In June 1998, he opened for Yngwie Malmsteen and was contacted by producer Chris Tsangarides (Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Gary Moore...) who wished to work with him. The same year he finally started a showcase tour for Rocktron and his new sponsor: Lag Guitars.
While he was giving a masterclass, Stephan met Kevin Codfert, a young keyboard player who wanted the guitarist to listen to his demo. Very impressed by the talent displayed, Stephan finally asked Kevin to be a permanent member of the the band.
In order to have a more stable and balanced personal life, Dirk chose to leave the group and stop playing music for a while.
Franck asked Eric Lebailly, an awesome drummer from Marseille with whom he’d had played with in numerous occasions, to audition for the band. From the start, the guys knew he was the drummer they needed, and after a few rehearsals, Eric officially joined Adagio and played in Montereau (near Paris), on 8th November 2003 for Adagio’s first concert. Many fans were present at Adagio’s first tour in February 2004. The Paris & Strasbourg concerts were recorded and became Adagio’s first live album entitled “A Band in Upperworld-Live”.
But as release was imminent in Japan, conflicts between Adagio & David ReadmanÂ’s management increased and the group had to decide to part ways with the singer during the summer 2004.
Adagio had to play US Prog Power V Festival in September so it was urgent to find a replacement. The group made an announcement on the internet and demos were sent by a lot of singers from all over the world. The group finally chose a Brazilian singer, Gus Monsanto after they heard his splendid interpretation of “Chosen”. Gus arrived in France on 29th August to start rehearsals and made his debut concert with Adagio in Toulouse for a non-profit concert against child abuse. A few days later, while Yvan was raging in Florida, the five musicians flew to the States where they gave a splendid concert in front of 2,000 people in a sold out Prog Power Festival. The “Underworld Tour” finally took an end in December 2004, after a few concerts in Holland (with Devin Towsend) and in Spain.
The group is currently working on the studio third album.
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