GET ON WITH IT!
Without mirroring my CD reviews of Edguy, I have a real soft spot for this German Five-piece. Many bands have tried to copy Helloween, many have tried and failed miserably, but Edguy have done it perfectly. They've managed to capture the humour and attitude of their power metal forefathers as well as their skills of catchy song-writing. I first saw Edguy at last year's Bloodstock Open Air festival and for me they were the pick of the bunch, even out-entertaining Children of Bodom, which I thought couldn't happen. I relished at the thought of seeing Edguy again, but this time it was going to be bigger and for much longer.
The evening had cooled somewhat, and the wrap around blankets and jumpers were out. The crowd waited eagerly for the crazy Germans to appear. And they waited some more, and then some more. The first thing I noticed when the band finally hit the stage, was the length of vocalist Tobias Sammett's hair. His transformation from metal kid to Jon Bon Jovi is becoming more and more realised, and I hoped the band wouldn't lose their strength because of it. Sadly, as the set wore on, this seemed to be the case because the whole Edguy experience needed a rocket up its ass.
It wasn't the fastest of starts, although to be fair it doesn't always have to be but it helps. The epic 'Sacrifice', although being a great song, perhaps shouldn't have sat second in the set. It was not until the band blasted out the awesome 'Babylon' that the evening really started coming alive. It warmed the crowd up for the following ludicrously titled 'Lavatory Love Machine'. Not the greatest song in the world but it was a crowd pleaser and suddenly Edguy were cooking. It was from this point the set started wane, like a pace setter getting tired after the first few initial laps.
The biggest problem was Tobias Sammett's interaction with the crowd. He is a witty and instantly likeable front man, and adds a panache to the band. He, as he himself put it, 'brown-nosed' to the crowd a little, making reference to the World Cup and how England is the home of metal (which of course it is). But like an excited kid he could hardly stop himself from talking. His witty inter-song banter soon became over stretched and tiresome. Even the organisers had to tell them to 'get on with it' due to the oncoming encroachment of curfew. But instead of taking heed of such a warning, the band still persisted in pissing about, and perhaps pissing off the cold, foot weary crowd at the same time.
The band's latest effort 'Rocket Ride' was plundered heavily although in all the wrong areas. There was no room for such potential crowd pleasers as 'Return to the Tribe' and the title track. The band instead opted for the garbage of 'Trinidad', the appalling 'Fucking with Fire', the abysmal ballad 'Save Me' and the overrated 'Superheroes'. With only 'Mysteria' as the shining beacon after 'Babylon' the set ended quite unsatisfactorily. Edguy churned out the mid-tempo 'Avantasia' and I realised what the problem with this set was. Most of the songs sounded the same. The mid tempo rhythm and structure of many the songs caused the show to be tame, lame and a such a shame.
Of course it was entertaining, it was hard not to be entertained by Edguy. But I think a better and more varied set list would've gone down a lot better with the English crowd. They're a great band, but hey needed to be a little more 'immediate,' and stop all the ad-libbing and messing about. The crowd seemed happy though, as when the end came they trudged off to the campsite, weary and sun burnt.