Tonight I was really glad I was a member of Metalrage.com, because Metalrage gave me the opportunity to see two bands I was dying to see live; Therion and The Vision Bleak. This show in Amsterdam was all about the 20 year anniversary of Therion. The Theli � Adulruna Redivivan Tour 2007 consisted originally of three bands, but after the cancellation of Sirenia it became a tour with only The Vision Bleak supporting Therion.

�Since the beginning of time there was darkness, and with darkness came fear. Through the slumber of aeons it could never be undone. The dark, the wicked and sinister dwells in all of your minds and now the stars are right to welcome the grand representatives of horror in this time and age. Ladies and Gentleman, the portals of darkness are open and the dead hunt over the earth � Here comes � The Vision Bleak.�

After this impressive intro, which I really like, The Vision Bleak entered the stage. It was too bad there weren�t many visitors in the venue at this moment. Nonetheless the band did their best to entertain the people who were present and opened their set with �The Demon Of The Mire�. They played a really short show with songs like �Carpathia�, �The Grand Devilry� and �Kutulu!�. Especially �Kutulu!� was performed magnificent! The only negative point about their whole show was the lack of a keyboard player. I�ve said it before in a review, but when I hear a keyboard or a synthesizer sound I want to see it. Sometimes it�s impossible not using samples, because you can�t put a big orchestra on a small stage, but with The Vision Bleak it should definitely be possible to perform the synthesizer parts live as well.

After a short brake of approximately half an hour it was time for Therion. The venue was by now much more crowded than during The Vision Bleak, but it still was a bit disappointing to me. I thought Therion was capable of selling out the Melkweg, but I was wrong. The band did a great job performing the fans though. The stage and the whole show were beautiful. The whole thing was very medieval with monks as guitar techs, an executioner as a keyboardist/organist, two girls with weird clothes chained on the side of the stage and a pillory for one of the three vocalists.

Besides all attributes also the music was terrific; the sound was good and they played everything the audience wanted to hear. The show consisted of two parts with a short brake in between. The first part of the show was filled with songs which were chosen mostly by the fans and during the second part of the show they played the whole Theli record. �Son Of The Sun� and the �Kali Yuga Part 1, 2 and 3� were some of the highlights of the first half, but the song I liked the most was �Lemuria�. Other than on record they performed this song acoustic.

I don�t know exactly what Therion played during the second part of the show after the whole Theli album, because I had to catch my last train home. They announced an almost 3-hour show and I saw about 2 hours and 15 minutes of it. Before the show I didn�t know the Theli album, but I know now that I definitely must have this one, because the songs I heard were really great. The only negative thing about this whole show was the fact they asked the audience too many times to clap along in my opinion, but everybody clapped along all the time so I think I�m the only one with this opinion then�

I heard they recorded one show of this tour for an upcoming DVD-release and I can recommend everybody to buy this DVD when it�s in store. They really know how to entertain an audience!