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Ring of Fire at On Air East Tokyo on February 21st 2002
Review
They say that Mark Boals is the only one who could sing the difficult songs of Yngwie Malmsteen. Ring Of Fire, in which the man is a front man, did their first Japan tour from February 19th to
21st. Although I thought that it was too soon for the band which released their debut album last July to do a solo tour, it would be interesting to see the band which is formed by all the ultra skilled
members. Besides, keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij is coming to Japan for the first time as a member of Ring Of Fire. Vitalij failed to enter Japan twice in the past due to the difficulty obtaining a visa
because he comes from a communist country. And in place of guitarist George Bellas who couldn’t join the tour at the last minute, Tony MacAlpine who is by far more both popular and talented filled in for
him. I expected that it would be hard to have a sold out show, but they would have reasonable size of audience. But the reality wasn’t that good. There was around 50 % of the capacity filled at
each show of one Osaka show and two Tokyo shows. But it doesn’t mean that their music isn’t popular among Japanese listeners. The sale of their cd is good. After all, people buy cds but lots of
them just don’t go to see a show.
The light of the hall was dropped just ten minutes past the schedule time 7 o’clock, and there is a great cheer when the spotlight was flashed over Vitalij Kuprij who ran up to his keyboards. I think many
fans were doubtful of him to be able to come to Japan from the memory of the last minute cancellation of Artension tour a few years ago. Just watching Vitalij moving live gives me a kind of deep
emotion. As he dropped his hands on his keyboards, a solemn organ sound came through the speakers. When it turned to ”Prelude To The Oracle”, the guitarist Tony MacAlpine on the right and the
bassist Philip Bynoe on the left stood in the dim light and the first song “Circle Of Time” began. Drummer Virgil Donati crashed his cymbals with his big action and as the whole band joined in the
rhythm, the heavy twin bass drums roared. And then, Mark Boals with flashy coat on ran out and launched his rich and smooth voice as usual in the shower of the big cheer. The front audiences went wild with
great joy. The bass sound of Philip, who was picking the strings with the convulsion in his big arm, was powerful. On the other hand, shaved-head Tony with smile on his face was riffing and muting, locking
into the groove which Virgil and Philip were creating. Tony’s skilful sweep and tapping guitar solos led to Vitalij’s keyboard solos. From the very beginning, amazing technical exploding
compositions unfolded.
After the song, Mark gave greetings, and “City of the Damned” began promptly. When Virgil put the emphasis on spinning his sticks in the intro and the rhythm started, the audience began to
rock. Tony and Philip did backing vocals but the key man Mark’s voice was almost breaking sometimes. During the keyboard solo of the song, Mark went to the edge of the left stage and greeted the
audience. The third tune was “Vengeance for Blood”. While Mark was singing with his tilted head movement, Tony inserted emotional obbligato with his guitar and added vocal harmony at the
bridge. Tony proved his singing ability on his solo album release in 1999. His backing vocals are very effective. The following Artension-like song “Atlantis” was from Mark’s solo
album “Ring Of Fire”. Philip stepped to the rhythm as if he had clumped firmly which was very compelling. If a guy like that had approached, without a reason we would have said “I’m
sorry. I won’t do it again!” and thrown ourselves on the ground [Note: that’s a humorous Japanese way of saying that PB is of intimidating stature]. On the keyboard solo of this song,
Vitalij’s tremendous technique exploded. Such lightning speed finger movements made the audience only astonished and watch.
After Tony stood next to Vitalij and played some baroque phrases (Bach?) “Death Row” from Mark’s solo album began. It looked clumsy when Mark forgot to switch on the mike at the beginning
of the song, but the pleasant shuffle beats which the band created was superb. Tony played his smooth melodic lead solo along. The next song was “Samurai”. The intro had a kind of the style of
Babylon and pyramids, but the lyrics were about samurai as the title suggests. Mark sung the song retrained effect along with Philip’s thick mellow bass. The stirring melody of the bridge of this
song was very dramatic, but it looked that Mark wasn’t controlling his voice well. During the song, Tony with the crying look on his face showed his emotional melodic solo which almost made us
cry. The next song “Dreams of Empire” was a lively triplet beat song and Mark’s vocal got a lot of room. Since the show started, only people in the part of the front of the floor were
lively enjoying the show very much and most of the audiences were carefully looking at the stage, moving lightly to the rhythm. However, I found a guy at the rear of the audience who was the only one excited
and raising his fist. I wondered why he didn’t go to the front…
“The audience was excited by his [Philip’s] excellent playing”
After throwing in Tony’s solo time, Mark showed up with an acoustic guitar and they started “Keeper of the Flame” from Mark’s solo album. At the beginning of the song, the mic was
forgotten to be switched on again. I thought that technical staff should take care of such things, not a vocalist himself. Philip’s solo time came. The audience was excited by his excellent playing from
his quiet melodious solo to his chopper [Note: that’s how Japanese refer to ‘slap’] playing intertwining with Virgil’s drums. The show moved to Virgil’s awaited drum solo
time. We were astonished by his acrobatic solos at Planet X shows last year, but it was a pity that the solo on this day was a bit dull because he pulled out glowing sticks which he wasn’t used
to. “The Oracle”, which started in the pure red lighting, developed from aggressive, militant beat to epic metal with full of ups and downs. The band executed phrases one after another in
unison without any disruption. It sounded amazing. After the song finished, Vitalij’s solo began. He played Beethoven’s “Moon Light Sonata” soulfully, he played the keyboards
above his head sitting backward and he gave the audience lyrical melodies with his keyboards. His versatile techniques held the audience spellbound. Mark’s solo fallowed. He sung up Puccini’s opera
to the backing tape, but it sounded plain compared with “Nessun Dorma” which he’d sung in Yngwie’s band and I thought it was a bit lacking in enthusiasm. After the great song
“Bringer of Pain” from Mark’s solo album, the full speed tune “Face the Fire” was played. This song which was included a typical neo-classical break during the song, ended with the
ardent response from the audience. The band once left the stage.
The audience beat time with their hands for an encore right away. Vitalij soon showed up and tinkled the piano…And then Mark walked out of the wing and started to sing that song, “Fairytales Won’t
Die” from Maestro Alex Gregory! I grew excited, but after all Mark only sang two choruses just with the backing of piano. The highlight of this song at the final stage of the song wasn’t
recreated. But it would be lucky just to hear this song live. The next song began before the applause disappeared. The voltage on the floor reached the highest point at the intro of the song. It was
Yngwie’s “You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget”. Virgil’s twin drum pattern was different so that there was a odd groove, but the audience raised their hands and sang its
chorus. It was also a strange sight that Tony was playing Yngwie’s song. The phrase of the beginning of the guitar solo by Tony led the medley of “Magic Mirror”. This was also from
Yngwie’s “Trilogy”, but this must be the first time to hear it live.
Without doubt, the audience was bubbling with joy. The band played the high speed song “Ring Of Fire” which was on Mark’s solo album to finish their 110 minute show.
At the show the day before, there were an impression of “all great musicians but the band lacked unity as a whole” because of the keyboard trouble and the bad sound. They were fired up for their last
show and balanced the books. But it will be more effective if they make their show more tight although I think it’s not a problem to have each member’s solo time because each member’s
technique is the selling point of this band. Also, it’s dull to be honest when the band plays mid-tempo epics which “The Oracle” mostly makes up from. From that point, I think
they may need to write rhythmic and catchy songs such as “Death Row” and “Bringer Of Pain” from the solo albums which they played for Ring Of Fire. In any case, it’s
rare that such talents gather in one band. By all means I hope that they’ll get their act get off the ground not only in Japan and come back to our place again.
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