Now & Then/Frontiers Gods 2003 Festival - Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 24-26, 2003.
Pennington's / Bradford, UK.
SATURDAY
Dare
Stan Bush
Grand Illusion
Urban Tale
Lost Weekend
Pride
Raine
The Gods 2003...
The first full day of Gods 2003 got underway at the very civilized time of 5pm-ish.
Flying themselves over for the opportunity of being seen and reminding fans they are still alive, was New York band Raine.
It's been some time since the guys released their debut album Peace thru MTM and with a second album in the can, the guys were eager to re-connect with their original fan base.
For UK fans it was the first taste of the band's new modern pop direction – some distance from the power AOR of the debut.
But style aside, the substance to this band is quite something. They gig every week in NYC and it shows. They have great presence on stage, are musically tight and delivered a flawless performance.
Vocalist David Lindland is fun to watch, as are all the guys, as they do have a good time on stage and that shines through.
Musically the guys covered a range of tracks from their upcoming album Extraordinary Life and threw in a couple of tunes from the debut. For the most part, their live performance lessened the difference between the material off each album. Although quite pop in nature, the new material sounds tougher live. The record is far more polished and a little more laid back.
Still, the guys gave good representation of themselves and put in a performance that would have won over some new fans.
Shame the new record wasn't ready for fans to take home on the night. And given that it still has no ETA, their appearance might be forgotten by the time it arrives.
They don't play as often as Raine, but compared to a few other groups on the bill, they do register their fair share of stage time, playing at regular intervals around England.
Their style is more in tune with the audience before them, so they were well received from the opening riff.
Like most bands, the guys are a little heavier on stage and gave the crowd a spirited set list comprising of tracks from the much loved debut, peppered with new tracks from the now released Signs Of Purity album.
I haven't seen quite so much hair on one stage since the 1992 Hardline / Mr. Big show in San Francisco.
Pride definitely had some fans in the audience and the reaction from most seemed very positive. I know the band were certainly happy with the show.
My only issue might be the volume of the sound. As with most of the bands on the Saturday bill, the volume was turned up to 11 on all channels, so with a band that rocked as hard as Pride, it did seem a little too in your face.
But that aside, their performance was enjoyable and musically satisfying. There was nothing fancy or too cleaver – just good solid musicianship and a string of enjoyable melodic hard rock songs.
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I previously had not rated the vocalist or even the band as highly as some others, but it was obvious by this set that things have continued to improve and the band has continued to grow and get tighter onstage.
This was a very solid performance and a much improved one.
The band's more traditional AOR sound made for a good change of pace and direction following the heavy Pride set and the modern twist of Raine's set.
It was welcomed by the crowd, who gave the band a warm reception.
UT impressed many on their previous Gods appearance and expectations were high for this evening's performance, with added material to chose from now the second album is released.
As good as these guys are – I got the feeling this wasn't one of their better shows and from talking to a few Gods regulars, their first appearance is yet to be topped. However, I was stil impressed!
A dramatic intro signaled good things ahead, with singer Kimmo Bloom bounding to the mike. But he suffered sound problems for the first couple of songs and was a little hard to hear.
Things improved vocally, but I'm not sure the band picked their best tracks to highlight live. It relied heavily on tracks from the current album and was maybe a couple of favourites from the debut short.
Especially disappointing was the omission of the monster ballad and fan favourite One Day.
But the band finished on a high with a hot selection of favourite tracks, ending the set on a positive and still managing to impress.
The band are tight and hold their own on stage. Guitarist Erkka started off leather clad, but by the end of the set was down to his pants. Luckily the set finished when it did, as he didn't have much left to take off!
The most fascinating thing is that the band hadn't played live together for 10 years. This essentially was their debut gig all over again, but it never showed.
The guys were tight, professional and musically right on song.
There wasn't a lot of stage movement, but everyone plays an instrument and sings, so it was easy to see why that was the case.
Musically the guys were spot on, with vocalist Peter Sundell quite fantastic. He managed to top high notes which seemed high on record, but were amazing live.
The only problem again was the sound. The band has such a complex set-up and arrangement that the problem of overly loud sound through the day was only exaggerated further during this set.
To top things off, Heartland's Chris Ousey joined the band for two tracks mid-set, which really worked well and gave the crowd an extra dimension to the already strong show. Singing the Heartland rocker Imagine My Surprise and the GI original Battle For Your Heart, Ousey sang his heart out and sounded right at home with the musical backing of the band. The band finished up by covering the Michael Semebello hit Maniac in very powerful style. A very good set – if not a little too loud – with the performance of Sundell a highlight.
There were no new tracks on offer tonight – rather a mix of tracks from the band's 4 albums to date – with all covered. It's been a while since the band played live, but they do have a track record together, so sounded very good.
Darren was in top vocal form and moved around the stage to the delight of those upfront.
The band's sound was smooth as expected, with the pure melodic rock and AOR trademark sound making another good change of pace from the heavier bands on stage prior.
The pace of the Dare set was somewhat different to that of the last couple of bands and it could be argued that it was a little too laid back for the hour of the day. But without a doubt, Dare delivered what Dare fans required, with an ultra smooth dose of pure AOR.
Missing from the line up was a bass player. The synth bass provided due to the lack of a live bass player was ok, but wasn't a substitute for the real thing – which could have toughened up the sound a little more.
All in all, it was a solid and enjoyable performance, but not the barnstorming rock n roll show it could have been.
But thanks to the super cool guys from Talon, Stan put in a memorable performance of classic AOR numbers; taken from his earliest days (All American Boy) to the last album (What I've Got is Real). In between were some real AOR classics such as The Touch, Gates Of Paradise and the big ballad Love Don't Lie.
It was the kind of set AOR purists came to see and coupled with the Dare show, gave the Gods a real sense of what great AOR can be like live in concert.
It was also a nice contrast to what was to come on the Sunday, with a heavier line-up of artists planned.
Talon provided Stan with flawless backing and gave the hits the extra punch needed live. A very enjoyable set that closed out the day on a perfect note.
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