Blind Guardian have conquered Milan – report of their show at Battlefield Festival

I can’t get enough of summer festivals. I always say that I am tired of travelling and working and everything, and yet here I am at another festival. This one is one of the closest I have to my home, which is Battlefield in Milan. Before starting to dive into yesterday’s performances, a huge thank you to Holly from Hellfire Booking for having me!

Very punctual, Drakkar started at 18:25. While the band plays a very solid heavy metal, I think that their stage presence could be a little less static. Anyway, lead singer Davide Dell’Orto tried to engage with the audience (that wasn’t much at the beginning of their set) in the best way he could. I myself entered the festival grounds a bit later than their set started, but this didn’t damper their spirit, nor the rain discouraged their performance.

Ross The Boss started a couple minutes earlier than scheduled time, which is most definitely appreciated! The band had a very energetic stage presence, and everyone was always engaging with the crowd, that despite the weather conditions, had grown quite a lot. The crowd enthusiastically sang along to most of the tracks that the band performed. I have never seen such a response from the audience from an opening band! They played only Manowar tracks, and the crowd couldn’t get enough of them! Everyone was asking for an encore, but unfortunately the band couldn’t grant their request.

Virgin Steele also begin their set very punctual, introduced by some symphonic track that stops right before they step on stage. Sonically they resonate with me more than the previous bands, but the mixing at the beginning is not amazing, and it’s difficoult to hear the lead vocalist singing if he’s not screaming. The guitar has also significantly a lower volume than the rest of the instruments. That’s too bad because their instrumental parts are layered and very interesting! Their set was varied and very engaging. Lynn Delmato was amazing on keyboards, creating very atmospheric soundscapes that elevated their performance.

And then of course, at 22:00, it was the time of the Bards. This was my fourth time seeing the German legendary band, and for the fourth time they have managed to create a sensational show. I saw them just last week at Summer Breeze festival, and this time the setlist was slightly different. Instead of “Deliver Us From Evil” and “Majesy” in between the two acoustic tracks “A Past And Future Secret” and obviously “The Bard’s Song“, they played “Mordred’s Song” and “Lost in the Twilight Hall”, which are very nice choices anyway! Hansi said that “Nighfall” was Milan’s song, and that we are the best in singing it. Well, I mean I don’t want to brag, but we smashed that one! Everyone was singing quite out loud, and if he wanted, Hansi could stand with his microphone towards the crowd for the whole show and we could take care of everything. He was not so happy that the weather wasn’t very nice here. I understand that! But hey, some summer festivals are rainy and some others are not. That’s not in our control, but it is in our control to be the best crowd that the Bards will see. Whenever they would finish a song, we would chant “Guardian! Guardian! Guardian!” and Hansi stated that while he doesn’t have the authority to stop us, he has to otherwise the show wouldn’t go on! Blind Guardian have the immense ability to just immerse everyone into their world, and we are so happy that we can take part in this! So if you still are indecisive about going to one of their shows, I suggest you catch them while you can!

Setlist:

1. The Ninth Wave
2. Blood of the Elves
3. Nightfall
4. Tanelorn (Into the Void)
5. Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)
6. Violent Shadows
7. A Past and Future Secret
8. Mordred’s Song
9. Lost in the Twilight HallPlay Video
10. The Bard’s Song – In the Forest
11. And the Story Ends
12. Lord of the Rings
13. Mirror Mirror
14. Valhalla