Will Savatage perform in the U.S.? Chris Caffery provides an answer to this

Guitarist Chris Caffery of renowned progressive metal pioneers Savatage was asked how audiences in South America and Europe reacted to the band’s 2025 return shows in a recent interview with Matt Capitano of the Face The Music podcast, as per Blabbermouth.

It’s been amazing. And I think it’s better than I could have hoped for, which I was just hoping for it to be really good, that people would be happy we were back and they would accept it and they would wanna see more. It’s been over-the-top great, which is really cool. People have been so excited. And there’s been so many new fans that never had a chance to see us before. And some of the old ones that are arriving to the shows with their children that [are] anywhere from 14 to for how long it’s been since we played, in their twenties, where the kid never had a chance to see Savatage. So, we’re meeting their families as they bring ’em to the shows.

I think the fact that we really busted our butts to make sure that the band was very tight and the music was played very well and we were all in shape when we went up on stage and did the best we could do, the fans that used to go see us all the time that would brag to their friends that didn’t know of Savatage, how we were live, ‘You gotta see this band live. You gotta see this band live,’ I think we lived up to their memories to them, and they were very happy. So when they brought their friends out and their family and this and that, they were, like, ‘See.’ So we didn’t let anybody down. And I think that includes ourselves. And I just wanted to do the best I possibly could do. I mean, I sat and really kind of nickel and dimed a little bit of the [late Savatage guitarist] Criss [Oliva] solos more than I did in the past, because in the past I was just kind of playing ’em and into my head, making sure I remembered ’em as close as possible, but this last time I was going through and really picking apart specific licks and even some of the songs I’d never played before.

I think it was just either the amount of time that it’s been since I first played a Savatage song till then. I would send tapes of me playing this stuff to [Savatage singer] Zak [Stevens], and they were just, like, ‘This sounds exactly the same.’ And I’m, like, ‘Yeah. I never played that song before.’ So there’ll be Savatage songs I never played that I’ll play for the first time, and I’m playing the lead or songs that I played 20 years ago, I’m playing the lead completely different. And the different happens to be really correct. [Laughs] So it’s one of these things where I don’t know if it’s just me getting older and getting better or if there’s a little bit of guidance that comes around every once in a while. I think it’s a little of both.

When asked if he believed the current Savatage lineup will ever play in the United States again, Caffery responded as follows.

Yeah, I think we will. I think right now everybody just needs to be happy that we’re back. I try to tell it to the States fans. I’m, like, do you understand that it was the Europeans and South Americans that dug this out of the woodwork? Now that you’ve seen that we’re playing all these other places, don’t get upset when we’re not playing with you. If you would’ve had the same demand out of the gate, or in the past, the first shows may have been the United States. They got that benefit. So it’s, like, now we’re just trying to make it be the right thing. We don’t wanna come over here and do anything less as far as the production and how we’re getting on that stage and the situations. We don’t wanna get into a compromise situation where [fans will say], ‘I saw ’em. It was okay.’ It’s, like, we wanna really make sure that we get something together that’s gonna work.

We’ve been going over, mulling through a few different ideas and things that happens, and I know some festivals have asked us to come and play and some of ’em headline. And we’re working it all out. It’s not like it’s not going to happen. I just don’t know exactly when or how. And I’m always the last to know. So somewhere there’s gonna be somebody out there who will know before me. ‘Hey, I hear you guys are playing…’, and I’ll be, like, ‘We are?’ It’s always like that. It was like that last year when we were playing. ‘Oh my God. It’s great to know you guys are playing back at Rockwave [in Greece].’ I’m, like, ‘We are?’ The people in Greece knew before me, and the people in the United States will know where we’re playing in the USA before me. It’s just gonna happen that way.

I wanna play everywhere we can. And like I said, hopefully none of our travel plans get messed up through the ways of the world. But I keep my finger crossed and hope for the best.

Following Capitano’s observation that European fans of heavy metal and hard rock seem to enjoy the genre “on a different wavelength than American does,” Chris agreed.

I love playing in America, but I think a lot of times we have so many things going on in this country that for some people the music becomes just a part of everything else. With a lot of these European and South American fans, I know that especially some of the countries that are less busy economically, I think the music is such a bigger percentage of a part of these fans’ lives that when you go to see them live, you’re filling maybe 10 holes that music would fill in America, that are filled around us by nine other things. The music is just one of 10 in the things that people do on the weekend. These kids are doing just that. It’s their one release. And I think when you play for these audiences, you feel that live. And I think it’s undeniable. Not that there’s not great audiences in the United States — there are, and there always has been — but you’ll see, even with that, some of the places you get to, some of the more rural places where the kids will crawl out of the woodwork, ’cause they’re not in a big city and there’s not a big sports team and there’s not a big arena around it. When we used to play some of the club venues with Savatage or some of the theaters, you would get out there into some of these places and these crowds were just, like, bananas. They were great. And you feel that. But the European festival scene is definitely something that has to be seen to be able to describe exactly. It’s kind of like a TSO [Trans-Siberian Orchestra] show. You could talk about ’em, unless you see it, you don’t really know. But I mean, there’s lots of great stuff, like I said, in South America too. And I know there’s a lot of great festivals coming around in America too.

Upcoming shows:

• Wednesday–Saturday, June 3–6, 2026 – Sölvesborg, Sweden – Sweden Rock Festival
• Friday, June 5, 2026 – Maxéville, France – Heavy Weekend Festival
• Sunday, July 19, 2026 – Istanbul, Türkiye – Zorlu PSM Turkcell Sahnesi
• Tuesday, July 21, 2026 – Bucharest, Romania – Arenele Romane Open Air (opening act: Trooper)
• Thursday, July 23, 2026 – Plovdiv, Bulgaria – BE4 Hills Festival
• Saturday, July 25, 2026 – Athens, Greece – Release Festival
• Monday, July 27, 2026 – Pompeii, Italy – Amphitheatre of Pompeii (special concert with orchestra)
• Tuesday, July 28, 2026 – Este, Italy – Castello Carrarese (opening act: Vision Divine)
• Thursday, July 30, 2026 – Wacken, Germany – Wacken Open Air
• Saturday, August 1, 2026 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013
• Monday, August 3, 2026 – Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7 Open Air (opening act: Nevermore)
• Wednesday, August 5, 2026 – Villena, Spain – Leyendas del Rock Festival
• Friday, August 7, 2026 – Kortrijk, Belgium – Alcatraz Festival
• Saturday, August 8, 2026 – Hamburg, Germany – Elb‑Riot Festival
• Sunday, August 9, 2026 – Geiselwind, Germany – Keep It True Festival
• Tuesday, August 11, 2026 – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja (opening acts: Armored Saint / Nevermore)
• Wednesday, August 12, 2026 – Leipzig, Germany – Parkbühne
• Thursday, August 13, 2026 – Bonn, Germany – KUNST!RASEN
• Saturday, August 15, 2026 – Moravský Krumlov, Czech Republic – Rock Castle Festival

Get your tickets by clicking here.

On June 26, 2026, a long-lost chapter of Savatage history finally comes to light. earMUSIC is delighted to announce the release of “Madness Reigns From The Gutter (1990)”, a previously unreleased official live recording capturing the band at the height of their legendary “Rulin’ Gutter” tour.