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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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MASTERPLAN - CIRCLE II CIRCLE - ROB ROCK - PURE INC
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Stadthalle - Langen (D)
April 8th 2004
http://www.master-plan.net
http://www.circle2circle.net
http://www.robrock.com
http://www.pureinc.net
Actually, I can't come up any introduction, so I just start off...The only thing that was getting me a bit excited was the fact that I was going to have a pass for the photo-pit for the first time on a bigger concert – I took 250 (!!!) pictures ...
The first band was PURE INC from Switzerland, they entered the stage at 7.30 pm, and they did a good job. Coming from Basel with their self-entitled debut-album, they all were in a good mood during the show, vocalist Gianni Pontillo and guitar-player Sandro Pellegrini before all, but also bass-player Gentman and drummer Dave Preissel were doing very well. Two more things should definitely have to be said: the song "Next To You" was dedicated to AFM-boss Andy, who had died in a car accident not long ago, and during the last song, the Masterplan bass player entered the stage in slippers to support Pure Inc as a second guitar player. After half an hour of playing they left the stage, and after a 20 minutes break, it was the next band's turn.
ROB ROCK, the excellent singer, didn't get more time to play either. After the opener "Rock The Earth" (from the CD "Rage Of Creation"), he played some more songs from that record (a.o. "Streets Of Madness"), and the band of course did some songs from the current output "Holy Hell" ("Slayer Of Souls" and "I'm A Warrior"). After all, the total playing time was a bit too short considering his longer experience in the metal business, but Rob Rock and the band did a great job!
Setlist Rob Rock:
Intro
Rock The Earth
In The Night
Judgement Day
Slayer Of Souls
Streets Of Madness
I'm A Warrior
Another 20 minutes later, CIRCLE II CIRLCE, the band of the former Savatage vocalist Zak Stevens, entered the stage. I must say, I didn't expect too much because I have expected way more from the first two studio cds "Watching In Silence" and "The Middle Of Nowhere". But the material is much better when it is being played live, believe me! The band needed two or three songs to get in shape but then they were doing great! The highlights, besides the "own" songs "Holding On", "All That Remains" and "The Middle Of Nowhere" were for sure the Savatage songs. The rocker "Taunting Cobras" and the well-known "Follow Me" (including the intro "Labyrinths") and – of course – "Edge Of Thorns" as the encore after one hour of playing were loudly sung by the crowd, due to the fact that they are more well-known than the CIIC stuff. But the band was in great shape (have I said that before?), singer Zak Stevens, the bass-player + keyboardist and also one of the guitarists, whose appearance was remarkable, because "darker" than the rest... but the others were good too of course! It is really hard to believe, that the musicians were completely replaced after the first album ...
Setlist Circle II Circle:
Faces In The Dark
Sea Of Light
Holding On
Halo
All That Remains
Taunting Cobras
Labyrinths
Follow Me
The Middle Of Nowhere
Sinacle Revined
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Edge Of Thorns
At half past ten MASTERPLAN entered the stage with the totally celebrated opener of the current record "Aeronautics", "Crimson Rider". The band was in a great mood, everything was perfect, and I did not recognize the sound problems guitarist Roland Grapow had at the beginning. The combo from Hamburg with the excellent Norwegian singer Jorn Lande played a good mixture of the two records; four songs from the new CD (plus a half as part of a medley at the end) plus one non-album track and nine songs from the selftitled debut. Remarkable was the fact that they only needed one hour to play eleven songs, but without being bored or too cool, they had fun indeed. But nevertheless it was a bit of a false decision, that the band around the former Helloweenies Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch (drums) left the stage after these sixty minutes, and they only played three songs after that of which the last one was extended a lot, because Jorn introduced the band (little "Smoke On The Water"-jam from keyboarder Axel Mackenrott who will be a guitar player in his next life – cooler sound!). Another critical point: there's no need for a guitar-solo, maybe one or two songs more would have been even better – we all know that Roland knows how to play ;-) Well, due to the fact that the level was quite high there were no real highlights, but if I had to pick some, I'd pick "Wounds", "Soulburn" and "Spirit Never Die". The single of the debut, "Enlighten Me" wasn't as good as I had expected. But I was very surprised by the fact that the ballad "When Love Comes Close" was on the setlist. The last (but not least) song was "Crawling From Hell", a worthy last song!
All in all, the playing time of Masterplan was a bit short, but alltogether 3 1/2 hours of metal music can be called a good evening, and the quality was good all the way through! Too bad that Masterplan only had one shirt for sale (the "Aeronautics"-cover – how unimaginative), but at least the prices (16 € a shirt) were alright!
Setlist Masterplan:
Crimson Rider
Crystal Night
Wounds
Kind Hearted Light
I’m Not Afraid
When Love Comes Close
Heroes
Enlighten Me
Bleeding Eyes
Love Is A Rock
Gitarrensolo
Soulburn
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Spirit Never Die
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Back For My Life
Crawling From Hell/Black In The Burn
submitted by Paddy 20.04.2005
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