Dragonforce - Live - Manchester Academy 26.09.08

In recent dragonforce live shows you may have seen on YouTube , you may have seen an improvement in the playing. This concert sums it up. Yes, Dragonforce, not been the best ever live metal band, but you must see several concerts to witness what a remarkable improvement the line up of vocalist ZP Theart, lead and rhythm guitarist Herman Li, lead and rhythm guitarist Sam Totman, bassist Frederic Leclerq, keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov and drummer Dave Mackintosh have made. The 2008 tour set list simply kicks ass. All the legendary songs and also the young songs. From Valley Of The Damned, to Ultra Beatdown, this concert told the story of Dragonforce, and how everyone used to think they were a joke. Here are songs and my views in an accurate order (though I cannot remember what order they were in):

Opening song: Heroes Of Our Time - Ultra Beatdown: If you went to one of these concerts, usually a dark blue light would be shining on the crowd for about 10 minutes, then Dragonforce would open with the opening song of the latest album - Heroes Of Our Time. The crowd screamed when the first member to step foot on that stage Sam Totman appeared. The rest of the band except for ZP Theart then appeared, and ZP came in about halfway through that opening riff. I don't really review the song here, that can be found in my Ultra Beatdown review, in Album Reviews. I review how it was performed. This was in a great style as Herman and Sam rushed across the stage to all the parts of the crowd. That's the one thing I love about this song. There is a lot of movement whilst it is being performed live. You just feel a surge through your body that this is one of Dragonforce's best live songs.

Song 2: Operation Ground And Pound - Inhuman Rampage: This the clever Dragonforce at it's best. Performing two epic songs to open, one of them being this Operation Ground And Pound. Sometimes they perform only the video version of this song, but at Manchester, they performed it whole, as I wished, because I love that opening riff that is cut out of the video. What I love about this song is that tiny little guitar riff in the background after ZP sings 'Smashin' through the boundaries' then again after 'Storming through the burning fields'. They got that riff in perfectly, which I noticed. Then came an extremely hard solo, which they pretty much mastered. There were one or two faults, but Herman Li and Sam Totman took it as a joke, as to did I. The chorus is extremely epic in this song. It just wants to make the crowd sing, which is good for the band.

Song 3: Soldiers Of The Wasteland - Sonic Firestorm: It's like they are going back in time. One from the latest album, then one from the album before, then one from the album before that. These three songs sort of linked together as one full song. In the studio version of this song, vocals kick off from the very beginning. However, ZP just shouted 'Soldiers of the wasteland motherf******!' and that starting riff kicked off. I prefer it if he would do the starting vocals, or even better he let the crowd sing it. That would have been epic, oh well, did not spoil the song, however, one thing that came close to spoiling it was the first ever complaint I have ever had against Dragonforce. Just before the solo kicks off, ZP stopped the song. Turns out they couldn't remember the solo. Now as a band, it is essential you learn everything, whether it was years ago or not. Metallica, can remember songs they did twenty years ago, but Dragonforce can't remember something they did a couple of years ago. Yeah, they and some other people took it as a joke, but whether they are the most hilarious guys on the planet or not they should still remember the solo.

Song 4: Revolution DeathSquad - Inhuman Rampage: One of my favourites from Dragonforce. ZP talks to the crowd before this, before shouting 'REVOLUTION DEATHSQUAD!!!!', which is when the crowd went nuts. ZP sort of looses his voice a bit when he sings 'Fight for the truth and the freedom! Gloria!', but that doesn't matter much. One on of the choruses he let the crowd sing 'Fight for the truth and the freedom, gloria!'. But again, does not matter. Herman and Sam gave an almost perfect song. Seriously, I recognized every note they hit. They completely made up for the fault in Soldiers Of The Wasteland.

Song 5: My Spirit Will Go On - Sonic Firestorm: Again Dragonforce gave an almost perfect song. They performed it without that quiet guitar part at the start, and just went straight onto the real song. A member to mention in this song was ZP, who gave awesome vocals throughout. This song was truly epic live.

Song 6: Reasons To Live - Ultra Beatdown: The immediate mention is to that awesome sound at the start, which Herman got in correctly. The thing to notice in the next loud part after that sound, is Vadim's effects, which he also mastered. ZP introduced the song before it started, and as he said 'This is called, Reasons To Live!' the crowd went nuts. I particularly like this song so I was among the people that went nuts. Anyway, that Led-Zeppelin-like solo was epic.

Lol you all thought it was the end of the night. Man there are some ass whupping songs to come yet.

Song 7: The Last Journey Home - Ultra Beatdown: A funny introduction to this song, as Sam was talking about his meals, and he mentioned a cheese burger, which is when everyone started chanting 'You fat b******!' to Sam. Funny as hell. Then ZP says to Sam, 'I think this is about it Sam, is this your last f****** journey home?!'. Lmfao. The start to the song is a bit like Revolution Deathsquad, as it is fast, and again, Dragonforce gave an excellent performance. If you've listened to this song (which most of you have, since it's ass whupping), I think it's before the solo that Herman uses Hot Hand - The device controlled by his finger that's lets him whammy in the air, without touching the whammy bar. Herman executes that perfectly, which is when the crowd went nuts because they all knew what that little blue light on his finger was - Hot Hand.

Song 8: Fury Of The Storm - Sonic Firestorm: Here the stage turned completely red. And Herman executed that epic opening riff, and then to another post-intro part when the Dragonforce guitarists turn their hands upside down (I think most of you know what I mean by 'another'). Totally epic. I love this song, and it sounds great live. This has a fast solo, and suprisingly, Sam especially perfected this song. I mean this song was epic. It summed up the night so far - phenomenal.

Song 9: The Fred And Vadim Solo - Unreleased: Lol, your probably thinking 'WTF???'. This was an intrumental with Fred on lead guitar, and Vadim on the keytar throughout the entire song, whilst the rest of the Dragonforce members had a nap backstage. Rumours say that part of this 'solo', contained parts of songs called 'Scars Of Yesterday', 'Strike Of The Ninja' and 'E.P.M {Extreme Power Metal}. Two of which are on the Ultra Beatdown special edition album. They had mixed those three songs in one, and came up with something really good. My favourite part was the end when it said 'Hello, I'm Mario' in the Mario voice.

Song 10: The Warrior Inside - Ultra Beatdown: After that keyboard and guitar solo, it's back to what I call the icing on the cake of Ultra Beatdown. The main thing I was laughing at here is when Sam sung along to the chorus, as did I. There are several cool noises in this song, one being the intro, which was spectacular. They really did well here. Most of the song was played correctly, one or two mistakes, but then again, those don't matter.

Song 11: Valley Of The Damned - Valley Of The Damned: Lol you really thought they'd give this song a miss? Not a chance. I am COMPLETELY speechless about this song, it was just so amazing, and if the other songs were almost perfect, this WAS perfect. Since I am so speechless, here it is! Valley Of The Damned, live at Manchester Academy!