606. Gamma Ray / 10-12-2006, Gaelic Club, Sydney, Australia [Bootleg]. 2006. 5/5

One of the best moments of the musical side of my life was when I finally got to see Gamma Ray live. To be honest, I never thought it would happen. It's a long way to come from the other side of the world. It was almost unheard of for European power metal bands to travel Down Under (Edguy being one exception), no doubt with the expense of doing so to bring all of their gear.
Then out of nowhere, they announced a fly-by stop over, and Sydney was one of only two gigs.

Flash forward six years, and out of nowhere, I discover a bootleg of the gig on my favourite bootleg site at Guitars101, and I am excited all over again. To hear the actual gig I went to once again!
This bootleg quality is amazing. Someone had some good equipment and a great position. It has it all. It has the minute mistakes, the minutest off keys, the crowd at its excited best. Just magnificent.
The band is truly on song, and Kai's vocals soar to the ceiling. The setlist is a wonderful combination of  songs from almost all of the Gamma Ray catalogue. It kicks off with the magnificent "Garden of the Sinner" before moving into a cacophony of newer tracks, "New World Order", "Man On A Mission", the brilliant "Fight", "Blood Religion" and the crowd pleaser "Heavy Metal Universe".
For the oldest fans, the Helloween trilogy follows. I almost wet my pants in excitement when they broke into "Ride the Sky", which was then followed by the staple sing along songs of "Future World" and "I Want Out".
"The Silence" is almost a rest period in this set list, but it is soon cranked back up to ridiculous levels with "Rebellion in Dreamland" and "Land of the Free", before they return with the encore of "Valley of the Kings", "Somewhere Out in Space" and "Send Me A Sign", which closes out the evening.

This is still very close to the best gig I have ever seen, and this bootleg is a magnificent testament to how good the band is in general, and how magnificent they were on this evening.

Now... when are you coming back again?!?

Guitars101 Forum - Gamma Ray, Sydney, 10-12-06