Sonata Arctica

Finnish power-metallers Sonata Arctica are no stranger to Cleveland, having played the venue on many of their previous tours through the Midwest. This was one of six headlining shows tacked on to the end of their tour supporting DragonForce before leaving the US to continue touring in other countries.

Sonata hit the stage with ‘Paid In Full’ followed by ‘Flag In The Ground’ from the just-released disc "The Days Of Grays". The audience seemed very excited to hear ‘Flag’, and there was even a mosh pit going for a few minutes. I never get tired of watching Henrik play that keytar, and he did a couple nice solo parts on ‘Full Moon’ and ‘As If The World Wasn't Ending’. In celebration of 10 years since the release of "Ecliptica", they played ‘8th Commandment’ as well as previously mentioned ‘Full Moon’.

A couple of unexpected songs played were ‘Last Drop Falls’ and ‘White Pearl, Black Oceans’ – both amazing songs. Tony, always full of energy and great with the audience, did one of his signature audience participation exercises to 'We Will Rock You’. Though the sound mix was pretty off-balance throughout the show, there was a good turnout and Sonata plans to return to Cleveland again next year.

Setlist:

Paid In Full
Flag In The Ground
Caleb
The Last Amazing Grays
Full Moon
As If The World Wasn’t Ending
8th Commandment
Last Drop Falls
White Pearl, Black Oceans
Juliet
The Cage
In Black and White
Don’t Say A Word