One month until FALCONER

Back in September of last year, I made this post in a fit of ecstasy. I had just heard the announcement that Falconer would be performing their final live show at the ProgPower USA festival on September 11, 2015. This was huge news to me because Falconer's vocalist, Mathias Blad, is my all-time favorite singer, and I had been under the impression that I would never, ever have a chance to see them live. This is a mostly studio band who have performed only a handful of live concerts in their 15 years together. Of that handful, the majority took place during the short time Kristoffer Göbel was their lead vocalist instead of Mathias, who is unable to commit to touring due to his full-time job as a musical theatre actor. And of all the shows they've ever done, only one of them had been in the United States; it was 12 years ago and Kristoffer was vocalist at that time.

For all of these reasons, I, an American Falconite, thought that my chances of seeing Mathias live with Falconer were just about on par with my chances of seeing Elvis Presley. Until that day last year, I viewed it as so improbable that even putting it on my Bucket List would have been pointless. (Yes, I have a real Bucket List, and it does include attending certain concerts.) Plus, not only would this be their first and last show in the United States with Mathias, but their last live show ever; after this night, Falconer will continue as a strictly-studio band. This was literally a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I vowed that I would be there no matter what. Even though I had just made a move across the country and hadn't found a job yet, even though I would have to travel 2,000 miles to the concert venue, the question of "How can I make this happen?" never even entered my mind. I went straight into "I'm going to see Falconer" territory and never looked back. It was a blissful moment in which a halo of light surrounded me and a choir sang one heavenly note. I bought my ticket minutes after they went on sale (and they sold out within 6 days).

Now, only one month remains until that glorious day. An entire year of anticipation will come to an end in one monumental night.

Over the next month, many of the posts on this blog will be related to Falconer and ProgPower, to chronicle my preparation and journey toward one of the best musical nights of my life.

For now, I leave you with one of the most rare and beautiful Falconer songs: their 2006 remake of "Child of the Wild." This song was originally recorded with Kristoffer Göbel on their 2005 album, Grime vs. Grandeur. The following year, after Göbel had been fired and Mathias Blad had returned to the band, the song was re-recorded for their album Northwind. However, it was only released as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album. For the band's 15th anniversary, band leader Stefan Weinerhall was kind enough to upload the track to YouTube for all of us. Thanks, Stefan - for everything.