Dr. Stein, Mr. Murder, Mrs. God And Other Stories - The Offical Helloween Thread

[moecurlythanu]

Are they doing a full US tour, or just the one Stateside show?

According to Pollstar, they've got 7 more US dates, but none close to Cleveland, per usual.

https://www.pollstar.com/Artist/hell...ngDates&page=0

[spellbound]

I don't need convincing. Been a fan since I first heard them.

[TheLoony]

Are they doing a full US tour, or just the one Stateside show?

Just another funny. They, not unlike Iron Maiden a couple years ago, asked the question to the audience how many people were from Vegas and how many weren't.

Not a good response from those of us that either live here or in my case were born here.

During the "boring" part of the show I snuck out for a smoke. Met a couple from Belgium. How damn cool is that?

I tells ya, last night was almost a spiritual experience for me. I finally got to see this damned band, and I got to see them in totally the right way. Took long enough.

They couldn't have done it any better.

Here's a recent show from Moscow. Even if you aren't a metal guy just check out how they used the vocalists together and the fun they are obviously having.

[TheLoony]

Sitting here. Ruminating.

I first heard Helloween on AM radio. Not great sound quality and the singer was, well, crazy, even for that time in so called mainstream metal. I don't know if they were actually mainstream at the time but they were on both of the metal AM stations that played here for a year each, from about late '98 to 2000.

Again, remember I'm ruminating.

I had a asshole roommate at the time. So my band and I ripped him off. I actually ripped off my house.

Probably wan't the best move I could have pulled off to get rid of a dickhead. In any case.....

That's how I got to know Helloween. I got quite a few bucks from the house insurance(didn't know that could happen I just wanted the roommate gone) and bought the cassette because I didn't want to spend the money for a CD.

Life is crazy, eh?

[moecurlythanu]

^ I don't think I ever heard them on the radio, but they got a lot of coverage in Kerrang!.

[TheLoony]

Kerrrang was something I rarely came across BITD. Ht Parader and Circus were my two main sources as far as that type of mag goes. Of course there was Guitar FTPM and Guitar and Bass but I got hip to them from two really weird AM stations. One was ahead of it's time with no dj's just all done by computers, a local station and then ZRock which was a absolutely fantastic hard rock/metal station, not local and based out of Dallas.

They, IIRC, only played a couple songs - Twilight of the Gods and Future World on a regular basis but it was enough the get me intrigued. I wasn't sure when i got that first album if I would like it as the singer had a unusually high and strong voice(still does) but I saw it sitting there, a bunch of them, on a barrel they used to have at Odyssey records(don't look for it, it's not there anymore). They promoted it, I bought it, and the rest is history as the kids say.

I do remember one night being high and stupid with a friend and he called ZRock in Dallas and whispered the chorus from Dr. Stein and got them to play that one. The epics Halloween and Keeper of the Seven Keys never got played but those were the songs that stuck out and made me a fan after two albums.

At the time, I had heard Rush do their prog "metal" type of thing and Queensryche and Fates Warning were the only other bands I knew of that were doing that type of stuff. I had never heard Dream Theater and wouldn't until Images and Words came out in what, '92? Of course, there was Maiden also but they were considered different for some reason.

I love the weird stories of how someone came across a band so there's mine.

[SteveSly]

Thanks for posting the review. Sounds like it was a blast.

[TheLoony]

Thanks for posting the review. Sounds like it was a blast.

No problem. With all the crazy Europeans there it really felt like a "real" Helloween show with all the singing going on. Surely got me hyped up more than I thought I would get.

I didn't get my ticket until the day of and had to pick it up at will call. I asked the guy there and he said it was almost sold out with around a 1,000 tickets sold. I assume that's about the capacity of the HOB. From what I could see the upstairs was pretty full and of the handful of times I've been there I have never seen people upstairs.

Except for the fact I paid 30 bucks for two beers the evening really couldn't have been better. Just wish I hadn't broken the balloon. That must have been a funny sight watching me walk out of the casino, across the street to where I parked, with that huge ass balloon. A old, fat, balding white guy with a immense pumpkin balloon surely must have been one of those things you just chalk it up to "Well, it's Vegas, baby".

[TheLoony]

So I was goofing off after quitting my job last night(don't ask) and watching one of the videos from this show I've found. Thinking about it I gotta say this is one of my top five shows of all time and maybe #1 just because it took almost thirty years for me to get this experience. The only bands on my wish list that really matter are AC/DC and Floyd so even if the former tours again I'll never be able to afford it and the latter is no more. IOW, I've gotten to see everyone I really need to in my lifetime except Helloween until last year, so I'm a quite happy camper.

They sealed the deal with the first two songs, really. Just a crazy night I hope to never forget. Wish I still had that damned balloon though. That would be so cool. At least I have the videos(how the hell do you hold your hand up with a phone in it for 2 1/2 hours?) so I can re-live it anytime I want.

Sorry, ETA as I'm dumb and can't really put my thoughts out there. I've seen 100,000 or so of my best friends nearly riot and kill me for Metallica. I've seen one of the most emotional moments one could ever see at a show when Blues Traveler did the National Anthem five days after 9/11, in Sedona at a natural amphitheater gig with the sun setting on the mountains behind them - totally effing cool moment.

Rush, R30 at Red Rocks and later that year the classic Yes tour w/Dream Theater at the same spot. Maybe not so "historic" but for me they are. I've been around for a minute and seen a show or two and this one ranks all the way up there for a number of reasons, as I've noted.

Life may be sucky, but it ain't always sucky.

[JKL2000]

Hang in there, Loony. I’m a big Helloween fan too, but I’ve never seen them live. I think they do have some similarity to some Iron Maiden. The only power metal band I’ve seen live is Blind Guardian, which I enjoyed a lot (saw them a couple times).

[TheLoony]

Hang in there, Loony. I’m a big Helloween fan too, but I’ve never seen them live. I think they do have some similarity to some Iron Maiden. The only power metal band I’ve seen live is Blind Guardian, which I enjoyed a lot (saw them a couple times).

Listen to the riff at the end of Halloween, right before the "It's on Helloween" part. Totally sounds like Maiden, IMO. Powerslave, I'm thinking it sounds like(just that album, not necessarily the song).

Turns out I found an interview where they are committed to this, the seven guys in the band. A dvd of this show will be released along with a cd, obviously, but they are going to do a new album with the whole roster, which is fucking killer. Rush may not exist any longer, Deep Purple is almost done - damn, I wish I has seen the show last year but oh well - but Helloween ain't done and while I may never be able too see them again I got to see them on a "historic" tour and I'm choked up by that memory.

Sometimes, getting old is cool.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Perhaps there might even be other reasons for disliking Helloween and pomp-powermetal in general than "[...] not being into the heavier side of things".

[JKL2000]

Hang in there, Loony. I’m a big Helloween fan too, but I’ve never seen them live. I think they do have some similarity to some Iron Maiden. The only power metal band I’ve seen live is Blind Guardian, which I enjoyed a lot (saw them a couple times).

CTTOI, when I saw Blind Guardian the first time, Symphony X opened for them (I think they had equal billing actually), so if Symphony X counts as power metal then that's another I've seen. It was a fun show as it was Blind Guardian's first show in NYC, and they were pretty pumped about that.

[TheLoony]

CTTOI, when I saw Blind Guardian the first time, Symphony X opened for them (I think they had equal billing actually), so if Symphony X counts as power metal then that's another I've seen. It was a fun show as it was Blind Guardian's first show in NYC, and they were pretty pumped about that.

I'm on one of my day trips down to Phoenix, when I lived in Sedona, staying at the cheap, but very cool, Premier Inns in the Metro Center. There was a Best Buy in there so I stopped in to see if maybe they would have some Spock's Beard that I didn't have at the time.

They didn't, big shocker, but I was determined to not spend money on anything else at the time. If they don't have what I'm looking for then screw them, right?

Yeah, that didn't work too well. I saw the cover of Symphony X The Odessey - don't how to spell that word obviously, whatever - and knowing the reputation of the band I bought it. Didn't even get out of the parking lot before I realized they were pretty damned cool. That first riff totally blew me away.

Cool memories. Got to see them on Gigantour also and they were very cool. Hot freaking day that was.

[SteveSly]

I'm on one of my day trips down to Phoenix, when I lived in Sedona, staying at the cheap, but very cool, Premier Inns in the Metro Center. There was a Best Buy in there so I stopped in to see if maybe they would have some Spock's Beard that I didn't have at the time.

They didn't, big shocker, but I was determined to not spend money on anything else at the time. If they don't have what I'm looking for then screw them, right?

Yeah, that didn't work too well. I saw the cover of Symphony X The Odessey - don't how to spell that word obviously, whatever - and knowing the reputation of the band I bought it. Didn't even get out of the parking lot before I realized they were pretty damned cool. That first riff totally blew me away.

Cool memories. Got to see them on Gigantour also and they were very cool. Hot freaking day that was.

I hope Symphony X does another album. I have only seen them once, on their last tour, and it was great. I've also seen Russell Allen several times with Trans Siberian Orchestra and he always delivers.

[TheLoony]

I hope Symphony X does another album. I have only seen them once, on their last tour, and it was great. I've also seen Russell Allen several times with Trans Siberian Orchestra and he always delivers.

Didn't know he was with TSO. Probably East anyway so I wouldn't have seen them. Glad I did that one time though. AS always, another funny story about a show. They sold two sets of our tickets so when we got to our seats someone else had them with identical tickets.

So blah blah blah they give us new seats, about twenty rows back in the loge seats in this empty roped off area, center sage. Not bad, better than the ones we would have had at least.

There was a reason that area was roped off. At one point an usher comes up and tells me we have to leave. I told him what was up and he left us alone. Just a few minutes later, the violinist and one of the guitarists come running down the aisles towards us, get on a little stage in front of us and it gets lifted up high on wires.

Thing is, there's a little SFX going on and they pumped cold gas out of the bottom of this stage and it got real cold for a few seconds there. It didn't hurt us but I wonder if we had been closer what would have happened to the elderly ladies I was with at the time.

Didn't see that coming. Didn't even see that little stage in front of us. It was just a thing there. There's always things at shows that mean nothing, they are just things.

[TheLoony]

Interesting question. watch, if you can find it, just the song A Little Time.There's a whole section of clocks in the bridge and how they keep time is amazing to me.

[TheLoony]

Pumpkins United DVD. Finally got it. Bloody awesome.

Thought they would just use the Wacken footage that's been up on Youtube for a while, and they did that but interspersed it with footage from Sao Paolo and Madrid.

Really damned good old school power metal. I never noticed the drummer has four bass drums. Two feet, four drums, seems a little overkill but whatever. More bad ass that the Devil's three bass drum kit in The Pick Of Destiny, so therefore way more cooler.

Adding all these members back into the band seems tough but they really made it work. They are having fun. Lots of smiles, face tweaks and general goofiness amongst the professionalism. And why does my spellcheck lie to me and say amongst isn't a word?

This band rocks, plain and simple. They really have, over the years, come up with great melodies. At least, for me, they work. Songs I can sing along with. Not the most complicated, for sure, but just damned good.

Lost opportunity's at that show thinking about it now. I possibly could have gotten laid if I had given up that balloon.