Neonfly - The Tivoli, Buckley, 20 April 2014

I missed the opening couple of numbers by Neonfly, however I did catch ‘The Revenant’ the third song in their set. They were very lively as ever on stage with vocalist Willy Norton a livewire singing, jumping around and getting the crowd on the band’s side. ‘Highways To Nowhere’ and set closer ‘Morning Star’ were the highlights for me, although the sound was not great particularly on the vocals. They won over some new fans and were a perfect opener for this night of power metal.

Serious Black are one of these ‘supergoups’ that keep popping up in the world of metal. They originally featured Roland Grapow of Helloween fame, although he has since bowed out and the current line-up features past and present members of Edenbridge, Tad Morose and Blind Guardian.

I tend to agree with fellow GRTR! reviewer Phil Berisford who reviewed the band’s debut album earlier this year in that their songs are okay, but on the whole nothing special. That said they have two real stand out songs in the power ballad ‘Listen to the Storm’ and ‘High and Low’, both show off the undoubted vocal talents of Urban Breed (a man surely with one of the coolest names in rock?). They have a little fun mid set with a couple of covers, the Kiss classic ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ and Scorpions ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’. Enjoyable set and certainly worth catching live if you can.

Headliners Gamma Ray were celebrating 25 years of metal, quite a scary thought as I can still remember buying their debut album, ‘Heading For Tomorrow’, on cassette on its original release! The band have recently expanded adding vocalist Frank Beck (rescued from singing Mary Hopkin’s covers if Mr Hansen is to be believed!), who does the majority of the singing Kai Hansen used to do. Bassist Dirk Schlächter also added the higher end backing vocals, mainly needed on the songs from the band’s days when Ralf Scheepers was the vocalist.

The setlist was a good mix and none better than kicking off with one of their best songs ‘Heaven Can Wait’. The band kept between song banter to a minimum and kept the metal rolling with ‘Last Before the Storm’ and ‘Fight’ following in quick succession.

There was a nod to Kai Hansen’s past with Helloween’s ‘I Want Out’ which bizarrely had a reggae part midway through, not sure they quite pulled that one off though. They hit their stride again on the power ballad ‘The Silence’ from their debut album. Great emotion in the singing with Hansen and Beck trading vocals on this one.

Sadly the drum solo and bass solo I could have done without and certainly not one straight after the other. Still it was back on track with ‘Dethrone Tyranny’, again the band played the songs note perfect. Fans were treated to a medley of ‘Rebellion in Dreamland’/’Heavy Metal Universe’/’Ride the Sky’ and due to being a work night I had to bow out before the extended jamming on ‘Somewhere Out In Space’ which closed their set.

Gamma Ray certainly show no signs of metal fatigue and on tonight’s showing have plenty more years of entertaining their fans to come. Adding Frank Beck is a good move as it allowed Kai Hansen greater freedom around the stage and a chance to do a few guitar player poses with fellow guitarist Henjo Richter. A good triple bill of power metal and all three bands gave their all to a receptive and appreciative crowd.

Review by Jason Ritchie

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)