September 12 was the first date of Edguy’s three-date tour of England, which saw the band play to a sold out Sound Control in Manchester, and it was certainly a night to remember.
Openers Wild Lies didn’t really seem to have their own style and sound, with songs sounding like they could be passed off as Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Guns n Roses and even Black Sabbath! Whilst it was nice to have a bit of familiarity to the music, it all just felt rather underwhelming as a whole because they just weren’t original. Additionally, their vocalist’s efforts to engage with the crowd felt like he was just padding for time and was uncertain of himself, so it unfortunately wasn’t the best start to the night.
However, up next was Skarlett Riot, who really took things up a notch and worked hard at getting the crowd on-side. Frontwoman Skarlett was a small but mighty performer and the amount of energy she displayed was absolutely wonderful and although at times their songs weren’t the most engaging, it was a fun and enjoyable set from the four-piece. It can really be said they did themselves proud and there definitely seemed to be a few new Skarlett Riot fans by the time to set came to an end.
The chants for headliners Edguy rang out as the lights went down and the band had the crowd eating out of their hands by the time the opening chords of Love Tyger filled the venue. With Tobi announcing that the show was the very first of their European tour and that they were confident it was going to be an incredible night, they then proceeded to launch into a well-received rendition of Space Police and Superheroes was another early highlight, with a tremendous amount of crowd participation throughout – it felt like the roof was about to lift from all the singing!
One of the best things about Edguy is that they’re just out to have fun and you can see that from the way they interact with both one another and the crowd. A real high point was the section of the night where we were asked to sing back sections of Defenders Of The Crown and Tobi sang a manner of all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas and improvised moments which the crowd repeated back.
The set wound to a close with what was billed as the first ever performance of All The Clowns in England – what a song! – and they rounded up the set with an energetic and well-received King Of Fools.
It goes without saying that Edguy is on top of their live game and they put on a fantastic show from start to finish, playing a great mixture of old and new songs alike. An all-round awesome night.
8/10
You can read our review of Edguy’s most recent album, Space Police: Defenders Of The Crown, here.
