Finally I did have a change to see Fates Warning live. My friend was kind enough to give me a ride from San Francisco to the Club KAOS in Fremont. That's very nice of him. There's no ticket because I paid at the door and just got only a stamp.
I believe that Fates Warning used to play at this club before but I missed that show. The Club KAOS is definitely not a good place to see concerts. It's pretty small and the sound system wasn't that good plus there's a lot of smokes in there. Hard to breath sometimes.
I started listening to Fates Warning since they has John Arch as a singer. I like their first 3 albums. They're fast, heavy and accurate. I think John's singing is not bad though. Old Fates sounds like Iron Maiden to me. Fates Warning music in Ray's era is more melidic and more progressive. Well, maybe...
There were 3 opening bands.
Silent Scream - This is an instrumental prog metal band from sacramento. Pretty good.
Kage - This band is very funny. They sound a lot like power metal to me.
True to Form - This band is very good, similar to Sepultura.
The setlist from what I remember.
Fates Warning came on with the entire set of A Pleasant Shade of Gray. That was very impressive, wasn't it? Ray Alder is difinitely an awesome prog metal singer. He could hit every high note with no problem.
The lineup was:
Ray Alder (vocals)
Mark Zonder (drums)
Jim Mathoes (guitars)
Joey Vera (Bass)
Jason Keazer (keyboard) from Devine Regale
From what I remember they did not play "The Ivory Gate Of Dreams" at my show. But they did have this song on "Still Live" (double live album). If Fates Warning plays in San Francisco again. I will definitely go to see them.
AE
Progressive Rock / Metal Concerts