The Flying Opera

AVANTASIA

“The Flying Opera“

OUT:March18, 2011

Avantasiaonline:

1999 was the year when EDGUY vocalist and frontman Tobias Sammet decided to create something huge but at the same time non-recurrent by uniting a variety of legendary rock musicians in the studio to record his metal opera AVANTASIA.

Eight years later Sammet gathered his matchless ensemble again to sign with Nuclear Blast and to record and release the two-parter EP “Lost In Space Part 1” and “Lost In Space Part 2” (both 2007). The subsequent record “The Scarecrow” (2008) came like a bombshell entered the charts in 15 countries (#8 in Germany) and even contained a top-10-single with “Lost In Space”.

What is documented on this double-DVD now is the highly memorable first AVANTASIA world tour that followed after the album’s big success. It included not only a headliner show at the biggest Heavy Metal festival in the world – the” Wacken Open Air” – for an audience of 85.000 people in 2008 and at the “Masters Of Rock” festival in Czech Republic, but also shows in Asia, South America and all over Europe in front of more than 500.000 people! Tobias walks down memory lane:

“We went from Switzerland to Sweden, from there to Moscow, Tokyo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Sao Paulo and back to Europe within a few days! We barely slept but had much to laugh about – everyone was good-tempered all the time. (…) It doesn’t matter whether you play in Russia or Brazil – as soon as you’re on stage, you speak a universal language!”

Apart from the concert on DVD 1, DVD 2 offers a detailed documentary movie about this once-in-a-lifetime journey of the world’s greatest Heavy Metal-all-star-circus, containing of icons such as Kai Hansen (ex-HELLOWEEN), André Matos (ex-ANGRA) and Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN). That’s as close to the action as it can get! Tobias provides insight:

“To be honest: It makes me chuckle when I watch the interview passages. We agreed on conducting them in English, for 90% of our fans don’t understand German but at least a bit English. To get a fluent conversation going, I was interviewed by Kory Clarke of WARRIOR SOUL.. (…) Of course you don’t see him on the DVD, so it must be funny for Germans to watch a German guy clowning around in English!”

In the end, “The Flying Opera“illustrates the sheer magnitude of this historic event perfectly and sure is huge fun to watch for AVANTASIA fans from all over the globe!