SACRED HEART, TARA’S SECRET
Stripes Bar,Brentford 12 August 2005
First off a rant - Despite handing out over 1,000 flyers at gigs by Styx, Kansas, Y & T and a local blues festival plus endless plugs on music and non-music websites, after football matches, listings magazines like ‘Time Out’ etc the turn out was still very low.
Okay Brentford isn’t Central London but then again it’s hardly the Scottish Highlands when it comes to public transport coverage! Apathy really is killing live rock music as even some big rock bands aren’t selling out at present. Go out and see a live gig is all I and many other bands/promoters ask. Right, rant over onto the music!
Tara’s Secret had travelled down from south Staffordshire and played a good mix of numbers of their debut release ‘Spectrum Wheel’. Sadly no ‘She Wears A Rainbow’ but perhaps that was to stop me saying they had hints of folk in that tune! Live they certainly pack a punch and fans of melodic hard rock would enjoy ‘Wild Frontier’ and the prog leanings on ‘Calmer Karma’.
They got a good reaction and Aussie vocalist John Trowbridge was gracious enough to keep very quite about the cricket score. He really does put his heart and soul into his singing perhaps a bit too much as he has a voice suited to melody rather than metal styled screams which occasionally happened in the set.
A fine set closed with my personal favourate track ‘Venice Of The North’ - a very Magnum styled number and even better live than on CD (not just because bass player Chris Tomlin has a groovy set of green lights flashing up and down his bass).
Sacred Heart played a blinding gig. They certainly get better each time I see them, concentrating on the music (there were plenty of fellow musos in the crowd who always form a sterner test than fans) and winning over the crowd with ease. With songs like ‘Lost’ (this would be a hit single if it ever got mainstream radio airplay) and the rifftastic ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Away’ you can’t go wrong. Some new numbers as well including ‘Promise’ which, pardon the pun, showed much promise.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
I've noticed declining attendance as well. It is rare that I see a sellout, even at the small club I usually go to.