JON OLIVA'S PAIN - featuring SAVATAGE frontman/founder Jon Oliva - are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of The Hall Of The Mountain King record and have returned from their recent European tour. Part I of a tour recap can be read below:

"Well we are finally home after a crazy ride in Europe to celebrate HOTMK, Criss Oliva and Matt LaPorte. And despite the unforeseen problems, the tour was a huge success!

Embarking on such a challenge took us nearly a year to put together both in logistics and rehearsals. But in the end the fans have spoken and the ultimate opinion is that we made the right decision to celebrate this music. And we did!

Tampa was a grand beginning....Bonn show was great!

The Dubai cancellation was an emotional, financial and fan/promoter nightmare that we hope we will never have to live again. And despite what anyone may say...Dubai was the highlight show of the tour for us and sitting in Holland for three days dwelling on the entire situation was exhausting and anxiety filled for all involved.

The hatred thrown at the band for having to cancel the show was heartbreaking. Sharbel (our fantastic promoter in Dubai) had risked a lot of money and his reputation on getting us there. Fans from all over the middle east were traveling to see us play...and we were so excited to be going to such a unique and mysterious place. But as told before, some ass-hole supervisor for Qatar airlines denied 13 of us to board the plane because we had 2 soft case guitar bags that are ALWAYS allowed on EVERY other airline as carry-ons for reasons of their high value and items that could never be replaced. This Super-ASS had every right in his power to allow us on board but demanded we check them into the belly of the plane. He told us that if they were lost or damaged that "we would be made whole again by filing a report". But this was just another lie out of his pathetic mouth as we knew that Qatar airlines policy clearly states that they are "NOT responsible for lost or damaged items".

Damage or loss of these guitars would have ended our tour and the loss of prize guitars owned by Jerry and Joe. This was totally unacceptable. We ran from ticket counter to ticket counter looking for options. After nearly 8 hours we found an airline willing to allow us to travel with the guitars. The promoter even agreed to pay for entirely new flights for all 13 passengers (14,000 Euro) but the band had to come up with the money in cash. We had only been on the road for 1 show and that kind of money was not available. We all sat on the bus totally pissed, in shock, and counting the loss to fans the promoter and band over and over in our heads.

JOP contacted Qatar airlines on behalf of the promoter to see what we could do to help him get back the money he had spent on NON REFUNDABLE tickets. We felt we owed it to him to at least try. Our tour manager constructed a detailed and polite email to Qatar airlines outlining the entire days events and the rudeness and unwillingness of their "Supervisor" to work with us. We pointed out the incredible amount of financial hardship this has caused to the promoter the fans and the band. And after several days we received a reply. Qatar airlines stood behind the decisions of their employee but agreed to give the promoter back all of his money he paid for his NON REFUNDABLE flights. This my friends is just another roundabout way of saying "We were wrong and you were right" without having to take responsibility for the cancellation of the show and the financial and emotional loss to all involved...and to avoid any potential law suits. To Sharbel and the fans, once again we send our sincere apologies. We knew this would have been the highlight of the tour for all of us!"

Check out a Savatage 25-year celebration article by BraveWords.com's Mark Gromen here.