fourth show.

Stratosfear wrote:

rikkertje wrote:The band played their first show yesterday. This was the setlist:
- In My Line of Work

I just saw a show. It was fourth show of current tour. Instead of In My Line of Work band played Feeding the Fire from new album. It was first time when band played this song on current tour. Black Diamond has been added to setlist. It was played on third and fourth show.

Adding Feeding The Fire seems like a good decision. Great song.
Couldn't care less about Black Diamond. They could've added Man in The Mirror instead.

A cover of "Come Together" by the Beatles would be very nice.

Every time I hear the man in the mirror I think about the Michael Jackson song with the same title.

you could get up there and perform the songs you want to perform.

icecab21 wrote:you could get up there and perform the songs you want to perform.

#believe #findyourownvoice #icecar

#tolkkilivesmatter