TOBIAS SAMMET Issues Recap Of AVANTASIA's 'The Mystery World Tour'

EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet has issued the following recap of the just-completed world tour from his AVANTASIA project:

"Friends, finally I have cooled down a little after this extensive AVANTASIA world tour. Finally I have found a few moments to write down my thoughts on the tour.

"I have been on several world tours — I must have played something like 700 concerts in my life — and I have to say: it's never been so difficult to say goodbye after a tour.

"The Mystery World Tour was an amazing experience for me. Never before an AVANTASIA tour has been spread out over four months, never before I heard so many bad jokes (from anyone other than me) and never before I came home missing touring so much that it actually hurt, although I was happy to be back with my loved ones and get some rest. I wondered myself what it is that makes the difference between earlier tours and this tour, and I guess it's simple: first of all, the tour was long enough to get used to being around those lovely fellow Avantasians. Second, if I compare it to EDGUY tours: whenever we say goodbye, we know we'll meet a couple of months later to conquer the world again. With AVANTASIA, the future is completely uncertain.

"I was accused of lying when I hit the road for The Mystery World Tour after I had announced the end in 2011. But you can imagine it is not that easy to rely on a return of AVANTASIA, it depends on a lot of parameters, not at least all the musicians and their personal schedules.

"I thank God that He gave us the chance to bring that lineup together and do this tour, I hope we will do it again some day, but you can never take that for granted, nor plan it, let alone expect it to happen again. I just hope one day it will happen. For sure, there will be another album in a couple of years. But as much as I would love to do a tour, I do not know if we'll ever find a timeframe in the future that will allow us to bring the project on the road again. The organisation, the schedules, everyone's individual obligations with their individual bands, it's grinding... That's why I am rather thankful that I was given that chance.

"I wanna thank my agency, All Access, and my road manager, AC, in particular for making the impossible possible. I wanna thank my production manager, FD, for administrating everything with a vengeance and a whip, sending trucks from Slovakia to England and making the show look great from Costa Rica to Canada to Russia to Japan and back. I wanna thank the whole crew, who are the best technicians from East Bumfuck to Bali, and, of course, I wanna thank the immortals who I was given the chance to share the stage with. I will miss everyone of you (even Achim),and I will never forget that tour! I love you all!

"I also wanna thank YOU people out there who made this tour a very successful tour, who came in thousands to our shows, I enjoyed playing for each and everyone of you! Don't think I take it for granted, I had the time of my life, and I know that I am blessed — having fans and friends like YOU!"

AVANTASIA made its North American debut on July 7 at the Quebec City Summer Festival (Festival D'été De Québec) in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

AVANTASIA's new album, "The Mystery Of Time", was released on March 30. The effort was made available as a regular CD, limited-edition vinyl and limited-edition hardcover book with a 28-page booklet containing ten regular songs and two bonus tracks ("The Cross And You", "Death Is Just A Feeling"). The cover artwork was hand-painted by world acclaimed British fantasy artist Rodney Matthews. Among Rodney's most famous artworks are not only album covers for rock legends such as MAGNUM, THIN LIZZY, ASIA and NAZARETH, he has also designed the characters for the TV series "Lavender Castle" and created the covers for novels by British fantasy author Michael Moorcock and many more.