Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Guitarist Chris Caffery of renowned progressive metal pioneers Savatage discussed the band’s comeback dates in 2025 and June 2026 in a recent interview with Ed Hackimer of This Day In Metal, as per Blabbermouth. He also discussed the band’s scheduled European shows later this summer.
We did four shows in South America [in April 2025]. Three were festivals and one was a headline, and then we did 10 shows in Europe [in June 2025], which was split 50/50 between five headline and five festival shows. And it just felt great to be back. And we just made the decision to keep playing. We’re gonna get everywhere we can. It’s a process that’s being done in a way where we feel we could do justice to all the shows. We don’t wanna go and jump and take one offer for one show somewhere and just fly in there and show up and not have it be at the same level as all the other ones. So we’re rehearsing and spending a lot of time getting ourselves ready for everything we do.
We have four weeks of dates in Europe. And we just did a couple of festivals three weeks ago, and we spent a lot of time rehearsing for them. And we’re gonna go into Athens, Greece for a week and rehearse there before we head to Istanbul, Turkey for the very first time to start doing the shows we have in Europe. And it’s gonna be a lot of fun. We have a bunch of festivals, but there’s a lot of headline shows too, and one of them in particular is [at the Amphitheater of Pompeii, one of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheaters] in Pompei [Italy]. We have a 40-person orchestra [playing with us], and Al and Jon and even with our studio and musical directors from TSO are putting together really cool orchestrations for it. I was listening to it in my headphone in my ear mix when we were rehearsing. I was, like, ‘Turn the orchestra parts up.’ And it’s gonna be really special. It’s an over-two-hour show. And I believe, from what a little bird had told me, that there are plans to absorb that for other people to see that haven’t been there. So I’m pretty sure we’re gonna be filming.
Caffery elaborated on Savatage’s intentions to professionally shoot and record the Pompei concert.
I never like to give official news until we get official news as a band. But I’m pretty sure that that’s gonna be one of those ones that we’re not gonna go, ‘Let’s just fly away’ without there being cameras running. So I’m sure it’ll be recorded and filmed. And it’s gonna be pretty awesome. It’s gonna go by so quick, though, ’cause we arrive the day before, but we’re only in that venue the day we’re playing. So we gotta show up, set up, play and do this completely different setlist than we’re doing in any other show. And, like I said, I’m gonna be staring at where we are, and staring at the orchestra and staring at the audience. And I’m gonna blink my eyes and it’s gonna be over, but I’m really looking forward to that one.
According to Caffery, Savatage’s set selection for the Pompei performance will differ from that of the other performances on the summer 2026 tour.
Well, when Paul had us do the ‘Prelude To Madness’ before ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’, the song, his whole thing with that song was to have the orchestra battling the rock band. And he always felt that the classical musicians were the rock stars and heavy metal musicians of their time, which I agree with. And through our music, songs like ‘Gutter Ballet’, even in that video was when he first had strings sitting there with us, and ‘When The Crowds Are Gone’. He was always getting to the point of marrying those two worlds, to have the old classical and rock and roll music meet together, and this is the perfect opportunity for that. And there’s some really great arrangements and some really cool parts. And, like I said, it’s, I believe, a little bit over a two-hour set right now, so it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
Upcoming shows:
*Festival appearance
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