German Power Metal Legends Blind Guardian Announce February 2024 Australian Tour

Can you name many bands who write entire albums based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion (Nightfall In Middle Earth), the stories of King Arthur and Merlin (Imaginations From The Other Side), The Witcher, getting to Valhalla, Battlestar Galactica, and American Gods?

For fans of power metal and the fantastical, Germany’s Blind Guardian have hit that sweet spot of phenomenal musicianship and storytelling abilities. In February 2024, the legends will return to Australia for the first time in nine years. The tour also marks the band’s first-ever stops in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Promoting their latest album, last year’s excellent The God Machine, vocalist Hansi Kürsch, guitarists André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen, drummer Frederik Ehmke and bassist Johan van Stratum released their first album in seven years following 2015’s Beyond The Red Mirror.

Between those releases, however, the band released the album Legacy Of The Dark Lands under the name Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra. Following an orchestral effort from the pioneering power metallers, hearing them get back to HEAVY was a real treat. You can listen to The God Machine here.

Kürsch, sounding as dulcet and commanding as ever, said about the album last year: “We didn't want to rehash our qualities from 1995, but didn't want to continue down this complex path forever either. The God Machine is a new beginning for us. We've set a new course and gone back to certain things that we've neglected a bit on the last few albums.”

In 2024, Australian fans can see Blind Guardian in all their dynamic glory through 40 years of power metal since Kürsch and Olbrich first joined forces.

The band will start the God Machine tour at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre (Monday, 5 February), followed by Adelaide’s Lion Arts Factory (Wednesday, 7 February), Melbourne’s refurbished Northcote Theatre on Friday, 9 February, and end their run at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday, 11 February.

Early Bird and VIP pre-sale tickets go on sale on Thursday, 3 August, from 10 am AEST. The general sale begins on Monday, 7 August, at 10 am AEST. All tickets will be available via Overdrive Touring.

Beyond The Red Mirror acted as a conceptual sequel to 1995’s Imaginations From The Other Side in terms of bombast and storyline.

Kürsch explained to The Music’s Mark Hebblewhite upon their June 2015 Australian tour, “We left things pretty open-ended for one of the characters on Imaginations…, and I really wanted to finish his story. He was just a kid then, and I always wondered what happened to him — did he step through the portal? What became of his life? To finally create that story for him — to finish it — was very satisfying.”

BLIND GUARDIAN

THE GOD MACHINE FEBRUARY 2024 AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Monday, 5 February: Princess Theatre, Brisbane

Wednesday, 7 February: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide

Friday, 9 February: Northcote Theatre, Melbourne

Saturday, 10 February: Metro Theatre, Sydney