Headliner: Jeff Scott Soto
Support : Teargas
Thursday 2nd September 2004
The Marquee - Sydney, Australia
Ok, firstly let me set up a disclaimer.
- I'm a Jeff Scott Soto fan (and a tragic patron of the metal and shredding arts).
- The Metro Gnome review team (both avid Melodic Hard Rock fans) was contacted the following day by the Guinness records people for giving the Jack Daniels consumption record a real shake on the night of the gig.
With that info out of the way, here's some detail of what went on:
This was only the second time I have been to the Marquee since it's re-opening, and it's refreshing to have a have a Sydney venue prepared to support live music (of all styles) with a primary focus on ROCK.
Support band Teargas opened the night with a bombastic mix of classic 80's style melodic metal in the style of Dokken and Leatherwolf. It's the first time I've seen the Melbourne band live and although the execution wasn't completely faultless the enthusiasm of the band was infectious. With dueling guitars, a driving rhythm section, and vocal harmonies pushing through each song, it was a perfect lead in to Jeff Scott Soto.
Jeff Scott Soto has a 20+ year career as one of hard rock's premier vocalists. He has sung with Yngwie Malmsteen, Takara, Talisman, and Alex Rudi Pell. He has also contributed vocally to several Queen tribute conventions and albums – a testimony to his strong vocal style and quality. He has released several solo albums and has an upcoming project with Neil Schon (Journey, Bad English) in Soul Sirkus. As well as contributing backing vocals to many other artists’ albums and handling the majority of the vocal duties in the recent Hollywood blockbuster movie "Rock Star." (You remember? The 2001 movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston – it was loosely based on the inner workings of Judas Priest…Well, maybe you don’t remember. Maybe you never knew. I’ll put a link at the bottom.)
Enter the Jeff Scott Soto band, immediately blasting into Talisman's "Break Your Chains," and setting up the feel and style of the evening. Yep, it's traditional classic melodic hard rock - you know, the stuff you don't hear anymore. Big guitars, big solos, big hook lines, big harmonies all delivered in time, in tune, and note perfect. Yeah ... the band can play, no doubt there.
It's a traditional 5 piece setup: twin guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. The initial tone at the gig’s outset was absolutely bludgeoning both in volume and presence. There initially wasn't a lot of separation. It took a couple of songs for the mix to be adjusted appropriately. I found myself moving around the room looking for the sweet spot. Fortunately this didn't take too long to get sorted out.
Guitar tone wise we were treated to dueling Fender Strats with crunching rhythm. One through a Marshall head and quad the other an ENGL head and quad. The traditional Fender / Marshall high gain sound definitely gave a slightly more liquid tone for the solos (obviously suiting the Yngwie elements perfectly). The rhythm guitar had a slightly scooped mid section while the lead had much more mid range to cut through on the solos. Generally it had the twin guitar balance, and, overall, the tone was very solid but without being spectacular.
(For the last paragraph, apologies to non-frustrated guitarists, who are currently asking what the hell a crunchy, liquid scoop is. Frankly I'm not sure either, but it sounded good at the time.... But I digress. Back to the aimless ramble….)
Jeff continued to run through a "best of" his career with my personal favs being "Believe in Me" from his new Lost In Translation album, as well as several covers from artists as varied as Seal, Judas Priest, Journey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Sammy Hagar's contribution to the Rockstar movie soundtrack, "Stand Up." This range of artists and styles were covered with great accuracy. Never did you feel that Jeff was out of his league and it was quick to see why he has been one of the prolific hard rock vocalists of the last 20 years.
Although the band put in great effort into every song the main missing ingredient of the evening was the crowd participation and feedback. I found this to be the only frustrating part of the evening. Now I know that this style of music is "Becoming more selective!" (Pop culture reference No.2 – hey, I've got a million of them.)
Ok... so the crowd wasn't huge but the lack of crowd reaction throughout the gig was ordinary. I don't think this can be attributed to the band, ‘cause they worked their ass off and the execution was as you would you expect of a band with this many runs on the board. The Metro Gnome team found this frustrating to say the least, especially during the call and response of Talisman's "I'll Be Waiting." There was plenty of call but when it came to response you could hear the crickets chirping. I don't think this was due to a lack of crowd appreciation but a lack of familiarity with a lot of the material being presented.
This leads me to one of the highlights of the evening, the Yngwie medley. Now every gig of this type has the danger of the infamous "Cringe Factor." Let's face it - Yngwie is regarded as a guitar great and virtuoso, no arguments (hey just ask him how great he is, he's happy to tell anyone who'll listen), but some of the lyrics on his records leave a lot to be desired. Anyone who can sing "I am a Viking" and keep a straight face in 2004 deserves a lot of credit.
Fortunately the virtuosity and class of the classic Yngwie tunes outweigh some of the lyrics. Now the crowd was very familiar with this range of classic material, and it was received very well.
After the encore Jeff showed his expansive vocal and stylistic range again by running through a medley of covers but this time with tongue firmly placed in cheek, covering funk, pop, dance, and - for Christ sake - even covering some New Kids on the Block. (Sorry for bringing up a musical atrocity like that, it makes me want to puke as well, but trust me the band made sure it was a complete piss take). Fortunately they stopped the song to advise everyone how crap it was. As I said, tongue in cheek and a fun moment.
Over all a great night out - not a classic gig but just a pleasure for starved Australian rock fans to see such an accomplished hard rock vocalist perform locally. For this, thanks must go to Andrew at melodicrock.com for going to the effort to bring Jeff out for an Australian tour.
Gnome Links:
- To look up if The Metro Gnome review team actually did break a Jack Daniel’s drinking record, click here:
- If you’ve never heard of Jeff Scott Soto (“Who’s he?” is not an uncommon response), you can learn about him here:
- OK – now you can have a listen to JSS in Rock Star. The pop-up on this page has the vocals…. Happy listening! Welcome to the 80’s!
- If you have the urge and want to write a review for The Metro Gnome, go for it, and send it here:
- If you like Jeff Scott Soto (or Van Halen or Journey) then you probably already know about melodicrock.com, but if you don’t, click here:
- And now, the one you’ve all been waiting for… the link to listen to Yngwie! Hear what this guitar legend is all about:
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