Great weather, a beautiful venue and an enthusiastic crowd built perfect conditions as Gamma Ray entered the boards at 21:30 to deliver the goods to some 5’000 headbangers. Welcome introduced the show in famous Gamma Ray tradition… and then the trigger got pulled! Lights on in Gelsenkirchen, and off it was into the Gardens of the Sinner. Although the sun had been burning down onto the audience since the doors had opened at eleven in the morning, the fans’ energy seemed never ending as they were all putting their hands in the air and signing along every single word. New World Order, Rebellion in Dreamland and Land of the Free were the next milestones on the 75 minute journey through Gamma Ray's classics. As the band were about halfway through their set, the site had fallen in complete darkness, making Gamma Ray's show the first of the day to feature an effective light show. Armageddon and Heavy Metal Universe, which were next on the set list, thus turned also into visual highlights: During Armageddon, the stage was almost completely dark, with only few spots in different shades of green on, thus perfectly visualizing the “end of the world” atmosphere the lyrics deal with. Wow! A completely different mood then as another Heavy Metal Universe celebrated: Like they used to do on the last tour, Gamma Ray played an extended version of the stomping number, adding an extra sing along part for the fans to prove that they REALLY had power left! After that test of the fittest, One with the World, I want Out from Kai’s old days in Helloween and Somewhere Out in Space marked the end of the regular set.
With the great enthusiasm displayed both on and in front of the stage, the night could have gone on forever - if the running order had only allowed more time! Half an hour after Gamma Ray, headliners In Extremo were to take to the stage and as running orders have to be strict at festivals, there was just five minutes left to say bye bye with Send me a Sign before it was all over for this time.
