[ATTENDED: September 5, 2021] Magic Sword
When Avatar announced they were playing TLA I knew I wanted to see them again. When they opened for Babymetal, I was blown away by what a show they put on–especially for an opening act. I imagined that when they headlined, it would be even more amazing.
I was pretty psyched that the opening band was going to be Magic Sword. I had recently been getting into their brand of instrumental 80’s sci-fi/metal soundtrack kind of music (I don’t really know what else you’d call it) and I was pretty excited to see it live.
There are three members: The Keeper (red, keyboard, audio-visual), The Seer (blue, guitar), and The Weaver (yellow, drums). Oh yes, they are all masked (and not COVID masked, but like a fencing mask with a glowing light (in the above color) for the eyes). All of their songs are pretty heavy with a main riff (and bass) coming from the keys (and sometimes guitar) and really heavy drums. And then The Seer plays some extended impressive and super catchy guitar solos.
Every song feels like the exultant triumph of a cheesy 80s sci fi movie. Which is not to say that their music is cheesy (it really rocks) but that it would be placed in a cheesy movie–and would sound great.
In fact, the band has written epic stories (and comic books) that go along with their music. T these songs are the soundtrack to those stories. So it all makes sense.
Mid way through the set red held aloft the glowing Magic Sword and all was well in Philadelphia.
All of the songs are instrumental and, without taking away from them at all, they all sounds vaguely similar, so I’ve no idea what they played (they have two albums and two EPs out). The crowd was interesting and seemed to be really into them. And why not–their music is uplifting and rocking at the same time.
The very first opening band was a Philadelphia nu-metal band called Tallah. Because I had been out the night before and because this show was fairly early, I decided to miss the opening act. And I made it just in time for Magic Sword who went on at 8:15 rather than 8:30 like I thought they would. Phew. In fact, I walked in during their voice over introduction and missed pretty much all of it. But I think it was the same one that’s on their record, so it’s all good.
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