Gig Review: The Oceans

By The Metro Gnome

The Oceans
Candy's Apartment
2 June 2005

The Oceans is a five member band with vocals, guitar, bass, keys, and drums. The show I saw was an industry event showcasing the refreshed band and delivering their new release, Prayer for the Sun. Candy's apartment is a cool little venue for live music - in a basement setting with low ceilings, dark alcoves, and candles lit for a nice effect. There's a large family of mirror balls scattered all over the dance floor. One downside for bands is that there doesn't seem to be any "offstage" area away from the audience.

Anyway - to the band - formerly Five Flavoured, The Oceans is trying to reinvent itself and has gone through some extensive work to record this new album. Hat's off to the guys for backing themselves and putting in the effort. The industry night was put together to shop around for a record label to give the album a promotional boost....

Hit the audience solidly from the first song to the last... or not?

Due to the lack of any off-stage area - there's nowhere to warm up - the guys, including the singer, weren't warm when they started. They used the first song to warm up - and that was truly disappointing. Enough said.

The band played 9-10 songs, presumably all off the album, and then finished with some old favourites for their (definitely present) fan base. The songs were all good, but nothing really stood out as amazing. One song completely rubbed me the wrong way - the instrumental, live, techno, dance crap that they pulled out in the middle of an otherwise palatable set. It was too long, too techno, too repetitive, and too loose - the changes didn't look or sound well rehearsed - there was a lot on on-stage communication going on. But, and I suppose here's what counts, the crowd actually seemed to love it. At the end of the diatribe, a 20-something behind me said to his mate, "That was an awesome song!" I have to admit that lost a bit of faith in the future live music at that comment. But, then again, I might just be getting old???? I suppose if you have to see techno, see a band playing it rather than a DJ spinning it....

By the way, this show did have the best light show I have seen in a long long time; it really provide a great vibe to the whole night.

But I digress, the lead singer had a good voice - different - a bit of reminiscent of Yes frontman, Jon Anderson. He had a higher pitch than most male vocalists and it was a nice touch. That said, he does need to develop as a frontman before the outfit can be taken to the next stage....

All in all, I'd say that The Oceans has the potential to develop a strong fan base and to sell records, but only if they play venues - only if they GET OUT THERE! But the feeling I got in the end was that they wanted to do a record and then get a record deal without getting too dirty on the live circuit. My advice: get dirty boys - play more.

Gig Review: Fred Eaglesmith & the Flying Squirrels

By Wayne Tritton

Fred Eaglesmith & the Flying Squirrels

Vic On The Park Hotel
Thursday 30/03/2005

Tonight's gig was opened by Bill Chambers, (father of Kasey, in case you were wondering), and it became immediately obvious why he is so respected both here and OS. Bill delivered a perfect opening act set; short and sharp, with a mix of old faves, some new tunes from the forthcoming album, POISON BLOOD, and a smattering of well chosen and exquisitely delivered covers from Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Steve Earle. Ably accompanied by dobro player Dan Walsh from the Flying Squirrels, this set was one of good humour, great stories and great playing. I for one will definitely be checking out Bill's own shows in the future (and it gave one pause to ponder the amount of talent one family could reasonably be expected to have).

Canadian singer/songwriter/story teller Fred Eaglesmith has been to Oz a few times before, but only as a solo act. Joining him on-stage tonight for the first time here was his band, the Flying Squirrels. This is a band ANY performer would gladly sell bodily parts to have behind them. A five piece band (which didn't leave much room on the Vic on the Parks stage for the six of them), of truly accomplished multi instrumentalists, they were on target right from the word go; a perfect foil for the gravel washed vocals of Fred Eaglesmith (a bit like Steve Earle meets Bon Scott). I didn't catch all the names, but to give you an idea of the set up, on electric guitars/Dobro was the aforementioned Dan Walsh, on Mandolin/Harp, William P Bennet (at least I THINK that's what I heard when he was introduced), and then I missed all the other names, due to the enthusiastic whoops and whistles of the crowd, but there was a pedal steel/lead guitarist, a bass player and a drummer.

Fred opened the set with a blistering little mini-set of three songs leading in to each other before he stopped to say hello and tell a very funny story about the bands day at the reptile park (in fact, most of the stories tonight were very funny). As I was wiping tears of laughter away, the next section of the show shifted into top gear. From the tongue in check blues stomp of Time to get a Gun, we were ushered into the spook factor times 10 of Share Cropping, then on to the heart breaking I still look for you in Crowds from the new album DUSTY.

I HAVE to mention the Squirrels' performance during Share Cropping, because they were simply astonishing. First came the mandolin solo, then the dobro solo, then the pedal steel solo, then it was back for a harp solo, then Dan Walsh swapped the dobro for the electric, then the pedal steel player swapped to HIS electric, and then the crowning glory: a DUAL harp/slide mandolin solo from William P. I know this sounds a bit 70's art rock, but it was spellbinding.

The rest of the almost two hour show just maintained the standard established from the outset. Fred Eaglesmith is possibly one of the best storytellers I've ever had the joy to watch, and he was in fine form, dealing with hecklers, "There's six of us up here buddy. You think I got a band for the musicians? We'll just come on down and beat the crap outta ya." To the fan down the front smoking, "It's never a good idea to blow smoke on the band, cause you're killing them, and when they're dead your gonna have to go back to your old Back Street Boys records." Maybe you had to be there.

A consummate performer, Eaglesmith had us crying with laughter at a story, only to have us crying for real as the song unfolded. As I mentioned, this set went for almost two hours, with Fred giving us a two song encore unaccompanied by the band, but just as powerful. Fred describes himself as "a dirty old country band from Canada," but I doubt that goes even close to describing the depth and range of his song writing abilities. No matter what type of music you're into, if you want to watch and hear something truly magical, get yourself along the next time he comes out, solo or with band. There's a truckload of info on his website, including a lot of stuff about his record label, which is called 'A MAJOR LABEL.' He tells us he called his record company that because he LOVES telling people he's signed to.... This was also the basis for a side splitting monologue about being taken out to lunch by the head of his record company, i.e. himself. Anyway, I for one am glad I made the effort to GET OUT THERE! I won't forget tonight's experience for many moons to come.

Final note: much kudos to the Vic On The Park. This has turned into a GREAT and much needed live venue for the inner city. Not only did we see two top class acts in the front room, there was also a very classy duo in the back bar playing nice chilled out tunes if you wanted to give your senses a break, or you could just head to the beer garden for some fresh air and a bit of peace and quiet in between sets. Well done guys, and thanks.

WT

nArdo Launches a New EP

nArdo EP - No Sale

On February 2nd, nArdo launched their new EP by performing at The Basement - the location, all by itself, usually a testament to the quality of the band. The Metro Gnome was invited to attend the launch. We got a copy of the EP and listened to it first - and the CD sounded really nice. So we accepted the invitation and made our way to the venue.

The Support Act

Well, we promised that The Metro Gnome would be a place where you could get an honest review, an honest opinion, an honest piece of advice. So here, in the 3rd issue, it's time to ruffle a few feathers. Because to make this an honest review, I just have to complain. But not about nArdo - and not about the Basement - no, I have to say that the opening act, Mick Hart, left a lot to be desired.

And that doesn't come out easily - The Metro Gnome is about telling people to GET OUT THERE! So asking Mick Hart to stay home probably seems a bit harsh. In fact, I expect that this little review might spur some negative reaction. Mick seemed to have quite a following at the Basement that night. More than 20 people left after Mick finished and before nArdo even started, which implied to me that they were only there to listen to Mick. Strange. Let me explain....

Mick's guitar sound was tragic. It was harsh to listen to. I couldn't think of another word than "crunchy." His style of playing - not strumming really, more like attacking the strings - only compounded the harsh sounds. I asked my comrades if the sound guy could (or should) fix it and I learned that it was Mick's on stage compression equipment causing the noise. We couldn't believe that he didn't make adjustments. We stood there, bewildered.

Volume seemed to be Mick's special ingredient to add texture to a song. Unfortunately, he didn't have a soft volume though. Loud and crunchy were followed by very loud and very crunchy. The problem wasn't limited to his guitar either, it happened throughout his vocals, too. If we weren't there for his guitar playing or vocals, I thought we must be there for his beautiful lyrics and song writing, but I found no evidence of that, because most of the time I couldn't understand his lyrics. My friend leaned over and said that he must have gone to the "James Reyne school of Diction." Unimpressed, she left and went outside to read the Drum Media until nArdo came on.

And now on to Opening Act Etiquette, Lesson 1. Warm up the audience and set the scene for the headline act's success. (Don't drone on for 14 songs.) Mick stayed up there for 1 hour and 20 minutes! He overstayed his welcome.

I suppose I'm being extra hard on Mick because he was so cocky about it - slyly mentioning that he's played at the Basement many times before - casually introducing each song with an annoying reference to which of his (three) CDs it came off. In his introductions (to every song) he rarely gave the songs any other context - no meaning, just a reference to a CD. He also commented to the audience that he would have played some more ballads, but that the audience was too loud for those songs to be effective. (I think he hoped that that would be a hint for people to stop talking during his performance.) But Mick was right, there was a lot of chatter going on during his set. Interesting.... Perhaps it wasn't just me.

The Headliner

Anyway, let's move on from Mick and talk about the reason we were there to begin with: nArdo. nArdo came on the stage together and started their set well. The song writing, lyrics, and music were enthusiastic, appealing, and emotional; conveying opinionated messages around relationships, politics, and the environment. Sam Nardo (lead vocals, guitar, and namesake) was unabashed in his delivery, often adding a falsetto lyric or an aggressive rap over his melodies to provide dynamics to the strong messages in the songs. And he was quite impressive in a couple of acoustic songs that he played alone on the stage during the night.

Andy, on lead guitar, changed instruments for every song. He brought out a lap steel guitar for a song half way through the set and really added some nice texture to the music. On a song called, I think, The Mountain, the techno effect on the guitar was a great sound against the classical string section. Though, Andy didn't show off his guitar playing very much; I suspect that's due to not being intimately familiar with some extra musicians on stage - more on that later - but, I reckon Andy has some hard-hitting solos hidden in his repertoire. (Bring them out, Andy.)

On bass, Karl added a lot of depth to the songs and, importantly, didn't over or under play his instrument. Evan rounded out the rhythm section on drums and worked well with the rest of the band bringing structure to songs that had complex rhythm changes from section to section. Overall the band had a good feel and good dynamics.

About those extra musicians... nArdo included a string section and an additional band member (keys and percussion) for this special evening. Bands like to do this on their big nights. I prefer to see and hear the pure band actually. Sometimes the special guests add to the sound, but more often than not, they cause more problems than they solve - sound issues, changed stage placement, disrupted personal intimacy, and the like. For nArdo, I suspect the strings would have sounded great, but for the most part I couldn't hear them well enough to tell. And the additional percussion and keys weren't necessary in my opinion - the guitar sounds were great on their own. The keyboard/percussion player also stuck out as different than the rest. He didn't belong - he was extra. He didn't detract from the performance, but he didn't add to it much either. I would have preferred that he wasn't there so I could focus more on the genuine band.

We left before nArdo finished their set (and I blame Mick for that because he played too long and frustrated us), but I got the feeling that we only missed 1-2 songs. I agree with the other critiques I've read; nArdo are a good group of musicians and have great potential as a band. Without hesitation, I will go see them play at least one more time to see what they can do when they can run free and just play some funky, bluesy, rocky music without the pressure of the EP launch and all of the pomp & circumstance that goes with that.

The Venue

The Basement remains one of my all time favourite venues for live music. It is small, smoke-free (YAY!), has good sound, and friendly staff. I've reserved seats for dinner and a show and also just shown up and stood in the back. Either way - it's all good. And, as a result, The Basement gets great gigs. Every single headline act I've seen there has been impressive and memorable - including nArdo.

Gnome Links:

To complain about this review of Mick Hart (or to thank me for finally exposing him) write to me.
Nardo's website is here http://www.nardo.com.au.

Rynsaardt

Band:  Rynsaardt
Event:  EP launch
Where:  Annandale Hotel
When:  November 17, 2004

We arrived at the Annandale as the last touches were being done on stage.  The opening acts had already gotten the place moving and the room was packed and hot.  When we pushed up to the bar and ordered a drink, the bartender's t-shirt gave us a laugh and set the tone pretty well.  In big bold letters it said, "FUCK THIS - I'm going to the Annandale."  We liked the attitude (and wanted a shirt).

We didn't get a copy of the set list, and we didn't ask for one.  So we won't go through the review song by song.  Instead, we focused on 3 different elements of the night: the band - Rynsaardt, vocals and guitar - Jan Rysaardt, and the pub - the Annandale.  Let's get busy....

The Band - Rysaardt

This was Rysaardt's EP launch.  This 3-piece band plays grinding, pulsating blues.  It had a real Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix feel to it.  As a group, they looked like they intentionally dressed without a plan.  Jan wore an indie beaded necklace and a comfortable earthy singlet.  Bass player, Dean Calkin wore a white dress shirt.  And, drummer, Ekko Gaha wore a Dick Tracey hat and Starskey and Hutch mirrored-sunnies. 

The lights were set up to ensure your eyes stayed on Jan.  But so was the music - it is his band and it was his show.  Rysaardt doesn't count on chit chat with the audience to get them through - they have tight transitions between songs, moving from one to another quickly and sometimes seamlessly.

Sometimes the blues gets monotonous - where each song starts to sound like the one before it and they all blend into one.  Not with Rynsaardt.  The set started with a standard, solid blues riff, and then as Rysaardt moved from song to song they took the music to different levels.

The rhythm was really well laid out by Dean and Ekko.  Ekko was charismatic, consistent, and creative in his drumming and was a real pleasure to groove to.  He played well and added dynamics to each song and within the set as a whole. 

When the spotlight wasn't on him, Dean matched the confidence, intensity and the passion of Jan and Ekko.  My only criticism of the band as a whole would in the confidence of Dean when the spotlight was offered to him.  He had a mic and was supposed to use it, but when he did he was reserved - almost shy.  And in the last song when Jan gave him the spotlight, Dean instantly looked uncomfortable; it seemed like he couldn't pass the baton to Ekko fast enough.  As a result, his solo wasn't very robust even though he had demonstrated amazing talent throughout the night. 

Vocals and Guitar - Jan Rysaardt

Even more than the band, we were actually invited to come to see Jan.  Dan Rule, owner/manager of the Annandale, wanted us to see and hear him play.  Are we glad that we did! 

Jan had our attention from the beginning.  He picked up has Strat and turned it up to 11.  He had great command of the instrument and easily handled vocals while he pumped out intricate riffs.  His voice was gruff (a good, bluesy gruff) and strong; it reminded me of Johnny Diesel in 1989.

Throughout the night Jan played 2 different Strats (one seemed to be detuned by ½ or maybe even a full note), some slide guitar on a Les Paul, and even a little bit of banjo during the encore.  (The banjo might have been a really nice touch, but Jan didn't seem as confident on it - volume was down and he didn't seem to hit the picking strings very solidly.  After the song, Jan said, "That's enough for that," and handed the banjo to his stage hand.  The crowd roared as he picked up his Strat and hit a power chord to start the next encore.)

Jan finished with Hendrix's Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire.  He played it perfectly and sang it well, in his own style.  Jimi would have been happy to listen.

The Pub - The Annandale

How long has it been since you went to the Annandale?  Well, it's been several years for me and, to be honest, I hadn't really been paying much attention.  I don't drive on Parramatta Road and for awhile there I didn't seek out a lot of gigs - I waited for friends to tell me about bands and gigs and I went wherever they told me to go.

My loss.

The Annandale has live music throughout the week.  Sometimes a DJ will sneak in too (no offence) but for the most part, the Annandale is a live music pub.  For the gig on Wednesday night, the pub had a great feel.  First, as I've already said, it was packed.  Therefore it was pretty warm, but since we were all dressed for summer, the feel was good. 

Second, the lights and sound were very good.  The Annandale management seems to understand that quality performers need quality equipment.  I noticed that there were 2 manned cameras capturing the gig on Wednesday; Dan says that they do all of their recording and photography in-house.  So he knows what it takes to promote a band well and he provides that to bands who play there.  Novel. 

Third, there was enough staff to keep the juices flowing.  And they can lipread when the band is playing - always a good bonus when the band is loud.  And they all seemed really, genuinely happy to be there.  Believe me, I don't throw around a complement like that often.  It is such a pleasure to order from someone who wants to help you.  More than that, though, the staff listened and grooved to the music, too.  If there was a minute to watch and listen, they did.  I love it.

Improvements?  When the place is going to be packed like that, it would be good to move the bar tables off to the side so that the room can fill in a bit, but then again, it was good to have somewhere to put your empties....  Cigarette smoke and heat were rampant and lingering so some better ventilation and cooling would be nice. 

In the End

Three cheers to Rysaardt!  (Seek them out!) Three cheers to Jan!  Three cheers to the Annandale!  And three cheers to Dan for supporting live music and musicians and for running a great establishment.  We need more like him.

Now - let's make it each and every person's personal challenge to go and see at least one original act a month.  One you haven't seen.  Challenge your friends.  Let's lift live music!  Get out there!

The Eagles Landed!

Eagles Farewell I
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Sydney SuperDome
A Brief Play by Play

By The Metro Gnome

The Eagles are:

* Don Henley
* Glenn Frey
* Joe Walsh
* Timothy B Schmidt

First of all, you'll notice that Don Felder isn't part of the Eagles anymore; some people thought he just didn't make the trip out to Australia, but the fact is he was fired by the band in February 2001 (underlying reason: researched but unknown - lawsuits and counter lawsuits are still in progress - a rumoured "tell all" book by Felder may have been at the core of the issue). In his place on stage was Steuart Smith, from Arlington, Virginia - a very gifted performer who played well along side Joe Walsh.

There were extensive instrument changes for every song. I couldn't keep track of all the guitars.... Frey played a Takamine acoustic and Fenders - Strats and Teles - and he brought out a Les Paul every now and again. Fender dominated the stage with everyone playing one at multiple points throughout. Walsh played a Rickenbacker a few times.

Here's what happened....

Set 1 (10 songs)

In the Long Run - Frey

Frey - "The sun is shinin' in here, people. Let's have a good time."

New Kid in Town - Henley

Wasted Time - Henley

At the mic - gruff, his throat sounded a bit raw - like he needed to swallow after each line.

Peaceful Easy Feeling - Frey

I Can't Tell You Why - Schmidt - beautiful

"Where's Felder?" from the audience

One of These Nights - Henley - from the kit

Frey - "Don and I wrote these songs during out satanic country rock rhythm and blues period. I'll dedicate this one to my first wife, Plaintiff."

Lyin' Eyes - Frey

Boys of Summer - Henley - brought back Miami Vice memories

Walsh - "I'll tell you, I had a tough day watching cricket - wore me out. I've been thrown out of some of the finest hotels in Australia. Drank most of the minibars, too. I have some very good friends out there tonight, who invited me over for a summer, and then, uh, deeply regretted that. But we're still friends. I'd like to dedicate this song to them."

In the City - Walsh

Already Gone - Frey
Set 2 (12 songs)

All 5 (including Steuart Smith) sitting down

Tequila Sunrise - Frey - With a nice, deceiving keyboard intro

Schmidt - "Well it's time for a syrupy love song."

Love Will Keep Us Alive - Schmidt

Henley - "I'd like to a song for you now that is relatively new. We recorded it a few years back. And there's a little story that goes with it. In August of 2001, we had just returned to the States from a very gratifying tour of Russia and Western Europe. And we were scheduled to go into a recording studio there in Los Angeles on September 11. Needless to say, we didn't go into the studio that day, nor for many, many, many days after. But the evening of September 11 we started writing this song. We didn't finish it until 2002. Glenn helped me finish it - I got stuck. We finished it, recorded it, and made a video and a DVD. This features 5 part harmony and is called Hole in the World."

Hole in the World - Henley

Take it to the Limit - Frey

Chairs go - all standing

You Belong to the City - Frey

Begins with a beautiful duet between the sax and the keys - great guitar jam between Walsh and the Stuart Smith at the end

Walk Away - Walsh

Sunset Grill - Henley

Frey - "Now it's my privilege, my honour, my duty to introduce you to the members of the band."

* Steuart Smith, guitar
* Will Hollis, keys
* Greg Smith, baritone sax
* Billy Armstrong, trumpet
* Chris Mostert, tenor sax
* Al Garth, tenor sax/violin/percussion
* Scotty Crago, drums/percussion
* Michael Thompson, keys/vocals

"Well Joe, how you feeling?"

Walsh - "I feel great. (To the audience) Good morning! Now, this is the helmet camera. There's a camera in here. In the middle of the song I'll be around to visit with you folks. And you'll be on the big screen. So it's time to be silly, OK. Here we go...."

Life's Been Good to Me - Walsh

Dirty Laundry - Henley

Walsh leads a swingin', almost unrelated, blues opening.... then transitions to....

Funk No. 49 - Walsh - huge, free feeling solo - felt like he said, "Play until I signal."

Heartache Tonight - Frey

Life in the Fast Lane - Henley - another fantastic guitar improvisation opportunity taken at the end
First Encore (1 song)

Trumpet opening with a Mexican feel - We all wanted it - We were all waiting for it. We all knew it had to be....

Hotel California - Henley

Fantastic guitar harmonies, perfect timing, and ended just like on Hell Freezes Over. Steuart Smith played a double necked Fender with a capo on one neck and open on the other....

Second Encore (2 songs)

Rocky Mountain Way - Walsh

All She Wants to do is Dance - Henley
Third Encore (2 songs)

Take it Easy - Frey

Desperado - Henley

With that, the four of them stood arm in arm and took in the crowd's accolades.

Interesting quote from the Sydney Morning Herald review (http://www.smh.com.au/news/Review/Slick-hits-taken-far-too-easily/2004/11/21/1100972255277.html):

"But all this professionalism, while it was designed to please the fans, ensured, for anyone who cared to apply even a miniscule amount of discrimination, that the whole show was devoid of any real warmth, emotion, spontaneity and genuine passion. This was playing music by numbers. Instead of a real band playing real songs and singing with real emotions about things they really cared about, this was an animated human jukebox playing note-perfect songs which evoked no emotion more complex than moist-eyed nostalgia."

The Gnome's response - I suppose, to a degree, I have to agree, but with Timothy B Schmidt and Joe Walsh as notable exceptions. Schmidt instantly acknowledged and adopted as his personal fan base the people in the section next to him; he would frequently look over and smile or wave or something throughout the performance. He made us feel at home. Henley and Frey didn't really acknowledge the audience much and their conversation and playing seemed very scripted. Smith and Walsh looked like they had a blast and it felt like improvisation was actually happening on stage during Walsh's songs - Walsh messed around intelligently with the guitar solos and the lyrics. I did notice that when Walsh did go off the path a little, Frey would break into laughter - like a release - he was enjoying Walsh's creativity as much as the audience.

Jeff Scott Soto & Jack Daniels

By Michael Rootes

Headliner: Jeff Scott Soto
Support : Teargas
Thursday 2nd September 2004
The Marquee - Sydney, Australia

Ok, firstly let me set up a disclaimer.

1. I'm a Jeff Scott Soto fan (and a tragic patron of the metal and shredding arts).
2. 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.

So please excuse any inaccuracies in the following info.  Good old alcohol, the cause and solution to all of life's problems.  (Pop culture reference No.1 - stay tunes kids there's most likely more to come.)

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:
• www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
• If you’ve never heard of Jeff Scott Soto (“Who’s he?” is not an uncommon response), you can learn about him here:
• http://www.jeffscottsoto.com/jss/jeffsbio.htm
• 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!
• http://rockstarmovie.warnerbros.com/index_flash.html
• If you have the urge and want to write a review for The Metro Gnome, go for it, and send it here:
• editor@themetrognome.com.au
• 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:
• www.melodicrock.com
• And now, the one you’ve all been waiting for… the link to listen to Yngwie!  Hear what this guitar legend is all about:
• http://www.yngwie.org/discog/media-files.html