Concert Review: Savatage Night Two in Este

Mark Kurtzner
1 day ago
4 min read

On July 28th, 2026, Savatage played a really cool venue 7 hours north of Pompeii where I was the night before. The venue is a castle converted into a concert venue called Castello Carrarese in Este Italy. It's a busy summer destination venue that hosts a variety of touring acts.

The day before was a long day for me in Pompeii - still one of the greatest adventures and events I've ever attended. I was staying in Naples - not far from Pompeii. After the Pompeii show I got back to the hotel around 12:30 pm, and then I had to get up at 5 am to catch a six-and-a-half-hour train up to Verona and then an hour car drive to my room in Este. A really cool place to stay - it was converted from an old factory building constructed in the 1600s into a smaller bed & breakfast. The 6 other rooms were all occupied by people attending the show which was really cool. I used the train ride to work on my edits from the Pompeii show, I edited over 220 photos for the band.

Este is a small town with limited transportation, so the property owner drove my girlfriend and I plus two other guests, to the show and picked us up afterward. Another hot day - highs in the upper 90's. This show differed from the Pompeii show: first, there was no orchestra, so the band was excited to just go out and play a heavier set. The setlist also changed slightly to include heavier songs, and this show featured an opening act called Vision Divine.

Going into this show I really didn't have much time to research this band, but I genuinely enjoyed them. Many of the guests at the hotel were fans and clued me in about them while we shared a beer in the gathering area. They are an Italian Power/Progressive Metal band formed in 1998. During their career, they've released 9 full-length albums. Like many bands they've had a variety of musicians come and go. The only original member is guitarist Olaf Thorsen, the other three listed members were all part of the band at some point but left and then returned. Bassist Andrea "Tower" Torricini (1999-2006, 2012 to present), Vocalist Michele Luppi (2003-2008, 2025 to present), Keyboardist Oleg Smirnoff (2002-2005, 2025 to present) and drummer Matt Peruzzi (2002 to present).

They played a 7-song set that featured songs from three of their 9 albums, opening with A Clockwork Reverie, The Secret of Life, 18 (It Feels like Heaven), God is Dead, Versions of the Same, Identities, and ending with La Vita Fugge. They were a great opening act, the Italian crowd clearly knew them and I enjoyed seeing them. They were a great opening act; the Italian crowd clearly knew them, and I enjoyed seeing them. I seriously doubt they would ever play in the USA, so I'm glad that I got to see them.

Up next is Savatage. European crowds go crazy for this band. One of my coolest moments was walking out on-stage minutes before Savatage came out to take some crowd pictures and the crowd gave me a large roar - that was really cool! I had so much fun covering Savatage again. I really didn't know if this was going to happen but by fate Savatage management discovered my older photos and well this deal just kind of happened. Shooting two full back-to-back shows was super exciting. The only bummer was while getting the final shot: the venue blasted the spotlights and even though I dumped my settings I still couldn't get a usable shot. By far this is the hardest concert photo to get... thankfully the night before at Pompeii I got the shot!

Really great set list, great mix of hits and classics - I really loved the earlier stuff especially "Warriors." Chris sang this one - and he crushed it! Sirens, Power of the Night, Jesus Saves, Gutter Ballad, Hall of The Mountain King... just an awesome evening!

It was great to go out on this mini photographing tour, meeting the guys again—as I hadn't spoken to Chris or Johnny since the '90s—and also meeting the new guys, their tour techs and many members of their management team too. A great experience and opportunity, and I can't wait to do something like this again - hopefully sooner than later!

Savatage has had a great summer European run this summer playing to thousands of fans nightly across 19 shows throughout Europe (from June - August). They still have 7 more remaining dates - all I can say is those fans are in for a treat. They are firing on all cylinders and are definitely loving it.