DRAGONFORCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2022 AT THE NILE THEATRE IN MESA AZ 4-19-2022

DRAGONFORCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2022

REVIEW WRITTEN AND PHOTOS TAKEN BY MEGAN FONTANA

Metal Comes in Many Forms

On April 19, 2022, it was a quiet Tuesday night; the small city of Mesa, Arizona was about to get rocked to the core. Four bands were set to take the stage at The Nile Theater. These bands are Seven Spires, Visions of Atlantis, Firewind and none other than Dragonforce! This night has been anticipated for a long time. The fans gathered early to try and beat the crowd but it was no use. The parking lot was full and the line to get into the venue wrapped all the way around the block.

The first band to take the stage was Boston native Seven Spires. Seven Spires consists of Adrienne Cowan – vocals, keys, Jack Kosto – guitar, Peter Albert de Reyna – bass guitar, and Chris Dovas – drums. What makes them unique is they are a symphonic metal band that ranges into the realm of jazz and orchestra. The members of the band entered the stage one by one. This show was a special one because this was the second time Seven Spires was able to play their second album live. Emerald Seas was released in 2020. Cowan said to the crowd “We wrote concept albums; we wrote three of them. This one is about standing on the deck if a ship, it’s called Dagger!”. As dagger was performed members of the audience began to sing along. After the song ended Cowan then addressed the audience again “Are you guys still having a good fucking time?! Thank you for coming out and checking out new fucking bands and supporting live music!”. Herbie Langhans from Firewind came out and sang Date to Live, this was the final song of the night. After their set ended, they took a photo with the audience to end the night.

The second band to come to the stage was Visions of Atlantis. This band is pirate themed from their songs to head to toe. Visions of Atlantis hail all the way from Styria, Austria. The band is formed by Thomas Caser – drums (2000–present), Clémentine Delauney – female vocals (2013–present), Christian Douscha – guitars (2017–present), Herbert Glos – bass (2017–present), and Michele Guaitoli – male vocals (2018–present). As Delauney came onto the stage, she dawned an oversized hood that didn’t come off until the beat had dropped. Her voice is able to hit high ranges and is complimented by the vocals of Guaitoli. Their energy together is unmatched, they feed off each other. At one point in the show Guaitoli says to the crowd “You Americans are so nice! Give it up for Seven Spires, now you can do better! Give it up for Forewind!, and now scream even louder for Dragonforce!!”. As they ended their set the audience was clearly ready to keep going!

Firewind finally took to the stage. Firewind is made up by Gus G. – lead guitar, backing vocals (1998, 2002–present), rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998, 2002–2004, 2020–present), bass (1998), Petros Christodoulidis – bass, backing vocals (2003–present), Johan Nunez – drums (2011–present) and Herbie Langhans – lead vocals (2020–present). As soon as they started playing the crowd grew a little more excited. Halfway through their set Gus G. addressed the crowd “We wrote this song for the men and women defending their country. We salute them, the next song is called Breakaway.” Firewind has a very 80s feel that pairs perfectly with Dragonforce’s energy. Langhans then came out and announced “I have some sad news for you. The next song will be out last song. There’s a time to cry, a time to laugh and a time to dance!”. Firewind then began to play Maniac, during this song Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires joined Langhans on stage. Langhans ended the night by saying “ You guys are fucking great, see you next time!“.

Finally the band everyone had been waiting for was about to take to the stage. Dragonforce came out with an energy that could not be matched by any of the other bands of the night. Marc Hudson – lead vocals (2011–present), Herman Li – guitar, backing vocals (1999–present), Sam Totman – guitar, backing vocals (1999–present), Alicia Vigil – bass, backing vocals (2022–present; touring member 2020–2022 and Gee Anzalone – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2014–present). During their first song the theatrics were already starting with the explosion of confetti. As the second song started the special effects switched to nitro, creating a smokey affect around the band members. The third song held the grandest effects, fire sparklers that shot straight up in the air, it reminded of the hand help sparklers kids were given on the Fourth of July, but at a much larger scale. As the third song commenced, Hudson then addressed the crowd “We’re from England and our last show here was in 2020 right before the pandemic so this show is special. We’re going to play new stuff for you incase saw us the first time around. Do you guys like video games? Well, the next sing has to do with our favorite video game, Skyrim. I’m gonna let the dragon introduce it.”. There is a half of a dragon sitting on the stage and as it lights up it begins to talk and move. The dragon begins to speak to the crowd “Do you want to hear a dragons joke since I’m up here? Why are dragons so good at music? Cuz they know their scales. The next song is called The Last Dragon Boy.”. The song commences a new person was introduced and brought to the stage, a violinist from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The next song that was played was an instrumental Final Fantasy song. The crowds energy was unmatched throughout the night, their energy was feeding off of the bands. As their set came to an end they ended the night with a bang! The cannons shot confetti as smoke and sparklers were shot into the air. As the fans left The Nile Theater, they were not disappointed.

DRAGONFORCE