Finally it was time to break the lean gig attending days since I saw Maiden at the O2 3 months ago and what better way than with a bit of killer prog metal from Californians Redemption who are on a short tour of Europe with this being the opening night. I had my usual pre gig dinner of Chicken Shish opposite the venue which went down a storm as expected hehe!
Anyway let's get on to matters at hand and namely Redemption and support act Kingcrow. First up at 7.30 were Kingcrow who are not really my cup of tea to be honest. That kind of eclectic dreamy languid prog with latin influences doesn't do a lot for me though they were very competent live. They were confident in their ability and performed well but the songs don't have enough bite or attack for my liking though they did get heavy on occasion. They even had some reggae licks in one song which was quite fun. Not bad but just not my thing in the end.
A little word about the attendance last night with little being the operative word. There were barely 100 or so who made it to the show which is very disappointing indeed and the gig has been planned for many months although the ticket price may have had something to do with it. I guess Redemption have yet to reach the Dream Theatre crowd here and this clearly showed itself in the lack of bodies inside. Still Redemption are a pro band and they played their hearts out.
I am not yet fully enamoured with the new album mainly due to the production but the songs haven't caught my ear yet with their melodies as such but I was hoping one or two newies would be aired tonight and they surely were. Noonday Devil was played with hard paced thrashy riffing which sounded good. The band played for roughly 80 minutes all told and were in fine form. I especially enjoyed the progressive parts were Ray Alder left the stage and let the band do their metal thing and jam the riffs away. Ray's voice was pretty good. He seems to sing in a higher register live than on record which is quite interesting. i couldn't say what the setlist was or what old songs they played as I am not that much into the band to know individual songs but they were very tight indeed with both great riffing from the Van Dyk/Versailles axe team and cool bass from the hooded bass dude. The sound was a bit loud but pretty clear all night and the band seemed to enjoy themselves with Ray thanking those who bothered to turn up and smiling a lot. Tonight the band is playing Progpower Europe so last night was like the warm up show if you will and I'm sure they'll be even better tonight. Only thing I did notice was that Ray was looking at his lyric book rather a lot which is understandable but in the main he remembered the words perfectly well.
The gig had a low key feel to it but was nevertheless enjoyable and just about worth the money. Redemption are great musicians no doubt about it and put on a respectable performance even if the minute London prog metal scene proved to be just that on this occasion! Now I need to get my head round the new album which I haven't yet managed to do so but I'm sure it will come in time.
Anyway let's get on to matters at hand and namely Redemption and support act Kingcrow. First up at 7.30 were Kingcrow who are not really my cup of tea to be honest. That kind of eclectic dreamy languid prog with latin influences doesn't do a lot for me though they were very competent live. They were confident in their ability and performed well but the songs don't have enough bite or attack for my liking though they did get heavy on occasion. They even had some reggae licks in one song which was quite fun. Not bad but just not my thing in the end.
A little word about the attendance last night with little being the operative word. There were barely 100 or so who made it to the show which is very disappointing indeed and the gig has been planned for many months although the ticket price may have had something to do with it. I guess Redemption have yet to reach the Dream Theatre crowd here and this clearly showed itself in the lack of bodies inside. Still Redemption are a pro band and they played their hearts out.
I am not yet fully enamoured with the new album mainly due to the production but the songs haven't caught my ear yet with their melodies as such but I was hoping one or two newies would be aired tonight and they surely were. Noonday Devil was played with hard paced thrashy riffing which sounded good. The band played for roughly 80 minutes all told and were in fine form. I especially enjoyed the progressive parts were Ray Alder left the stage and let the band do their metal thing and jam the riffs away. Ray's voice was pretty good. He seems to sing in a higher register live than on record which is quite interesting. i couldn't say what the setlist was or what old songs they played as I am not that much into the band to know individual songs but they were very tight indeed with both great riffing from the Van Dyk/Versailles axe team and cool bass from the hooded bass dude. The sound was a bit loud but pretty clear all night and the band seemed to enjoy themselves with Ray thanking those who bothered to turn up and smiling a lot. Tonight the band is playing Progpower Europe so last night was like the warm up show if you will and I'm sure they'll be even better tonight. Only thing I did notice was that Ray was looking at his lyric book rather a lot which is understandable but in the main he remembered the words perfectly well.
The gig had a low key feel to it but was nevertheless enjoyable and just about worth the money. Redemption are great musicians no doubt about it and put on a respectable performance even if the minute London prog metal scene proved to be just that on this occasion! Now I need to get my head round the new album which I haven't yet managed to do so but I'm sure it will come in time.
