423. Gamma Ray & Helloween / Gambling In Osaka [Bootleg]. 2008. 5/5.

The internet can be a wonderful thing. You can find things that, even ten years ago, you would never have found, and their existence would be just a rumour in the wind.
In preparation for Helloween’s first tour of Australia in February of this year, I trawled the net to see if there was perhaps a bootleg out there of their current world tour. After only a short time searching, I came across this gem, which was the complete set played in Osaka this year. Not only did it have Helloween’s set, it had their support act’s set, which just happened to be Gamma Ray.

So here we have the three disc Gambling In Osaka, an A- quality bootleg, which is just spectacular. The first disc carries the entire Gamma Ray set, where the lads just tear it up with a great list of songs. Two songs off their latest album Land of the Free Part 2 are included, and both sound great live. Another great addition was “Heaven Can Wait” from Heading For Tomorrow which is still as good as it ever was. Favourites are still “Rebellion In Dreamland” and “Somewhere Out In Space” which still sound fabulous. One wonders how you could watch Helloween after watching Gamma Ray. It’s like wanting to eat anything after a beautiful Lamb Madras curry - it would almost spoil the taste.

Discs two and three carry the entire Helloween gig, and there is no disappointment here. There are a handful of songs from their latest release Gambling With The Devil and all sound better live than they do on the album. Opening with the eponymous “Halloween” also sets the tone for the gig. The new songs are interspersed throughout the gig, and the mix of new songs with those from the classic era in the late 1980’s is very well done. “March Of Time” is just magnificent, and well received by the crowd after such a long absence. “King For 1000 Years” sounds just as good as it did on the last tour. Perhaps a bit of a letdown is the medley they play toward the end of the set – all the songs deserve the full treatment, but I guess you can’t always fit in everything.

No doubt the highlight if you attended the gig – and still is here – is that Kai Hansen and his bandmates return to the stage for the final encore with Helloween, with Kai and Andi playing duelling vocals on “Future World” and “I Want Out”. Again, this is just great, and you can hear how much fun everyone on stage is having, with guitar solos being traded between everyone.

Of course, this will never be released as an official live album, or even as a DVD. More’s the pity, because they are two great individual gigs, and fully worth the recognition an ‘official’ release could bring.

Rating: However you do it, get a copy of this. You will not be disappointed. 5/5.