RAGE & EDENBRIDGE
CAMDEN UNDERWORLD - LONDON 27/04/08
It was a heavy weekend for London gigs, it was good to see that this one being on a Sunday, drew a surprisingly healthy crowd with the queue stretching right round the Underworld’s perimeter. ‘Rage’ are a seminal band from Germany, who have been releasing albums since the mid-1980’s.
As the other support acts were not on the bill tonight, this gave ‘Edenbridge’ a much longer set than planned, unfortunately, too long for me. Using the provided back line from the main band, the stage looked crowded. The sound was crystal clear and sounded very full. One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of keyboard parts to the set, and no keyboard player in sight! Was this a tape or someone playing in the background? ‘Edenbridge’ would sit well with fans of ‘Nightwish’, ‘After Forever’ and ‘Epica’, very keyboard heavy music with female vocals courtesy of Sabine Edelsbacher. Tracks like ‘Undying Devotion’ from their latest CD ‘My Earth Demon’ get a warm response, however the overall crowd reaction was a little subdued, with the majority of the people in the venue walking around the bar area or sitting on the sofas in the said bar area. One thing I would say is that there were a few men at the front of the stage (female singers influence maybe?).
‘Rage’ lye somewhere between “a god” and a genius when it comes to musical ability. Their albums range far and wide, and the current line up (including new drummer Andre Hilgers) is one of the most solid for years. Following an intro tape and very loud sound check, we are off, opening with ‘Carved in Stone’, the title track from their new album. This works very good live, flowing rhythms, powerful bass lines from Peavy Wagner (some bass playing with his teeth was also noted!) backed up with really strong vocals. Hat’s off to their sound engineer, it was a perfect live PA sound. Classic tunes followed like ‘Soundchaser’ and ‘Days of December’. This talented trio do put on an excellent show and you can clearly see that they are having real fun on stage, with a full appreciation of the rabid fans in the venue. Other gems played are ‘Refuge’ (from the 1993 ‘Missing Link’ album) and ‘Lost in the Void’ from their new CD. ‘No Regrets’ from their 25 min epic off ‘Speak of the Dead’ is then played, this then flows into a guitar solo from Victor Smolski which lasts a long time.
Unfortunately, this is where I chose to catch my train home, so had to leave the show early. However, it was a perfect set by ‘Rage’ and will hold true as a gig of the year thus far.
Paul Maddison
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