The invasion of the Swedes continues as we welcome the arrival of H.E.A.T. and Art Nation to these shores. But first we had some home grown talent in the shape of Welsh rocker Chez Kane (8) and her band.
Chez has an incredible voice and puts it to good use for this short set of 80’s inspired rock. Close your eyes and you are taken back to an era of the heavy aroma of hairspray, glitz, glamour and lycra. This is unashamedly a celebration of all those female rockers that had all the young men glued to their TV screens watching the latest videos on MTV from the likes of Femme Fatale, Vixen and Lita Ford.
Chez has a huge stage presence and voice to match and brings that 80’s glam bang up to date, I particularly liked the tracks Get It On and Powerzone which have a much more NWOCR feel to them. Great way to kick off the night.
And now for something completely different!
The lights are dimmer, the ambience is darker as Art Nation (8) take to the stage. There’s dramatic intro, building the tension, the band take their spots and we’re catapulted into a classic set of Scandinavian melodic power metal.
Opening track Brutal & Beautiful is marred by the technical issues plaguing singer Alexander Strandell’s mic, but they make light of it and play through it. The band are lively on stage as the power through quite a short set, just six songs, but what we do see is a band having fun despite the tech problems.
They’ve definitely upped their game with their latest releases in anticipation of a new album. Thunderball is a power metal anthem and latest single Set Me Free is an instant classic. They look the part in their dark fantasy costume and make-up, I’d love to see these guys headline somewhere like Power Metal Quest Fest.
It’s unusual these days for a band to tour before a new album is released, but H.E.A.T. (9) are doing just that. With just one song released at the moment, the classic heavy melodic anthem we’ve come to expect from these guys in the form of the song Disaster, they’ve gone out on the road to drum up excitement for the impending release of their new album Welcome To The Future which is due out at the end of April and they open up with that first single.
The gremlins are really mucking about tonight as guitarist Dave Dalone loses all power to his board, and again the band make light of it, carrying on without the guitar for a while. Singer Kenny Leckremo keeps the crowd entertained when the problems persist and Jona Tee on keyboards has a bit of fun playing the intro to The Final Countdown which spontaneously leads the rest of the band and the crowd launching into Europe's classic. It’s a great moment and shows the experience and class of the band that they didn’t get flustered and continued to have fun with their fans.
Eventually the guitar issues are sorted and we get back on track with the band playing through a set list of crowd favourites, we even get time for Don Crash to show off his flair on the drums as well as his fabulous hair! They play most of their big favourites, Nationwide being a highlight with the huge Tearing Down The Walls closing out a special night.
It’s unusual these days for a band to tour before a new album is released, but H.E.A.T. (9) are doing just that. With just one song released at the moment, the classic heavy melodic anthem we’ve come to expect from these guys in the form of the song Disaster, they’ve gone out on the road to drum up excitement for the impending release of their new album Welcome To The Future which is due out at the end of April and they open up with that first single.
The gremlins are really mucking about tonight as guitarist Dave Dalone loses all power to his board, and again the band make light of it, carrying on without the guitar for a while. Singer Kenny Leckremo keeps the crowd entertained when the problems persist and Jona Tee on keyboards has a bit of fun playing the intro to The Final Countdown which spontaneously leads the rest of the band and the crowd launching into Europe's classic. It’s a great moment and shows the experience and class of the band that they didn’t get flustered and continued to have fun with their fans.
Eventually the guitar issues are sorted and we get back on track with the band playing through a set list of crowd favourites, we even get time for Don Crash to show off his flair on the drums as well as his fabulous hair! They play most of their big favourites, Nationwide being a highlight with the huge Tearing Down The Walls closing out a special night.
Hopefully they’ll be back later on in the year after the festival season to share their new album with us. H.E.A.T have probably had to live in the shadow of Europe for many years, but this new stuff is strong, powerful and giving the band a new impetus, it’s finally their time to shine and it’s long overdue.
No comments:
Post a Comment