It was May 2004. Edguy had just released Hellfire Club . Tobias Sammet, draped in a ridiculous fur coat despite the tropical heat, stepped onto the stage of a cramped venue called Dire Straits in São Paulo. The crowd of 800 didn’t care about the sweat dripping from the ceiling. When the first riff of “Mysteria” hit, the floor became a living organism—jumping, screaming, crying.
Backstage after, the band signed a thousand things—arms, T-shirts, a guy’s prosthetic leg. That fan, named Carlos, later donated the signed leg to a metal museum. The footage of the monkey incident went viral in Brazil before “viral” was a word. Monuments included it as a hidden bonus track: “Monkey Business (Live & Unhinged).” Edguy - Monuments- Live in Brazil 2004 -2017- -...
The setlist was a fan-voted monster: “Vain Glory Opera,” “King of Fools,” “Superheroes,” “The Piper Never Dies.” During the last song, “Avantasia” (yes, the Avantasia song, but Edguy played it as a tribute to themselves), Tobi stopped singing. He just held the mic out. The crowd sang every word—in perfect English, with a Portuguese accent. It was May 2004
That night, a professional multi-camera recording was made—by the band’s own crew, never officially released due to label disputes. But a low-generation copy circulated. Monuments ends with that recording: 14 minutes of “The Savage Union” into “Falling Down,” the camera shaking as the floor bounced like a trampoline. The crowd of 800 didn’t care about the
The Space Police tour. Edguy had fully embraced their goofy, sci-fi theatrical side. Tobi wore a silver wig and a cape with LED lights. In Belo Horizonte, during “Robin Hood,” a fan threw a stuffed monkey onto the stage. Tobi caught it, declared it the “Minister of Chaos,” and wore it on his shoulder for the rest of the show.
Five years later. Tinnitus Sanctus era. The band arrived in Curitiba during a freak thunderstorm. The outdoor stage at Master Hall turned into a swimming pool. Drummer Felix Bohnke’s kit was covered in plastic bags. Jens Ludwig’s guitar started crackling like a shortwave radio.
But the Brazilians didn’t leave. They opened umbrellas and held them up like shields. During “Ministry of Saints,” lightning struck a transformer—killing the power for 45 seconds. The crowd kept singing the chorus a cappella . When the lights returned, Tobi knelt on stage, pretending to cry. “You just turned a disaster into a monument,” he whispered into the mic. That moment, captured by a fan’s shaky Flip camera, became the emotional center of Monuments .