Live Reviews : Epica & Voyager @ 170 Russell, Melbourne 20/03/2016

Words: Jonathon Besanko

Images: Len Panecki

(Click here to view the full gallery)

Tonight was a gig I’d been eagerly anticipating. Dutch symphonic metallers Epica are one of those rare, genre defining acts that everyone seems to know. When I speak to people about metal music, they don’t always recognise the names of bands that I mention, but when it comes to a name like ‘Epica’, most people spark up and say, ‘Oh, I know them!’; and have at least heard of or seen photos of lead vocalist and soprano, Simone Simons.

Before now, I’d never had the opportunity to see them live: having missed them in 2013. Needless to say I was quite contented at the thought that tonight would see that change. And what a night it was! But more to that later.

It’s a Sunday night and the roads and streets are filled with the returning crowds from the F1 grand prix and the soccer. But here, at the humble venue that is 170 Russell in Melbourne, a veritable host of metalheads have assembled to see the Dutch metal maestros live. With crowds in ages varied, I saw a number of people in the audience older than I; in their 30s and a few fairly older than this, also. Undoubtedly long-time fans, it was neat to see a bit of a different crowd from the usual batch.

Opening were the solo support for the evening, Perth-based progressive act, Voyager. What was immediately wonderful to see about these guys returning to Melbourne once more was the clear fanbase that they have earned here. From the second their intro sounded in and the band rolled out onto stage, people at the front and a few in the middle cheered wildly.

“Melbourne, are you ready!” vocalist Danny Estrin had cried out. This man oozes charisma, and the fine use of lighting tonight (for both bands, actually) added an extra tinge of flavour to an already outstanding performance. Though the drums had started off sounded the slightest bit out of time at the beginning, by the second to third onwards, this was no longer an issue and Voyager melded into a finely tuned ensemble of proggy goodness.

Voyager’s newest single “Misery Is Only Company” was one of the standouts of their performance, and sounded excellent live. Even more so with the added atmosphere of gorgeous indigo lighting that painted Danny and the rest of the band as an enigmatic portrait. Between an amusing cover of Darude’s “Sandstorm” (that the crowd loved!) and a great drum solo by Ashley Doodkorte, the real highlight of Voyager’s set came from the dual guitars of Simone Dow and Scott Kay. As a pair, these two simply blew me away. Their solos were emotive and powerful and their overall showmanship and dexterity with their instrument was stellar. Voyager met with a huge applause as they closed out their set and left the stage.

It had come time for the main act of the evening. “Thank you, Melbourne. It’s good to be back!” Simone Simons announced before a horde of cheering onlookers. Coming out with a bang, Epica were in top form all night. It is difficult to fault a band as interesting and unique as this one, and each element of Epica came together beautifully. Simone’s vocals transitioned seamlessly between her normal range and her soprano (despite a couple small moments at the beginning where she felt the slightest bit out of time with the others, but this soon straightened out), and harsh vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Jansen was equally in fine form tonight. It has to be noted early too that one thing I loved about Jansen was how much this man smiled and genuinely seemed to be having the time of his life. But equally still could he turn on this ravenous side and erupt with force as he growled and screamed with immutable style. It was an awesome thing to watch.

“That is a very warm welcome!” Jansen had said. While many of the tracks tonight covered Epica’s most recent effort, ‘The Quantum Enigma’, they still treated the hungry fans with an array of tracks from their early days, such as “Sensorium” from the band’s first album, ‘The Phantom Agony’; and of course, “Cry For the Moon”, from the same album; the “Epica karaoke song!” as Simone had later noted in jest. But an especially cool moment happened when Epica opened with the line, “This song is a question to you. Are you Aussies ready to be unleashed?” as the crowd erupted and Epica led into the song of the same name.

What is immediately evident when it comes to Epica is how artful the band are at being showmen. From Mark Jansen and fellow guitarist Isaac Delahaye often standing atop the amps and performing either end of the stage to the brilliant drum work of Ariën van Weesenbeek (who even had his own solo segment at one stage — a real treat to the ears and eyes alike!), the members of Epica clearly have a lot of fun up on stage. Whether it was in the band members playing before one another on multiple occasions or in the continual and effective crowd engagement, the camaraderie on both ends was always strong. Epica are a well-oiled touring machine, and it shows! They are a band know what they’re doing and they wholly embrace the culture and nature touring entails. They are undoubtedly the masters of their craft in this way.

Despite a couple unsuccessful ventures to get a bit more action happening in the pit (a circle pit finally broke out on the very last song of the encore!), it was a minor thing in the scheme of things, and all in all, from the wealth of chanting and hand swaying I caught, the majority of those in attendance still appeared to be having a great time.

Ending with style, I’ve got to award a special mention to keyboardist, Coen Janssen, whose unique “curveboard” was a sight to behold and added a unique element to the visual aspect of Epica’s show. And this isn’t to mention Janssen’s brilliant key rendition of the “Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!” chant that is a staple at concerts and gigs alike. As Simone Simons rounded out the evening promising another Australian tour to come soon off the back of the recording of their new, and as yet-untitled, album, myself, the band, and many in the audience left with smiles on their faces and memories to boot. A solid end to Epica’s 2016 Australia and New Zealand tour.

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