Symphony X (6-27-07) First show of their tour

First of all I want to make things clear that I never really was a fan of the band. I found them to be boring and pretty lifeless. It's really a surprise how all of these opinions change in a live setting...

It first started with two openers were Puertorican progressive metal bands in the same vein of Symphony X and others. The first one played 4 songs and they were pretty decent, but they lacked charisma. The vocalist though in the first minute or so hit one of the highest notes I've seen a human do! Needless to say I was amazed. The drummer did a solo that came out great and props for that. The second band, Errant Society was more impressive than the first one. They showed off whenever they could. I personally don't enjoy that sort of playing, but, like Symphony X, seeing them live was something else. The guitarist, Paco Cestero is very famous amongst guitars fans and he's been considered the fastest guitar player in Puerto Rico and I can honestly agree with that. Even Michael Romeo peered through the window when they guy did solos, he was that good! Every member got a time to shine in the songs and they weren't any slouches in their instruments. The bad part, though, was the vocalist. He doesn't fit with the band's image, but aside from that this was a excellent band and I'm grateful for discovering them. You can listen to samples from them here: http://www.myspace.com/errantsociety

Now that the openers were gone it's time for Symphony X... but we had to wait about an hour or so first to set up the instruments, mics and all that. It was one of the longest hours in my life!, but it paid off in the end. These guys sound nothing alike compared to their studio recordings. They sounded far less cheesy, more emotional and more full of life. It wasn't generic or bland and certainly not boring (I'm saying this because, as I said earlier, I'm not a fan of the band and that's what I thought of these guys until yesterday). Russell Allen is one heck of a singer! The guys was very into the music and with the crowd as well. He interacted from time to time with the crowd. He even sang to me!  Michael Romeo was great (as always) and with his trendy white shoes with black clothes style. The bassist, Michael LePond, was my personal favorite. This guy is very fast and nimble with his bass and he looked like he was having a blast. Jason Rullo, the drummer, was the driving force behind the band. superb playing and perfectly executed. The keyboardist, Michael Pinella, was really sharp with his solos and quite emotional in the soft piano parts.

They played their most famous songs and started with Of Sins And Shadows from their Divine Wings Of Tragedy album. They also played songs from The Odyssey and three songs from their new album. In the middle of the first set Romeo and LePond started a sort of contest trying to show who can outplay the other. Obviously Romeo won, but it was pretty funny to watch. Also, in the middle of one of the songs a fan climbed up the stage and jumped at Russell, but he reacted in a friendly manner and, jokingly, almost threw him of the stage! After the end of the first set the crowd screamed Odyssey over and over again and when they came back from the break we were still screaming it. Russell looked quite overwhelmed and he started to talk with the members of the band and then he gave what the crowd wanted! This song never sounded so epic, so theatric so climactic than this time! From the first orchestra samples coming from Pinella's keyboard to Russell's last singing part, this "song" was the best part of the night. I never knew how emotional the song was until that day or even how emotional these guys could be (it was certainly impressive, to say the least). And with that the show came to an end. Hearing the song live and hearing it in my CD player are totally different experience. It's like trying to capture an image into words, you can describe it as much as you can, but in the end if you can't see it you won't feel it the same way as the one who saw it.

This was a wonderful night. The opener bands were really great and Symphony X definitely stole the night. I'll keep repeating this over and over again.  I'm not really a fan of stereotypical Prog Metal bands, but seeing these kind of bands live certainly gives you a different perspective of these kind of bands.

 I strongly encourage people who aren't really fans of X or Y band, but are still interested in their sound, to see them live. You won't see them the same way again. Take this as a lesson.



Edited by chamberry - May 29 2007 at 01:10

Sounds like a great show!

I saw them on Gigantour back in 2005 and they were absolutely great. I might be seeing them in August and then Dream Theater the next day.

Excellent review Ruben, i won tickets ofr their concert here last Saturday, i had a good time as well, i think the setlist was the same as in Puerto Rico and actually i only recognized Of Sins and Shadows and The Oddyssey which was an excellent performance, i am not fan of the band i dont really listen to their music, but it was a good evening.

Good to see other people sharing my opinions of them.

Also, Agora would've been a great band to open for Symphony X. It must have been a great show indeed, memo.

They come to Atlanta in August, but i will be away . Do you know the name of the Puerto Rican band? They sound interesting

Oh, I thought errant society was another band. I meant the one with the good vocalist.

bummer, maybe someone else whos sees them can aid us.