I’ve been a fan for a while, but this was the first time I had the pleasure of seeing Evergrey in concert. Since the release of Hymns for the Broken last year (which was my album of the year), I was determined to finally make the stars align so that I would be in attendance.  Although they were playing a club in Chicago, the crowd consisted of only the most dedicated Evergrey fans, some of whom traveled for multiple hours to get to the venue.  Everyone was rewarded by a show that consisted of material from all their albums with the exception of their first release The Dark Discovery. 

The show started with “King Of Errors” off the new disc.  Right from the start, the band were in top form (this was the first night of the US tour), and any signs of rust were nowhere to be found.  Since this was the tour in support of Hymns of the Broken, the band performed half of the record, including “The Fire,” “Black Undertow,” “Missing You” and show closer “The Grand Collapse.” I was surprised they didn’t play the title track, but considering the amount of material pulled from that album, I can understand the need to leave room for songs from other discs.  As I mentioned earlier, they did play something from every record other than their first.  Even from the often overlooked album Torn, they played “Broken Wings,” which was a nice surprise.  Of all the material they touched upon, Recreation Day had the second highest number of songs performed.  Aside from the title track, they brought out “Blinded,” “As I Lay Here Bleeding”and “I’m Sorry.”

Every band seems to have one record that strikes a chord with their fans and In Search of Truth seems to be that album for Evergrey.  Although time would not allow them to play the whole thing, they did perform the two best tracks “The Masterplan” and “Mark of the Triangle.” I’m sure there were some fans that would have wanted more from that disc, but no one seemed to mind that they played a mix from their whole career.  Tom Englund and company played each track perfectly and really made the music shine throughout the whole evening.  I heard that they may be returning to the states for a second leg of the Hymns for the Broken Tour, and I recommend you catch them.  In a crowded genre they really do stand alone in both style and performance.