One of the most important progressive metal bands of all time, Fates Warning graced Amager Bio in Copenhagen with their presence on April 23, 2014. The Norwegian progressive metal band Divided Multitude was originally slated as the support act, but, for some reason, they canceled, and the Italian progressive metal act Kingcrow were brought in as a replacement. I was actually looking forward to checking out Divided Multitude, but I was not at all disappointed at their replacement. Having heard Kingcrow's In Crescendo, I knew that the Italians' brand of accessible yet sophisticated progressive metal was good. Indeed, the Italians proved not only to be good in the studio but also live and they delivered a very convincing show. They played in front of an extremely small audience, but they looked like they were having fun and seemed determined to give the small crowd positive experience. Small though it was, the audience definitely seemed to enjoy Kingcrow's concert. I know I did, and I can only praise the Italians for stepping in at the very last minute and delivering a hell of a gig.

When Fates Warning took to the stage, the audience had tripled or perhaps even quadrupled in size, but we were nowhere near full house. Ray Alder made several comments on the small audience turnout, some humorous and most insuring people that he and the band were having a great time and that they were happy to still have fans after having been away for such a long time. Anyway, they definitely seemed to be having a great time on stage with Alder and bassist Joey Vera connecting well with the audience. The intimacy of the venue itself and the size of the audience made this connection even more powerful which, in turn, made the concert an even better experience, I think, than had it been in a huge venue in front of a massive audience. The remaining members were more focused on their playing than on the audience, but I detected several smiles on their faces, so I assume they were actually having a good time despite the small turnout. Their set naturally featured a number of tracks from Darkness in a Different Light, and, while the new album has not yet clicked with me fully, I must say that songs such as 'One thousand Fires', 'Firefly', and 'I Am' work extremely well live, and I think that this may perhaps be the major strength of the new album: the material on it is great live material. Thanks to the grooves and heavy beats, they are very easy to rock out to as an audience member. In addition to this new material, Fates Warning performed several classics such as 'Through Different Eyes', 'Life in Still Water', 'The Eleventh Hour', 'Point of View', 'Monument' and, incidentally, my three favorite tracks from from A Pleasant Shade of Gray. In fact, several of the songs they performed are among my favorite Fates Warning material ('Monument' is my favorite track by the band), so I was satisfied indeed. Granted, there were no Arch-era songs, and some fans might have been disappointed at that, but a Fates Warning set should not feature Arch-era songs just for the sake of featuring Arch-era songs. I think that songs like 'Valley of the Dolls' or 'The Sorceress' or perhaps 'Traveler in Time' or 'Soldier Boy' - which are songs that I love - would not fit into the dynamics of the songs included in the setlist. Consummate professionals, Fates Warning performed extremely well live, managing to nicely balance the complexity of their music and the concentration such music obviously requires from the musician with their contact with the audience, and they reminded us all what a totally great live band they are. For my money, theirs was one of th best progressive metal concerts I've attended in a long time.

I think that it's in its place to comment on the audience turnout. Fates Warning have been away for many years, and Denmark is sadly not a big progressive metal country. Granted, we have excellent acts like Third Eye, Pyramaze, Royal Hunt, and, of course, Anubis Gate, but these bands are more well known internationally than in their native country. Moreover, the concert was not really that well advertised. All these factors, I think, play a role in relation to the turnout. Firstly, the eight or nine years that Fates Warning were away from the limelights is a very long time in the world of popular music. I mean an entire generation of rock fans have gone from childhood to adolescence, and chances are that, while they may know Dream Theater and a number of newer progressive metal and djent bands, they may never have heard of Fates Warning. The band seemed very aware of that, and Alder thanked people for sticking around as fans despite Fates Warning's long period of absence. Secondly, given that Denmark is sadly more of a mainstream pop country than our fellow Scandinavian countries, there just is not a huge audience for progressive metal. Bands like Dream Theater and Opeth typically draw relatively large audiences, but they have not been inactive for eight years and are more well known among Danish rock fans. It is also my impression that Danish rock fans do not go to concerts to check bands out, they go to concerts with bands that they know and like (I think it's probably a reflection of a deeper culture, but let's not pursue that). This obviously will result in a small turnout for a band who has been inactive for eight years and whose show was not aggressively advertised. Still, the people who did show up had a really great time and, I guess that the advantage to there being no casual audience members, everyone who was there was a hardcore fan and fully immersed themselves in Fates Warning's superb performance.

Some (lousy) pics: