Imaginations Through the Looking Glass

Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres...

intended to record a DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

since early 1998, however, due to the band's high requirements, no existing metal festival had been considered suitable. Instead, Blind Guardian decided to create their own festival, back in their homeland. The First Blind Guardian Festival was held in Coburg, Germany, at June 16–17, 2003.
It lasted 2 days, with the band playing during both nights. The entire show has been professionally recorded and subsequently released on a DVD entitled Imaginations through the Looking Glass on June 14, 2004.

Cover art is painted by Leo Hao

Leo Hao

Alexey Mikhailovich Shamrovsky better known as Leo Hao is a Russian fantasy artist. He is famous for painting cover art and illustrations for fantasy books and metal albums.Works of Leo Hao include:*numerous cover arts and wallpapers for Aria...

Content

The show had been very well prepared for the recording, with complex lightning and pyrotechnic effects set up to assist the musicians in creating the atmosphere. Blind Guardian's performance is generally considered excellent, and the degree of the audience's involvement was surprising even to the band members themselves. This is especially visible when the crowd continued to sing the chorus of "Valhalla" after the song was well over, stopping to cheer, and then starting to sing again, joined by an impromptu drum beat.

The setlist was partly based on a poll conducted on the band's website, which (combined with the amount of time the band had) led to a varied set with classics like "The Bard’s Song (in the Forest)" but also some rarely played songs such as "Somewhere Far Beyond".

There are two (two-layer) DVDs in the release; the first one contains the show itself, with 20 tracks and approximately 125 minutes of running time. Disc 2 contains extra material, including an interview with the band and 4 bonus songs, recorded in previous tours. The set has a typical Blind Guardian fantasy-style artwork painted by Leo Hao

Leo Hao

, mixed with photos from the show, with several humorous elements included such as a picture of Legolas

Legolas

Legolas is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. He is an Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring.- Literature :...

, Gimli

Gimli (Middle-earth)

Gimli is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. A Dwarf warrior, he is the son of Glóin ....

and Gollum

Gollum

Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....

buying tickets for the concert.

Line-up

Hansi Kürsch
Hansi Kürsch
Hans Jürgen Kürsch, better known as Hansi Kürsch is a German musician, the lead vocalist and lyricist of power metal band Blind Guardian. Together with André Olbrich, he is also the principal songwriter for the band. He was also the bassist in Blind Guardian until the 1998 album Nightfall in...

- lead singer
André Olbrich
André Olbrich
André Olbrich is the lead guitarist of the German power metal band Blind Guardian. He is one of the band's founders together with vocalist Hansi Kürsch, and serves as one of its main songwriters....

- guitars
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Marcus Siepen
Marcus Siepen
Marcus Siepen is one of two guitarists in the power metal band Blind Guardian. For the biggest percentage of Blind Guardian's songs, particularly in more recent years, he has almost strictly played rhythm guitar, with most lead and solo work being performed by André Olbrich.-Personal:Siepen is...

- guitars
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Thomen Stauch - drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Oliver Holzwarth
Oliver Holzwarth
Oliver Holzwarth is a German bass guitarist. He was born in Munich, Germany. He plays bass in Rhapsody of Fire along with his brother, drummer Alex Holzwarth. Oliver has been the live/studio bass player for Blind Guardian since 1998...

- bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

(touring member)
Michael "Mi" Schüren - keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

(touring member)

Disc 1

War of Wrath
Time Stands Still
Banish from Sanctuary
Nightfall
The Script for My Requiem
Valhalla
A Past and Future Secret
A Past and Future Secret
"A Past and Future Secret" is the first cd single from German power metal band Blind Guardian, and the third track on their 1995 album Imaginations From the Other Side. It is an acoustic song, and its guitarwork and lyrical themes strongly evoke the Arthurian legends cycle, the end of which it...
Punishment Divine
Mordred's Song
The Last Candle
Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes (Blind Guardian song)
"Bright Eyes" is a single by German metal band Blind Guardian released in 1995. It was only released in Japan through the Japanese recording label Victor Entertainment and has the same cover art as the forthcoming "Mr. Sandman" single . It has a slightly different track listing than "Mr. Sandman"...
Lord of the Rings
I'm Alive
Another Holy War
And Then There Was Silence
And Then There Was Silence
"And Then There Was Silence" is a single by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released in 2001, as well as the final track off of their A Night at the Opera album...
Somewhere Far Beyond
The Bard's Song (In the Forest)
The Bard's Song (In the Forest)
"The Bard's Song " is a single by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released in 2003. It contains 5 different versions of this, one of their most popular songs, which originally appeared on the album Somewhere Far Beyond....
Imaginations from the Other Side
And the Story Ends
Mirror Mirror

Disc 2

Interview with Blind Guardian
Slideshow
The Making of The B.G. Festival Coburg 2003
Bonus Songs:
- Majesty
- Into the Storm
- Welcome to Dying
- Lost in the Twilight Hall

Trailer

Imaginations Through the Looking Glass DVD - recorded and edited by Münsterland Film

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