Concert tour to Basel

To visit a concert of Demons and Wizards and meet a few friends again at the same time I travelled to Basel for the weekend.

Metal overcomes borders

I can't help it. A few years ago I travelled to Prague for Blind Guardian, for the Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung I went to Hamburg this winter and now Demons & Wizards drew me in to Basel.

Basel, hometown of quite a few friends of mine, a city I've spend enough time over the years to instantly feel at home there, with the Z7 concert hall in Pratteln, where I've already visited a couple of metal concerts over the years.

Demons & Wizards is a collaborative project of the voalist of Blind Guardian, Hansi Kürsch and the guitar player of Iced Earth, Jon Schaffer. Both of them are usually quite busy with their main bands, which is the reason why their last album was published in 2005 and their last live concert was even further back - nearly twenty years, now.

So when they announced last year that they would give a concert in the Z7 there was no real question for me that I would use this date for a short trip to Basel. On one hand I'd be able to meet my friends again, and I haven't seen most of them since leaving to Hungary, on the other hand I really love Hansi Kürsch as a singer, he's been one of my favourites for a few years now, and I like taking all the opportunities I can to see him live.

And the journey was definitely worth it. Friday we had a nice evening with my friends, continuing until deep into the night and Saturday evening we went to Pratteln to admire the live spectacle.

Opening act was Asylum Pyre, a band from France which already got the spirits going quite well, but the volume increased noticeably once Demons & Wizards took over the stage. They didn't only play their own songs but also pieces of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, which were taken up by the audience with great enthusiasm.

After more than two hours they finished the show with their best-known song, Fiddler on the Green (live recording from the concert), and I finished my trip the following morning with a flight back to Hungary - proudly wearing my brand new band shirt.