So last Friday was the final concert of the Epica and Lacuna Coil NA tour. This was an amazing concert. Definitely a highlight of the year for me (25+ concerts attended this year) and not just because of the bands, but because of the uniqueness of the event.
As the tour has gone on, Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil had started joining Simone on stage for Storm the Sorrow. So I expected this to happen this evening, but given it being the last show of the tour, I thought it was possible for something else unique happening. Well, as I was grabbing a drink after Lacuna Coil just finished spellbound, I noticed on the TVs in the lobby (btw Playstation Theater is one of my favorite venues) that Simone had just come on stage. Of course I bolted, literally I ran, as did others, to see. Simone performed Heaven's A Lie with Lacuna Coil and it was quite awesome. I've seen some people say youtube videos that Simone didn't sound well on this song, but I didn't notice, she sounded fine and the whole song was just amazing. I follow Simone and Cristina on twitter so I know those two are good friends and it was clear as they sung together.
Then things got really interesting. Lacuna Coil afterwards had technical difficulties, not exactly sure what was wrong, but that's what Cristina said over the mic. So while they were figuring things out, Cristina figured she would entertain the crowd. She got the crowd worked up and then sang ACDC's Highway to Hell by herself. She was amazing. She sounded so good, I was blown away. She sang two verses and then gave the mic to a guy in the crowd who sang a guitar solo, he also NAILED it. They got things going after and finished their set.
Now it was time for Epica. This was my third year in a row seeing them, the setlist wasn't too different between the last two years, but a few sprinkles. They played Wheel of Destiny which was the only song from The Solace System performed. A really awesome song. Also got Reverence from the Quantum Enigma which I hadn't seen before. Then Mark says since it is NYC, they were playing one extra song and played Victims of Contingency. They did Storm the Sorrow with Cristina, which was also really amazing just like seeing them sing together earlier in the evening.
Then for the encore, they had their crew come out to dance and mess around on stage with them. Just a fun and let loose moment for the final songs of the tour. But you can just see how much fun everyone is having on stage. They even did their own wall of death on stage as the crowd did one for the intro of Consign to Oblivion. I don't think I've seen a show with so much spontaneity and uniqueness as this one (well probably doesn't top Bruce Dickinson stripping at the end of their tour in Brooklyn) with so many different moments.
I got a lot of this for my youtube, here's the same video but timestamped for the different events:
https://youtu.be/AGEkdNS9vfM?t=2m7s Simone singing with Lacuna Coil
https://youtu.be/AGEkdNS9vfM?t=20m51s Cristina singing with Epica
https://youtu.be/AGEkdNS9vfM?t=31m31s Crew having fun on stage during Beyond the Matrix
https://youtu.be/AGEkdNS9vfM?t=34m46s Wall of Death