This past Friday night George Lynch returned to The Chance. This time he was playing with Lynch Mob, the last time he was here was back in March when he was playing with Yngwie Malmsteen.
But before we could get to his performance, there were three opening acts to check out. I have seen all of them before and had liked their performances, could they live up to what had come before?
The crowd was on the small side, but they were into the show right from the start. That is one thing that is always a plus, a crowd that wants to be there. Another good thing is that the mix was strong throughout the night.
Metadox. First up was the young metal act Metadox. I had seen them once before a few months ago, they were good then, they are much better now. The mix was much better this time giving the sound a lot more balance. They were also much tighter as a band, a bit less showy than the last time and considerably better together. A difference I noticed between then and now is that the first time there seemed to be more of their friends in attendance and they were showing off a bit, this time there was a lot less of that in evidence and stronger focus on playing the music. They are young and have a long way to go, but their sound is very good, a progression of the Iron Maiden school of metal. It is encouraging to hear this style style being played with he prevalence of nu-metal and pop punk that's been proliferating over the past few years. The singer has a strong voice, very reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson. Excellent rhythm section. The heart though, is the two guitar attack, heavy riffs, dual leads, very good. Hopefully they will continue to improve. I saw at their site that they are going to be recording an album soon, I am looking forward to seeing show it turns out. Onstage
Livesay. Up next was a band I am familiar with, having seen them seven times over the past few years. This was the best I have heard them. The mix was great, able to pick out each instrument individually, yet allowing them to play over and around each other as the songs progressed. They have a good hard rock sound that has changed over the years, when I first saw them about 4 years ago the sound had more of an 80's sound to it, they have developed a more modern sound yet still retain those roots. This show was very strong, the lead guitar was spot on, rhythm section was tight, and the vocals came in over top of it all. I wish they had been able to play more than a 30 minute set. I would like to take a moment to thank bass player Al D'Angelo, he took the time to have a conversation with a friend of mine at the show. She wanted to congratulate them for a good show and ended up having an extended conversation. He was very nice, taking the time to talk, and even coming back to say goodbye when he was leaving the venue, a real class act.
Article comments
1 - Lono
I was a huge fan of Dokken, and I guess you could say I still am. I was excited to see George Lynch play at Clapton's Crossroads Fest in May. I was disappointed. All he did was shred. No melody, no riffs... just cheesy stunts.
2 - Eric Olsen
I hung out with Dokken for a while in the mid-'80s, Don lived down the street from us - nice guys, very resentful for the multi-platinum status of Def Leppard et al, upon whom they looked down. It was funny