THERION, En Vivo Con Orquesta

Cómo me hubiera gustado estar ahí...

The long awaited "Therion goes classic" event, a world premiere, took place at the Palace Hall in Bucharest, Romania, on Saturday December 9th. I arrived there at about 7:15 p.m., facing the imposing building. I must admit I was a little surprised to find only a few people gathered; some of them, real fans, who bought their tickets, eagerly waiting to see their idols, and others, as something already usual, waiting for the "special offers", which came up more punctual than ever. After a while, I dared to enter the Hall and I wasn't really surprised this time to find it half empty, yet the time showed apoximately 15 minutes before the hour established for the show's opening. The stage was ready, but it looked a little crowded with chairs, so I found myself wondering where was the Therion area suppose to be. Later I found out that through the whole concert, the rock artists were suppose to perform in the back, behind the great orchestra.

At 8:15 p.m. the members of the orchestra, the choir, the soloists and the conductor, came on the stage, to kickoff this unique event, but not before we had the pleasure of seeing the Sweedish Ambasador, there to present and welcome the wonderful show. After his philantropical and emotional speech, also with humorous accents, I turned around to see the crowd and it looked like the Hall was full all of a sudden. I had my explanation later from those "special offers".

The first part of the concert featured four Therion songs, including the short Intro, all played in a classical manner. The fans didn't seem very excited about what was happening on the stage, at least not until the third song, "Wondrous world of Punt", which in the Therion version, was a wonderful ballad. During the next song, last of the first part, "Clavicula Nox", played in the same classical way, the audience looked a little more excited, meaning that, as they were more familiar to this well-known track, from the well-known album "Vovin", they received it with applause. I admit that I was also delighted, to a certain extent, to hear the song played in this way. Still, although this was a ballad, magically turned into a classical composition, it had it's moments moments when I was longing for the Therion drums and the bass, as they were leading the song in it's original version.

The second part had several compositions by Wagner, Verdi, Dvorak, Saint-Saens and Mozart. At last, the awaited artists emerged on the stage, performing, through the whole concert, like I said, behind the orchestra, on a smaller stage located there especially for them. This part of the concert, which created a lot of controversy before the show, presented the classical artists' compositions, performed by the symphonic orchestra, the choir, opera soloists and Therion. The selected pieces streamed pretty fast, but I couldn't feel anything special or distinct. The orchestra's standard performance was completed by maybe a little too sudden drums, and guitars that didn't offer anything unusual. To my mind, they could have done some transformations that would emphasize the rock instruments, as the announcements before the concert said, "classical compozitions played in a Therion version". It was only towards the end of this part, marked by Wagner compositions, that the sound was more interesting, as the choir harmonized very nice with the bass incursions, and the soprano's dramatic style, cmpleted by a little faster tempo, offered a more, let's say, glorious finale. Then, a lady from the Aquarius Foundation, came on the stage to announce that, there will be 10 minute break, before "Therion goes classic" continues.

At about 9:30 p.m., the last and the most important part of the show made it's entrance, consist of ten Therion songs, performed by the band, accompanied by the wanderful orchestra, choir and soloists. During the break, people were arguing the possibility of placing the orchestra in the back, but, unfortunately there were no changes on the stage, except for the lights, along with projections of occult symbols. Maybe the atmosphere also changed a little, once they started to play, as the audience was receiving another type of energy from the well-known tracks. The first song "Blood Of Kingu", harmonized the rock tempo very well with the choir and the orchestra's performance, too bad everything was stricken by a painful mycrophone feedback. On "Sirius B", the Hall was covered in a red light, the strings along with the violins made a wanderful intro, and carried on. The next song was "Eternal Return", with it's dramatic violins, performed with a soprano, fitting the gothic scene , with a specific outfit and a distinct hairdo. The complete rock sound, from the band in the back, suddenly took over, finishing the song in a more powerful tempo. Maybe only a few will agree with me, but I think "Lemuria" and "Draconian Thrilogy" were performed very well, almost as if we would listen to the original CD tracks. The crescendo in the end, along with an added piano came through very nice. Not to praise too much, I must say I think the bass was too loud, at least that's the way I heared it from the front rows. It's too bad that the beautiful violin part at the end of the Thrilogy, was covered by the audience's applause, who thought the song was over. On "Schwartsalbenheim", the choir, completed by the church organ, was easily growing alongside the drums' rhythm which covered a little too much. The song's final moment, featured by violins, was a success. It was certainly a good moment for a transition to the other song, but we didn't have any fading between the melodies in this concert.

"Siren Of The Woods" is another good performance, not only from the two soloists, but also from the orchestra, and let's not forget the marvellous guitar solo. Unfortunately, the clean sound was again cut by a mycrophone feedback. However, comparing it to the other songs, in my opinion "Siren Of The Woods" was the best performance. The next song, my favourite one from Therion, "Via Nocturna", to my disappointment, didn't sound quite as I wanted it to. The intro was well achieved, so was the final part of the song, and the pieces played by Therion helped a little. However the flute was too low, and the choir, known for it's loud echo in the original song, was almost absent to my ears. The song that shoult have made the audience rise, "Rise of Sodom and Gomorah", was received only with a few claps. Christofer Johnsson was desperately making gestures to the audience to stand up and sing along, but in vain. The "Grand Finale" gave us a well-placed ending, except for the fact that I couldn't hear the lead guitar very well. The crowd applauded for several minutes, and everybody was expecting at least one bis, many fans hoping for the anthem "To Mega Therion". but the concert was over, without any words from Johnsson or someone else fron the foundation. I think an ending speech whould have been appropriate.

I had been waiting for this concert and I was really excited when it finally came, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. There were many fans from outside Bucharest and outside Romania. I'm honestly sorry that they didn't receive a show like they wanted. Being announced as a concert with charitable purposes, the artists could have offered the audience a more complex and remarkable performance, one that would combine more ingenious ideas. All in all, "Therion goes classic" was a nice concert, it was a pleasure for me to see the famous rock artists live again. However, with the ingredients they possessed, I'm sure they could have given us a more spectacular show, one that would cover the expectations.

Harry Haller
Fuente: http://www.metalhead.ro
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