PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
New Device were first up. The British band lost their guitarist just a few days earlier and did well to get a replacement rehearsed and able to play a gig in front of a large crowd. New guitarist James Arter did well and if you weren’t familiar with the band you wouldn’t have guessed he was a very new addition to the band. They put in a very good set and really did a good job of getting the crowd warmed up.
Setlist:
Here we stand
On your knees
Save your life
Feel the wrath
On fire
Until the end
Takin’ over
Supercharger took to the stage and asked if the crowd was ready for some Danish Boogie Woogie rock and roll, before kicking off a high energy rock and roll set. They released their latest album in January so unsurprisingly played some of the songs from it tonight, and I have to say the songs sounded great. The band don’t just sound good either – they put in a great performance too, with plenty of movement around the stage and interaction with the crowd. Definitely a band I’d like to hear more from.
While Supercharger had been great and had a good reception, the cheers that greated H.E.A.T as they took to the stage showed that this was the band people were really here to see, and it’s not surprising – I’ve seen H.E.A.T before and was thoroughly impressed. They started as they meant to carry on – lots of energy, great melodic rock music, great vocals and a great overall performance. The whole band look to be having a great time (well with the possible exception of the keyboard player who was so badly lit that we couldnt even see him most of the time to see if he was having fun). They kicked off with a couple of tracks from the new album (Tearing down the walls) – and in fact over the course of the set played most of the new album, along with songs from their earlier albums.
For “In and out of trouble” they brought a special guest on stage – Herman Li from Dragonforce who played guitar with them for the song.
As well as their own material, H.E.A.T found time to do a little bit of Led Zeppelin with a bit of “Rock’n’Roll” thrown in at the start of one of their songs – a nice touch.
Sadly towards the end of their set the dreaded technical problems issue appeared and firs we got intermittent blasts of sounds from the keyboards before the microphones all seemed to die. That sort of problem really screws up a performance for a band, and while some bands just stop and wait for it to be fixed, some like H.E.A.T just soldier on, so after realising there was no point trying to sing till the problems were fixed, singer Erik Grönwall simply climbed down off the stage, climbed onto the crowd barrier and dived into the crowd and proceeded to crowd surf. As he said after he got back to the stage, “When the music stops, you crowd surf”. It was a great way to entertain the crowd and distract attention away from the technical problems.
This was a great gig – three bands, all good and as the night went on each band was better than the last. H.E.A.T are a superb live band – probably one of the best melodic rock bands around when it comes to live performances, and with top quality albums I can see these guys getting bigger and bigger.
Setlist:
Point of no return
A shot at redemption
Better off alone
1000 miles
It’s all about you
Inferno
The wreckoning
Tearing down the walls
Mannequin show
Late night lady
In and out of trouble
Beg beg beg
Downtown
Enemy
Eye for an eye
Danger road
Emergency
Breaking the silence
Living on the run
