Anyway, to expand further on my Avantasia experience now that I am home and rested
The road trip suuuuckkkked in terms of the drive, insane amounts of traffic and a huge bloody looking bird shit hit my car about 2 hours in, but I didn't want to stop at a gas station to clean it because my GPS just kept going up in time. Well, I made it with good enough time regardless, but a frustrating start. Never the less, it only got better from there. The venue was maybe only 1/2 full if you consider they didn't sell the back of the balcony, the remaining was half full and the floor was packed up close but had plenty of room. I felt bad for the band who traveled so far to play here. I ended up running into some friends who I've met at other shows in NYC, including Avantasia 3 years ago, so it was nice seeing this group road tripping and bitching about the traffic too.
I got to my seat and it turns out its not assigned seating on the balcony, but general admission for the first three rows (which my ticket was for apparently although it said row A). Whatever, it wasn't full but the front row was, either way, I endd up sitting dead center without anyone next to me. It was fine, although kind of a dumb scenario. Maybe it's because it wasn't sold well, they'd rather have people up front than all spread out?
The show was perfect essentially, they sounded great. I can't say a single negative thing about their musicianship and performance. Even when the singers are singing say, Hansi's part, sure it's not what I expect from the album, but it was still really awesome and well done. The show just seemed to go on and on. I wish I had done this earlier though, but eventually I just went down onto the floor and I enjoyed the show from there much more. THe people were REALLY into the show, and you couldn't feel that from upstairs. My only regret was not doing this earlier.
After the show, since my hotel was a couple blocks down the street, I saw a group of people waiting outside the back entrance of the venue so decided to chill. Ran into my concert friends again and we all BSed for like an hour as we watched the band slowly come out. Got to talk to Sascha, but others I just mostly watched if they interacted with the group. None of the main singers really came over to the group, just wrapped heads in towels and into the vans. However, at the end, Tobi did come out last and came over very briefly with a few people surrounding him. It was kind of crazy to see his entourage, all speaking german, just like pushing him essentially. He did take one picture with one group, I had my handed extended for a fist bump, he put his out to do it and his entourage pushed him away, he looked almost dead honestly. It was a surreal experience.
Some pics:
From the balcony:
From the floor:
Tobi (and look at Bob sitting in the fan
):
and of course my video:
Avantasia LIVE @ Worcester Palladium MA 5/24/19