I apologize to all my readers who haven't seen me post in a while! I've been really caught up with a bit of my fanfiction writing, and it has gotten me so distracted from writing about the past concert experiences this early September! If you know me though, I will do what I must on my own schedule, and I need to coordinate it better.
Before I start, I was just recently at Fan Expo this September. It was my fourth time going there, and I as usual am looking forward to going again next year. I was with the two of my friends Emily and Tiffany there, and it felt like something special that way. Last year's Fan Expo despite my meetings with Charles Martinet and Andrea Libman... it felt lonely without someone there to talk to. Still, met loads of cosplayers at the time.
Before I start, I was just recently at Fan Expo this September. It was my fourth time going there, and I as usual am looking forward to going again next year. I was with the two of my friends Emily and Tiffany there, and it felt like something special that way. Last year's Fan Expo despite my meetings with Charles Martinet and Andrea Libman... it felt lonely without someone there to talk to. Still, met loads of cosplayers at the time.
For this year's Fan Expo, I was able to meet not one, but three different people there. I met the voices of Belle and the Beast from the 1991 Disney animation classic "Beauty and the Beast": Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson. Robby sounded a bit tired, but he was very chill when I had my picture with him. Paige on the other half was very nice, both of them signing my Blu-Ray copy of the film. Even had a picture with her, and here's to hoping more Disney VAs appear sometime soon like Jodi. (Sorry, didn't have time to put the photos on. Probably in the updated version of this post I will! 😉)
I also had the opportunity of meeting FemShep's VA, Jennifer Hale who is also known for voicing Sarah Palmer in the recent Halo games. She signed my copy of Mass Effect 3 and I had a selfie with her. I did get her to do her Shepard voice by getting her to say "Report to the ship as soon as possible. We'll bang." She was very nice in person, and I hope more Mass Effect voice actors will come to Fan Expo next year.
You should have seen my friend when we were in line to meet Paige, she was practically shaking! Almost like me when I was going to meet Nightwish for the first time!
But if you're wondering about the concerts, I'll tell you about them...
Deep Purple & Alice Cooper - Budweiser Stage
I was going to see the legendary British rock band again, and it probably will be their final time going to Toronto as it supposedly is their 'farewell tour'. Accompanied with them was Alice Cooper who I had the opportunity of seeing again.
This would be my third time seeing another legend who said that he considers Toronto as his second home. Well, after all he made history here in the city like the chicken-throwing incident back in the 60s/70s. He didn't open with "The Black Widow" as he did with his other shows, but instead opened up with "Brutal Planet" which is a kick-ass song before jumping right into his classics like "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Billion Dollar Babies", "Poison", "Feed My Frankenstein", "I'm Eighteen" and the classic conversial tune "Only Women Bleed".
He performed a new song from the most recent album he released this year, and performed "Cold Ethyl" from the Welcome To My Nightmare album, which was something I didn't expect. During Billion Dollar Babies, he did his usual trick by scattering many of the Alice dollars to the audience in front. I did manage to get one after the show from someone sitting up close to the front.
A Meet and Greet with Alice Cooper himself was approximately $780 and was way out of my own league, so I just got a regular seat on the floor for that show. I was lucky enough to meet one of his guitar players named Roxy, and got to have a picture with him. Nita, the female guitar player wasn't there, but she had a mind-blowing guitar solo on stage.
Hope to meet Alice Cooper as soon as I get the money and as soon as he announces another Toronto show! Until then, it was a great show especially when he finished the set with School's Out!
Next up was the British inspirations for heavy metal, Deep Purple.
They surprisingly had a short set unlike last time two years ago in July 2015. I can recall the setlist being longer, but they still played a great show. Ian's vocals are starting to weaken a little bit, as I remember he did a better job at the first show I saw them. Steve Morse still did a great job on the guitar, as well as the eye-widening keyboard solos from Don.
"Highway Star" opened up the night, as they always start their shows with that song. They performed one song from their recent album Infinite called "Time for Bedlam", and performed their classic known songs like "Pictures of Home", "Lazy", "Perfect Strangers", "Fireball", "Hush" and "Perfect Strangers". They closed off the night with the traditional "Smoke on the Water", finishing a good night and show.
Not really much can be said, but Thank You Deep Purple for the years if it is your final tour.
Epica & Lacuna Coil w/ Insomnium - The Opera House
The day after the Deep Purple and Alice Cooper show, it was another night once again with my friend Emily. This would be my second time going to see Epica in concert, and for her it would be her first time. For the concert, I managed to get me and her VIP Meet and Greet tickets off of another website that wasn't Ticketfly, but still was one to grant us access quite early to the venue.
Being that she missed out on last time they were in Toronto, I decided to make this show a freebie for her, and just like the Megadeth concert coming up this Friday which will also be free. We got in the VIP line and got to enter early, picking up our VIP merch when we were given the early access.
Coen recognized me from last time and I said hello to him on the other side of the room in line as we waited for the others to come and sit at the signing table. Once Simone arrived, the line began to move forward and eventually me and her meet the band members. They all signed my copies of The Quantum Enigma and The Solace System, and I allowed Rob to sign my copy of Delain's April Rain with the gold sharpie I had. Somehow, I knew that would come in handy. Mark after signing the EP, opened up the booklet to look through it. I asked if he was going to sign in there, but he tells me that he hadn't seen the inside of it yet.
After the signing, comes the picture and my selfie with Simone:
After the picture and the selfie, I asked Simone if I could give her a hug. She told me it was alright but would only do it once because she is married to Oliver Palotai from Kamelot who I will be meeting in April. Remind me to give him a hug too! 😅 After giving each of the other members fist-bumps, me and Emily moved to the side of the sound booth to prepare for the show. From the merch table, I bought myself a patch and another CD copy of Requiem for the Indifferent as I gave the original copy to my friend.
Elantris was the first band to open up. They performed a short set, and I thought they were a decent band, so there's not really much to say about them. My friend actually thought that it was the band as the back-drop stated.
Out from Finland themselves was the band Insomnium, who almost remind me of Wintersun. They have a melodic death metal theme to their music and being that I am a sucker for Finnish metal bands... you can tell I really enjoyed it.
Lacuna Coil was next on stage, and it was their big return as I can see that there were loads of people getting really excited to see them perform. Cristina was the only one I recognized as I remember she had a singing part in the Ayreon concept album The Theory of Everything. She had phenomenal vocals, and I should remind myself to purchase one of their albums when given the chance.
Here's to hoping that Lacuna Coil comes back to Toronto more often, as they are usually doing shows in Europe.
Next up was the Netherlands legends... Epica!
Just like last year's November show, they opened up their set with "Edge of the Blade" and being a sold-out show, there was loads of excitement coming from all of the audience when the band came on stage, just in the nick of time! They performed a few of their well-known stuff like "Unleashed", "Unchain Utopia", "Universal Death Squad", "Dancing in a Hurricane" and performed a song from their new EP "Wheel of Destiny".
You should have seen my reaction near the end of the set before their encore: They begin to perform "Cry for the Moon" and I absolutely lost it and began to sing along. From their debut album, it is one of my absolute favorite Epica songs of all-time. Every time I hear that song or Once Upon a Nightmare, I think of the character Nightmare Moon.
For their encore, they finished the night with "Sancta Terra" from The Divine Conspiracy, "Beyond the Matrix" and "Consign to Oblivion". I know they didn't play "Mother of Light" or "Once Upon a Nightmare", but if I go to another Epica show, I should get down on my knees and beg them to play "Tides of Time".
Loverboy - Kerrfest 2017
After work on the 9th, I was able to get my dad to drive me down to Kerr Street. It was cold in the night, so I made sure to bring a hoodie. I entered into the neighborhood festival, where many were watching the tribute and blues jamming bands in patience of waiting for the Canadian rock legends to come on.
I decided to look around for a bit in the park, looking at all of the vendors that were around. I was there, a Gatorade in my hand and browsing alongside the food. Lo and behold, I see a Lordi shirt by the poutine stand. It's my friend Emily, and it was quite a coincidence since neither of us suspected that we would be there. We both saw a few familiar faces, and had a bit of a discussion for a while.
When Loverboy's set had begun, I moved to the front and began to take a few pictures.
The band opened up with "Notorious" off of the Wildside album. They had a good vibe to their tunes, and Mike still has the same voice that is recognized even on the albums. Other known songs were played from the setlist as it was consistent for the other shows they have done this year like "Queen of the Broken Hearts", the love ballad "This Could Be the Night", "Hot Girls in Love", "The Kid is Hot Tonite", and the well known classics to finish the night: "Turn Me Loose", "Working For The Weekend" and "Lovin' Every Minute of It".
It was my first time finally seeing this band, and hopefully I will see them again in the future.
After the show, I walked back to Emily's place and waited for my dad to come pick me up from there. It was good to see her again, and I will be seeing her again soon.
By soon, I'm talking about this Friday's show at the Budweiser Stage: Scorpions w/ Megadeth. Then in October, will be two nights of Guns N' Roses, in November it's Dream Theater and to finish off the concert year of 2017 will be Evanescence at the Sony Centre.
When the upcoming show has passed, expect a post.
\m/ Brayden \m/
Nice article, but I find it kind of silly how you didn't have the time to put in more stuff about Fan Expo (including photos) but you were able to go into completely full detail about the concerts. You don't have to label yourself as only a Metalhead/Brony here you know. ;) you obviously DID have the time to put in more stuff about Fan Expo given how long it took you to wrote this. But then again I'm just being overly critical again as usual! Maybe it would have been easier to put all three events in separate posts?
ReplyDeleteMy fanfiction can distract me from writing on my own blog too but I don't work on it every time I get the chance to write. I'd say, update it when YOU want to, not because your fans demand it. It's great if other people like your work, but don't change it for anyone.