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Friday, April 18, 2014

Avantasia ...My fave Power Metal Mega band



I'm quite the fan of the Supergroup concept...its fun to see what a bunch of muso's who normally have bugger all to do with each other can come up with....and Avantasia is power metals version of said "Supergroup"....saw them on a Wacken gig on You Tube....went for a hunt and now have a varied amount of Tobias's stuff....get amongst it.



.Avantasia is THE power metal supergroup and is a project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. Avantasia is often referred to as a rock opera, and I can see their thinking as it has featured many renowned vocalists and musicians, like Magnum Bob Catley, Helloweens Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske...HELL...



even KISS drummer (when he was playing with Alice Cooper) Eric Singer got up and had a bash...nice one





The project's title is a portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" and describes "a world beyond human imagination" (thats a direct quotation from the awesome booklet included with the first c.d I bought).



While recording a guest appearance from Blind Guardian singer Hansi Kursch with his regular band, Sammet conceived of a massive-scale rock opera featuring the cream of the current power metal scene. He spent a year composing the material, named the "band" Avantasia, and recruited a variety of vocalists to tell his story: Gamma Ray's Kai Hansen, Stratovarius' Timo Tolkki, Virgin Steele's David DeFeis, Angra's Andre Matos, Warrior's Rob Rock, and Within Temptation's Sharon Den Adel. For the backing band, Sammet gathered guitarists Jens Ludwig (Edguy) and Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray), bassist Markus Grosskopf (Helloween), and drummer Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody).






 The album, The Metal Opera, was filled with tried-and-true fantasy themes and anthemic, progressive pomp-metal; it was released by Century Media in the summer of 2001 and was followed by the sequel, The Metal Opera II, the following year in 2002. ....The band returned years later with their Scarecrow Saga, a three album piece consisting of The Scarecrow, released in 2008, and The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon, both released in 2010





 The Flying Opera, a live set from the Scarecrow tours, was released in 2011, and the following year they unleashed The Mystery of Time, their biggest production yet, which featured the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.....




Avantasia's biggest world tour took place between April and August 2013. The tour consisted of 30 concerts and included 7 headlining festival appearances in Europe, one festival performance in Canada and three hour long shows in South America, Japan, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Holland.




According to Sammet: "I wanna put on the biggest thing you have ever seen, I wanna bring more vocalists, play longer shows, and just make it a giant Rock Opera. I love to headline festivals, you run over people in 90 minutes and kick ass. But I also like to do our own Avantasia indoor tour because we can make it much more Avantasia oriented and play almost three hours...It will be huge."


Avantasia's touring ensemble included Sascha Paeth (guitars), Oliver Hartmann (guitars, vocals), Felix Bohnke (drums), Andre Neygenfind (bass), Miro (Keyboards) and vocalists Tobias Sammet, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin, Thomas Rettke and Amanda Somerville.



With two shows remaining for the end of the tour, Tobias held a press conference in which he announced that Avantasia will make a headline performance at Wacken Open Air Festival in 2014. Tobias also suggested that this could be a farewell performance and that no further live Avantasia activities are planned for the near future:


“There won't be any further Avantasia activities, it'll be just a single show. I may be back with an idea and go for it somewhere in the distant future, I won't say farewell is forever this time, but I have no clue as to when and where and who would be able to join us and what it would sound and look like, if we'd ever do this again in a couple of years. So, get your tickets for Wacken 2014 cause it'll be your last chance to catch us, if not forever at least for some years. See you, T







The Metal Opera (2001)
The Metal Opera Part II (2002)
The Scarecrow (2008)
The Metal Opera: Pt. 1 & 2 (2008)
Lost in Space 1 & 2 (2008)
Angel of Babylon ( 2010)
The Wicked Symphony (2010)
The Mystery of Time (2013)




Tobias Sammet - vocals
Andre Matos - vocals
Jørn Lande - vocals
Kai Hansen - vocals (only shows in Europe)
Bob Catley - vocals (only shows in Europe and Asia)
Oliver Hartmann - vocals & guitars
Amanda Somerville - vocals & backing vocals
Cloudy Yang - backing vocals
Sascha Paeth - guitars
Robert Hunecke-Rizzo - bass
Miro - keyboards
Felix Bohnke - drums


The Mystery Of Time Members

Tobias Sammet
Sascha Paeth
Russell Gilbrook
Michael Miro Rodenberg


The Wicked Trilogy Members

Tobias Sammet
Sascha Paeth
Eric Singer
Michael Miro Rodenberg


The Metal Opera members

Tobias Sammet
Henjo Richter
Markus Grosskopf
Alex Holzwarth


The Scarecrow World Tour (2008)

Tobias Sammet - vocals
Andre Matos - vocals
Jørn Lande - vocals
Kai Hansen - vocals
Bob Catley - vocals
Oliver Hartmann - guitars
Amanda Somerville - vocals
Cloudy Yang - backing vocals
Sascha Paeth - guitars
Robert Hunecke-Rizzo - bass
Michael Miro Rodenberg - keys
Felix Bohnke - drums



Avantasia 2010,

Tobias Sammet - vocals
Michael Kiske - vocals
Jørn Lande - vocals
Bob Catley - vocals
Kai Hansen - guitars
Oliver Hartmann - guitars
Amanda Somerville - vocals
Sascha Paeth - guitars
Michael Miro Rodenberg - keys
Robert Hunecke-Rizzo - bass
Felix Bohnke - drums


The Mystery World Tour (2013)

Tobias Sammet - vocals
Michael Kiske - vocals
Bob Catley - vocals
Ronnie Atkins - vocals 
Eric Martin - vocals
Thomas Rettke - vocals
Oliver Hartmann - vocals, guitars
Amanda Somerville - vocals
Sascha Paeth - guitars, 
Michael Miro Rodenberg - keys
Andre Neygenfind – bass, 
Felix Bohnke - drums

























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