SYMPHONY X
Elysée Montmartre - Paris, France
February 28 2011

Not long after Nevermore finished their concert, Symphony X fans were already losing their patience, screaming to demand the band on stage.

As for me, it’s been a long time since I hadn’t seen Symphony X live. Last time it was at the Gods Of Metal Festival in 2004, and to be honest their show was not good.
But I remember an amazing Symphony X concert in Paris in 2000, when touring for the excellent album V.

Well, more than 10 years later, this was the second time I was seeing Symphony X headlining, and again they blew my mind!

Yes, Symphony X might be a progressive metal band, but they know where metal comes from, and they definitely have a rock’n’roll spirit.
There was no intro. The musicians came suddenly on stage and Russell Allen screamed Are you ready to rock?

That was it. From the beginning, this was enough for me to know that this was going to be a great show.


The band was playing under a very nice light show dominated by red colours.

Russell Allen pointed that the band has been out of the road for two years and asked the audience “how do we sound?”
They really sounded great, they had a powerful sound on all instruments.

They didn’t play many songs on their setlist, but Symphony X’s songs are long, so they played for more than 1 hour 30 minutes.

Two new songs from the upcoming Iconoclast album were played: End Of Innocence and Dehumanized.
They sounded good, I’ll be waiting for the studio versions.

Russell Allen was in a very good mood tonight. First of all, he has become a great front man: I don’t remember him running around the stage or communicating like this with the audience 10 years ago.

Maybe it’s also the Paris effect. Russell told us that Paris special city as he and his wife were engaged here and now they have two little kids.
He joked by saying that someone would probably post this in you tube! That’s how he introduced the song Paradise Lost.

Russell also made us sing during the song Smoke And Mirrors.

The legendary Michael Romeo, as he was introduced, doesn’t need to prove anymore how good he is.

Michael is a guitar wizard, playing fast solos and complicated rhythm parts without effort.

On bass we had Michael Lepond, who plays impressively fast his complicated parts.

The almighty Jason Rullo, as introduced by Russell also made an amazing performance, technical and groovy.

Finally, on the back of the stage behind his keyboard, the one that gives the band the special ambiances and some delightful melodies: Michael Pinnella.

Before the encore Russell Introduced the band members, and then they played Sea Of Lies, probably my favourite Symphony X tune. This was a great surprise, as it wasn’t supposed to be played.

Well Symphony X proved once again to be a great live band when playing their own show as headliners. So, if new album means new tour, I’ll be waiting for it!

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Setlist Symphony X – Elysée Montmartre - Paris, France – February 28 2011

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