Rhapsody
May 12, 2016
Grove of Anaheim- Anaheim, CA
Rhapsody is a power metal from Italy. Guitarist and co-founding member Luca Turilli left Rhapsody of Fire and formed his own band called Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody with new members for his band including bassist Patrice Guers. Under this name, the band has released two albums including their newest album Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus which was released in 2015. Rhapsody announced a US tour and fans of Rhapsody couldn’t wait to hear Rhapsody of Fire classics as well as newer tracks. The Grove of Anaheim was the venue of choice for the tour, but sadly for a rather large venue like this, not too many fans showed up. Possibly 1/4 maybe less of the venue was filled once Rhapsody came on stage. Regardless, those fans were more than happy to have a rather intimate setting for a band that only comes to the US once in a great while.
Rhapsody came out to their fans and started the show with the Rhapsody of Fire classic, Knightrider of Doom. Rhapsody plays their music in classic power metal style with harmony guitars and clean vocals. Their music matches the band’s lyrics of dragons, sword battles, and fantasy. Fans could be seen singing along to the opening song and even a mosh pit broke out even though it’s rather unusual to be moshing to power metal. The second song played was Rozenkreuz (The Rose and The Cross), the first single from the new album. The next song played was another Rhapsody of Fire classic, Land of Immortals. Aside from the band’s fast 
style of power metal, they are also known for their slow songs which always sound so beautiful from the album or live. One of those songs played was Son of Pain and it’s filled with such emotion that it could bring tears to your eyes. The band next played Prometheus from the new album and brought the band back to regular speed. The band then took a quick break and let drummer Alex Landenburg show his drumming skills to the audience as he let loose on a drum solo. A good portion of the crowd came to life as they realized Landenburg had started to do a cover of the Game of Thrones opening theme. The band came back out to play Pride of the Tyrant and Demonheart then the band left the stage once again and let Guers do a bass solo while backed up by Landenburg. Guers even played a bass cover of The Matrix theme which got fans cheering and also laid down the funk with some funky bass riffs. The band finished the show with the Rhapsody of Fire song Dawn of Victory and left the stage. The crowd seemed to want more and they stuck around and chanted the band’s name for them to come out. The band listened to them and came back out to play the first encore, Quantum X. Singer Alessandro Conti spoke to the crowd and thanked them for coming out and that they’ll be back soon. To end the show, Rhapsody played one of Rhapsody of Fire’s best songs, Emerald Sword. Fans could once again be seen singing along or moshing to the song. The band finished the song and they all gathered at the front of the stage as they waved to the audience then bowed in thanks. It may have been a small crowd that came out to the show, but they made sure to let the band know that they were loved and appreciated.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
