Savatage - Jewel

Feb.8 , 1990

Tilburg, Holland - Noorderligt
From: Aardschok-Metal Hammer
By: Robert Heeg
Translation: Ellen Bakvis

Three quarters of an hour, a poor sound and light quality. That would probably have been Savatages share if they had come along as the support act of King Diamond . But, "Holland is the fucking best!", that's the opinion of Florida's super band.
And this love is eagerly answered. Not only by the, for the main part Sava-minded, Aardschok-Metal Hammer editors, but especially by the large number of loyal fans.
The mutual affection between Savatage and The Netherlands became manifest last year during their Dynamo Open Air headliner appearance, for which the band decided to put aside everything (album recordings included) for a while.

And now that the epic new album "Gutter Ballet" has been received very well over here, Savatage ofcourse makes another exception for 'us'. The band disengaged themselves from the European King Diamond tour to give a headliner performance in Tilburg, that degenerates into a two-hours-long sequence of heavy metal highlights.

"Let's take on a second guitarist to fill up the gaps", that must have been Savatages thought when they suddenly hired a certain Chris Caffery to make the overall sound a bit more solid. So I'm even more surprised when Caffery's rhythm guitar can't even be detected in Tilburg! Whichever way my ears turn, it appears to be the other Criss (Oliva) who fires off his razorblade riffs. And when Criss' unique fluid solo's run through the songs, it's still beach boy bassist Johnny Lee Middleton and drum-cannon Steve Wacholz solidly closing the background. No, so far Caffery scores more points as a talkative tattler backstage. Visually speaking, 'little' Chris however does his share of filling up his own spot on stage energetically ( as far as it's possible side to side with prominent frontman Jon Oliva ).

But one, two, or even three guitars...who cares as the Savatage songs rumble along ? Skullsplitting force as in "24 Hours Ago", "Power Of The Night", "Hall Of The Mountain King" and ofcourse "Sirens", transform the Noorderligt into a whirling, fistshaking, shouting crowd. Helplessly dragged along by the relentlessly grasping riffs and rhythms of what must be one of the strongest live acts.

But not only brute force is the order of the day. Well-considered material from the "Gutter Ballet" record makes sure there are some necessary resting points during the two-hours-metal-marathon. Like a respiration device has been placed upon every street corner in the polluted streets of Tokyo, Savatage breaks the sonic holocaust with melodic pieces of rare beauty in the year 1990. Jon Oliva, who nowadays goes throug life 'clean' , confirms his musical diversity more than ever when he takes place in front of his keyboard to sing "When The Crowds Are Gone" and "Gutter Ballet" in a moving way. And suddenly, the link to his great hero, Jon Lennon, becomes evident.

It's all okay for the more than a thousand metalheads present. The credible ballads are served with as much enthousiasm as the pure power tracks. But it's a pity that Jon announces "I Believe" at the end of the set, but then doesn't start this worldly song. It seems that the Belgians are being treated with the performance the next day, but then again they had to cope with less playing time. So, jealousy is not needed here. And why the hair-splitting? Savatage gave us an unforgettable show in Tilburg. As usual.