Jon Oliva's Pain / Nostradameus / Dionysus live in Oslo last

Last night The Mountain King once again visited the capitol of Norway, Oslo. His ban, Jon Oliva's Pain are touring for the latest album, and this time he brought with him the label mates in Dionysus and Nostradameus.

Fisrt up was Dionysus. Despite a really bad turnout (less then 50 people were there for the opening acts), these Swedes with their German singer still gave it their all! This band proved that not all great bands get to headline. They had a more than good live sound, and all of the songs sounded amazing. Their brand of happy power metal some times tend to get a bit cheezy, but not Dionysus. Thanks to their awesome singer (who despite having throat problem seemd to be more than capable of hitting every note, and scream, but had problems talking in between songs) and guitar-player. For one who was fairly unfamiliar with the band, I still got maximum out of this gig, and I went to the merchandising booth right after the gig to buy their latest album. There the whole band met up, and singed my CD. I talked a bit with their bass-player, and also talked to Olaf Hayer (vocalist) about Treasure Seeker!!

Nostradameus were next, and this was almost a let down after Dionysus. Mind you, I like the bands music, and I own 2 of their CD's (3 after this gig), but their music is a bit more samey, and it is harder to tell apart songs you have'nt heard before. Also, they didn't have the crystal clear sound that Dionysus had, and sometimes it was hard to tell that there were 2 guitarists on stage. But the band got the small crowd going, and their vocalist has these luminous eye-lenses that was pretty funny to watch.

Then the band we were all waiting for. The crods had grow to twice it's size by now, but still it is a shame that Jon & Co. can't seem to draw a bigger crowd in Norway. If the posters has said Savatage (which this practically is, but with some other instrumentalists), the I reckon we had had to witness this gig at a larger venue! But The Mountain King and boys didn'i dissapoint! From the 1st note of opening song, Warriors, to the last note of The Hall of the Montain King, this was, again, one of the better concerts I have witnessed. Yes, I am biased, but I have a hard time seeing any metalhead not having a great time when ol' Jon belts out Sirens, Jesus Saves, Edge of Thorns, Through the Eyes of the King, and 1 incredible Streets-medley I have not yet seen the band do before!!! Jon was his usual unsane self, always having that evil grin on his face, and enjoying every secnod on stage. And you just have to give it up for 1 Matt LaPorte: He doesn't make much of himself on stage, but the music his guitar is making is so friggin' amazing, I bet if you closed your eyes you woul think that is was Criss Oliva himself standing in front of you!! The man is incredible, and he is the ONLY player so far that does Criss' justice as an axeman. The almost 2 hours the gand playes was of course way to short, as it flew by like it was only a few minutes. As a long time fan there was always songs I would have loved to hear, bt all in all, this was yet another fantastic night in the presence of my all time favorite frontman and songwriter!

Sounds like they kept the set list the same as on Progpower. You're right about LaPorte, I was surprised at how great he was. Sounds like a good gig, dude.

Awesome! Wish I could have seen this show.