Avantasia 2025

ICE HALL, HELSINKI, FINLAND
23 April 2025

It gets increasingly rare for me to see a long-time favourite artist live for the first time. Many of them aren’t touring anymore or even alive. Time is ruthless. AVANTASIA might not be me my childhood heroes but they have already been around for more than 20 years, so I think that makes them ”a long-time favourite artists”. Time is ruthless and it flies! To cut a long intro short, last week (23 April 2025) Tobias Sammet brought Avantasia to Finland for their first own headlining show, and it was one show I didn’t want to miss. the few previous gigs here I have missed, but they’ve all been festival sets.

I delibrately didn’t check any setlists from previous gigs because I wanted that element of surprise to be present. I expected the gig to be a lengthy one, as there was no support, but little did I know that they’d play for almost three hours! Now that’s dedication for their art and value for money for the fans!

The familiar riffs of "Creep Show" signalled that the show was about to start, and soon the curtain dropped down. The stage was built to look like an medieval graveyard or something like that, with fences, gates and pylons, not to mention a big screen where the graphics changed from one song to another. The three background singers had a platform where they had "a show inside a show", there was always something going on there. Each one of them had their share of the limelight in the "main show" too.

The band featured Felix Bohke on drums, guitarists Sascha Paeth and Andre Viegand, Andre Neygenfind on bass and Miro Rodenberg on keys.

Tobias Sammet handled the first song by himself, but for "Reach Out For The Light" he was joined by backing vocalist Adrianne Cowan, who sang the parts recorded by Michael Kiske. She was nothing short of amazing. The third song was one of the highlights of the latest album "Here Be Dragons", the excellent "The Witch". Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, ex-Seventh Wonder), one of my favourite singers of the last 20 years was brilliant as usual, but credit where credit's due, Mr. Sammet impressed me too. Apart from a short break later in the set, he was always on stage, and sang really well throughout the concert. And he does this day after day!

"Devil In The Belfry" saw Herbie Langhans moving from the platform to the frontilne, as he took care of Jorn's role in the song. "Phantasmagoria" featured Danish rock legend Ronnie Atkins (of Pretty Maids), while the next two songs were performed with Eric Martin, best known as the Mr. Big vocalist. His voice sounded a bit rough, but he made up for it with his laidback attitude and likeable personality. "Dying For An Angel" was a big hit with the crowd, and it's definitely one of my all-time Avantasia favourites as well. H.E.A.T. vocalist Kenny Leckremo brought young blood to the fast-paced "Against The Wind". The guy reminds me of a young Bruce Dickinson, complete with spandex pants and heavy chains around his waist.

The new album's lengthy title track was sung by Sammet and Karevik - again a track with a very strong chorus. Then again, most Avantasia songs are. The next song featured another legendary singer, Bob Catley of Magnum fame. He was greeted like a homecoming champion by the Finnish audience. Magnum have never been that big here, but the Avantasia fans know their rock music heroes and appreciate them. "The Story Ain't Over" was a major crowd pleaser, and it also featured the third member of the choir, Chiara Tricarico sharing lead vocals.

Adrianne Cowan returned to the frontline for "Avalon" and Herbie Langhans for "Let The Storm Descend Upon You", while "Promised Land" was one of the few moments when Tobias Sammet wasn't on stage. Instead, Atkins and Martin took over. Sammet came back for a solo version of "Toy Master", which features Alice Cooper on the recorded version. The it was time for a longer break for him - the next three songs were performed without him. The songs were "Twisted Mind" (Atkins & Martin), "The Wicked Symphony" (Karevik & Leckremo) and "Shelter From The Rain" (Leckremo, Langhans & Catley).

Sammet was back on stage for "Farewell", and asked the crowd to hold up their phones. "You invented them after all. Nokia...". The whole hall lit by mobile phone screens and some old fashioned lighters looked really nice. Chiara Tricarico got the share the limelight with Toby for this song. "The Scarecrow" was done with Atkins, while "Death Is Only A Feeling" as a Sammet solo track.

For "Lucifer", a piano was dragged to the stage, and Sammet sat behind it. "This is one instrument I never really learned to play, but I'll play it anyway. My hunger for the limelight exceeds the fear of embarassing myself." Not necessarily the exact words, but as close as I can remember. Another great quote from Sammet: "There's no Artificial Intelligence involved in this show, just beautiful Human Stupidity!"

The band's first Top 10 hit ("and also our last, but we'll keep on trying") "Lost In Space" was one of the sets highlights, as was the closing medley of "Sing Of The Cross/ The Seven Angels". The whole cast of characters were on stage during the final anthem.

Almost three hours of music. And not really any particulary dull moments, even though some of songs were really long. Quite amazing really. No, they didn't play some of my favourites and played strangely many songs from "The Scarecrow", but that's not a complaint, more of an observation.

Review by Kimmo Toivonen
Photos by Mira Suutari-Toivonen

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