Crying As The Earth Cries Out
Paradiso, Amsterdam, 29 November 1998

After a long tour, which started a month and a half ago in our own Tivoli, Arena returned to Holland on 29 November, to conclude the successful Visitor Tour on the mainland. A dignified departure, as it turned out. In a theatrical ambience in front of a swirling Paradiso, Arena played modestly and very refined, at other moments aggressive and reacting to the rolling crowd. In short, a concert balancing between musical delight and imaginative attraction.

An ominous ecclesiastical organ sound combined with Vatican schooled choirs frame an authoritarian pastoral gaze of Paul Wrightson on his way to his pulpit in the front of the stage. High above the improvised pulpit appears a light. The old leaded-glass windows in the former church in Amsterdam fulfil their original purpose one more time. The Paradiso shivers. Inspired by exuberant worshippers the vocalist preaches about His House and after two and a half hours of progressive rock it can be declared without a shadow of doubt that for a moment Holland’s one and only true temple of rock was Arena’s.

The crammed venue was visibly moved after a magnificent performance of Arena’s latest epic. After an unequalled priestly exposition, which would not be out of place in an above average performance of a play, the other characters also passed by. While the sneaky depiction of the thief may have been a cause for some hilarity, the vampire emerging out of the smoke was the like of which Bram Stoker must have conceived during the writing of his horrifying Dracula. Moving on the other hand was the confrontation with the clown. While at the Tivoli a make-up table framed with light bulbs was used, at the Paradiso that set-up was abandoned and now the crowd was looking at a moved Wrightson in a dialogue with a Venetian mask.

In the theatrical setting of Paradiso The Visitor came to life, so to say. After the walk of Arena’s frontman through the audience during the to classical rock tending A Crack In The Ice, Paradiso fell through the ice in a lightshow coloured with beautiful shades of blue, to live through the subsequent sixty minutes story. A story featuring only climaxes. Perhaps the biggest climax was the emotional passage to The Hanging Tree, where for the front rows Paul visibly lets himself go for a moment uninhibitedly in his artistic role-playing of The Visitor. Crying as the earth cries out. 

Anyone who thought that after the ingenious ‘play’ the major part of the evening had passed, was mistaken. Art became Party. The swirling mass was warmed up with the classical Out Of The Wilderness and the venomous The Healer and really went mad with Sirens and Jericho. The familiar tricks were conjured from the top hat once more by the gentlemen Mitchell and Jowitt. While the other band members made room for Paul Wrightson with a modest style of playing during The Visitor, during the four encores they claimed the lion’s share of the festive mood. Solomon still is an unapproachable favourite to many, while Welcome To The Cage turned out as a true ode to the fanclub.

The acted fatigue of Wrightson induced the entire ‘Paradiso-choir’ to sing Crying For Help VII. Although this track originally has a fragile sound, Arena managed to turn it into a heavy sing-a-long (Help Me) version, accompanied by roaring guitars. In view of the fact that the end of the tour was drawing near, even the roadies were allowed to be in the front and say goodbye to the audience as an acknowledgement for their rendered services. Steve, who did a terrific job and who put Arena in a colourful scenery of light effects received a special ovation, after seven hundred spectators had been chanting his name en masse. 

Rather unexpectedly, in view of the massive exodus towards the exit, came the whipped cream in the shape of the slurring notes of the ballad Crying For Help IV, which lured everybody back into the hall and also provided for a dignified closing of an afterwards frequently discussed evening at the Paradiso. 

Setlist
The Visitor (complete)
Out Of The Wilderness
The Healer
Sirens
Jericho
Solomon
Welcome To The Cage
Crying For Help VII (rock version)
Crying For Help IV

By: Bram Verweij