Entertainment
Extremly good musicians and lots of fun Von Joachim Herbert, 07.06.2008Avantasia start their The Scarecrow World Tour 2008
A very roomy hall in the Ruhr area in Germany, lots of equipment, big expectations – and the band. These are the ingredients for the rehearsals of Avantasia before the kick off of The Scarecrow World Tour 2008. And when Tobias Sammet rocks along with his Metal-All-Star-Team, the black covered walls shake. The band rehearsed for three days before they left for their first concert in Switzerland.
And everybody was looking forward to the tour that takes them around the world. They started in Huttwil in Switzerland, then went to Sölvesborg in Sweden, then fly to Moscow, Tokyo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo.
After that, the band and crew can take a rest for two weeks, before the festivals in Europe are on the plan. Castlefest (Serbia), Masters of Rock (Czech Republic), Metalway Festival (Spain), Rockin Field Festival (Italy), Wacken Open Air (Germany) and the Sziget Festival (Hungary).
“I think, we´ll have lots of fun”, says Tobias Sammet, who is really enthusiastic during the rehearsals. “In this constellation with all these extremely good musicians this will be a great event. A lot of respect is shown to the project and it´s a challenge to fulfil these expectations.”
All these great musicians showed a lot of enthusiasm during the rehearsals. Besides Tobias Sammet there are the singers Bob Catley (Magnum), Jorn Lande (Jorn, ex-Masterplan) and Andre Matos, furthermore Amanda Somerville and Cloudy Yang. The guitarists are Sascha Paeth and Oliver Hartmann, bass player is Robert Hunecke, on drums there´s Felix Bohnke (Edguy) and the keyboarder is Miro Rodenberg.
Bob Catley left the band after the first two shows to join them again when they play the festivals in July. “I´m going into the studio with Magnum, because we are working on a new album”, says Bob, who is looking forward to the show in Wacken. “You bet I´m gonna be on stage then.”
Check out the Avantasia photos from the rehearsals in Germany
In 17 days around the world
Avantasia is an extraordinary project not only musically. A tour around the world with eight shows in eight different countries in a little bit more then two weeks is pretty unusual, too. Tour manager AC was planning and organising for four months with his team from All Access. Including drivers, technicians and musicians there are 26 people on the road. “The organisation was costlier because of the different singers alone” says AC. “It was a challenge to organize the flights for all these people around the world. Also the planning of the stage set in conjunction with transport to the shows required a lot of organisation. And the equipment has to be on time as well.”
At first the shows in Mexico and South America where planned, but then promoters from Moscow and Tokyo got in touch with the management – and so Avantasia is flying around the world and kicks ass.
All concerts outside Europe are headliner shows where the band plays halls with capacity from 1800 to 7000. “Especially the hall in Sao Paulo is a dream”, tour manager AC mentions. “There´s even a whirlpool in the dressing-room of the band.”
Nice prospects for all persons involved. And what is the thing, the tour manager is looking forward the most? “Tokyo, because in Japan everything is organised very well. And because I like eating Japanese” says AC. “Furthermore Brazil, because on the day before the concert we will invite all the persons involved to a churrascaria where lots of brazilian meat and lots of caipirinhas is going to be served.”
Bombastic Shows
No wonder not only the tour manager is looking forward to the trip. Jorn Lande expects crowded halls and a crazy audience. “In South America and in Spain the fans are the craziest ones. The shows are bombastic and the reception will be enormous. The whole tour will be a big party and it´s gonna be great to travel with a lot of nice people as a big family. Besides, it´s always fun to work with a professional production.”
Such a trip doesn´t only mean fun, but a lot of work. Production manager Frank Dehn knows about it: “This tour is a big event. We have our own stage set, extra light, our own monitor desk and our own light desk. The production is so big that we can add a few “demands” for the shows if necessary.
After the return from South America the festivals in Europe are on the set list and Avatasia will appear everywhere as headliner or co-headliner.
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