Ok, here are my thoughts and a few pics.
I purposely didn't follow anything about previous concerts, so I had no clue as to the setlist, or even which vocalists were going to be there. I caught a bit of the sound check as I was walking around the festival in the afternoon. Got to the venue about 15 minutes after they opened the gates (it was in an open field, about the size of a soccer/football field, with temporary fencing surrounding the entire space). Because I was a little late, I wasn't able to get right up front, so I decided to take a spot about 30-40 feet from the stage, as the field started to incline, that way I could see over the 'pit' (there was a temporary floor setup). First couple of acts were awful (for my tastes)... local Quebec based thrash-metal bands. They both had lots of fans, but it was painful to endure for me.
Avantasia came on at 9:15, and played for a solid 2 hours. Here's the set:
Spectres
Watchmaker's Dream
Tobi sounded great on both of these, and Hartmann did a great job on JLT's parts.
The Story Ain't Over - Catley rises up from the back, just like in the DVD, and does a great job on this one. Found it surprising he came out for one song (somewhat odd he did it all on his own) and then disappeared again.
Reach Out for the Light - Kiske! When he first came out (before hitting the mic) I swear from the distance I was at, I was scared it was Tate!!!
... then when he started singing I knew it wasn't.
Avantasia - here's where I knew something was up. Kiske announced he was going to be doing a bunch of parts he hadn't done before, and had a monitor with the lyrics at the front of the stage to help him through it. He did this one on his own (with Somerville and Thomas Rettke on backing vocals). We'd find out later that Tobi was down with a fever all afternoon, and it was a virtual miracle that he even made it on stage at all - but being their first show in North America, I'm sure he wasn't going to miss it for anything.
Scales of Justice - Tobi came out just to introduce Rettke (who's done backing vocals for Edguy and Avantasia) as the lead for this one. Damn he did a fine job, and nailed all those high notes just as good as Ripper.
What's Left of Me - Eric Martin! Always was a big Mr. Big fan, so to see him on stage was awesome. This song was surprisingly fantastic.
Dying for an Angel - Martin/Kiske. Sounded great. Apparently it was the first time on the tour that Martin and Kiske sung together.
Promised Land - Martin/Tobi. Weird to not hear Jorn doing this one, especially since it's one of my favorite Avantasia songs, but Martin did a good job none-the-less. The guitar solos/unisons rocked it!
The Wicked Symphony - Catley did Tobi's parts; Rettke did Allen's; Hartmann did Lande's. Great to hear this track, dulled a little by the fact that it didn't have any of the original lead voices.
Farewell - Tobi stuck around for this one
Lost in Space - and this one
Stargazers - Like Wicked Symphony, Hartley did Tobi's part, Rettke did Allen's and Hartmann did Lande's. Obviously, Kiske and Hartman did their own. Sounded great regardless
The Scarecrow - Tobi came out for this as the closer. Was damned impressive for Hartmann to do all of Lande's parts ... especially the final stanza's. The solo's that Paeth and Hartmann exchanged were bone chilling.
Encore -
Twisted Mind + Sign of the Cross. As usual, Tobi introduced the band during Sign, but they cluster fucked the ending.... looked like Bohnke (drums) closed it out earlier anyone else expected.
Overall, amazing show. So worth the time and dollars to go to Quebec City for it. Only had my shitty iPhone for pics. Took a video of the opening moments, but there are a couple of better ones out on YT already:
Spectres - Official Festival videoFan video - Spectres + Watchmaker's DreamAfter the show, a few people were mulling around where their trailers were (on the other side of the temporary fences/barier), and a few of the band came out to chat, sign autographs, take pics. Kiske stayed for about 10-15 mins just chatting, but unfortunately there were too many people around him for me to get a good pic. But ....
Damn Amanda is one fine woman - looking, and just as a person in general. Very kind and gracious. She was talking about how she was able to fly her parents in for this show (she's from Michigan, only a couple hour flight away), and it was quite a thrill for her.
So, I leave and go back to the hotel, and am just sitting in the lobby writing down my thoughts about the concert, and who strolls in? Somerville with her parents. We give each other a little smile/laugh of recognition. I didn't get all stalky on her, and just let her be with her parents, but kinda wish I'd gotten a better picture with her. Oh well.
All in all, it was awesome. I was kinda surprised they only did 3 from The Mystery of Time, but they did the three signature songs from each album of the Scarecrow Saga, so that was the cat's ass!
You are all envious!