(I remember the times friends would find each other in pubs_bars_clubs to have a drink and hang around; now it seems this shit occurs in live gigs while a band sweats off to present its music…)

Getting used to watch Rock/Metal bands playing in more than inadequate venues is rather an ominous-looking case. On the other hand, what you give (as a fan base) is what you get (as a gig/event condition). Rescued by HOUSE OF LORDS' new album plus the American outfit's eternal undisputed quality I was out of Sin City Club at 20:45. Not more than 100 fans were gathered at that time (a number that did not exceed 200 people, I assume) and watching the support band's members also drifting around outside it was evident we'd be offered - again - a rich delay until…

…the time KINGDRAGON stormed the stage at around 22:15. Not having the chance for even an elementary soundcheck, the Athenian quintet - known to many from their successful support slots at GOTTHARD and FIREHOUSE gigs in Greece - did seriously fight against an absurd arena sound and on-the-edge won the battle due to their neat will to deliver their sophisticated melodic Hard Rock blend with dignity. Helped by none other than Mark Cross (FIREWIND, OUTLOUD, HELLOWEEN, KINGDOM COME etc) on drums the band showed their dynamics vividly and - omitting the pale lead and backing vocals at times - KINGDRAGON received a warm applaud after 40 minutes of set featuring tunes from last year's debut EP plus a couple of new cuts and an intriguing cover on HARDLINE's Life's A Bitch. The guitars really shined on that evening and if it wasn't for the poor output sound we'd be talking 'bout an exciting opening 'dish'.

KINGDRAGON setlist:
01. Fire In The Sky
02. Asian Star
03. Man Of Yesterday
04. Hide The Sun
05. Only Winter
06. Life's A Bitch
07. Burn It Up

With James Christian still being a charismatic singer_figure and a true believer in his works with HOUSE OF LORDS (even if being the only original member now), adding the band's recently released Cartesian Dreams CD showcase, there was a good mood around for this (organized by Rock Hard magazine's Greek edition) gig. The band stormed in with Rob Marcello (DANGER DANGER, MARCELLO_VESTRY) handling the guitar duties. A thrilling guitarist, no questions asked, for the specific genre, Rob did his best creating a melodic yet dynamic atmosphere and the same goes for the whole band (the backing vocals were awesome, by the way) having in mind the restricted venue conditions. James was very good in his performance, he did raise some hell towards a 'weary' audience - some bright exceptions included - and in 90 minutes of recital HOUSE OF LORDS did manage to show their class and bring on the quality in their music.

The intro/in-between samples were a weird parenthesis - yeap, we'd love to see a keyboards set onstage - but they did not, no way, cut off anything from a good HOUSE OF LORDS gig. As far as actual music goes, we did get a good doze of the band's classics (Love Don't Lie, I Wanna Be Loved, Pleasure Palace) plus a good portion of cuts off the new album (Cartesian Dreams, Born To Be Your Baby, Never Look Back) and - whether the people gathered were familiar or not that much - things looked pretty good in terms of atmosphere. Sadly, shortly before midnight a good portion of the crowd bowed out (let's catch the last bus_train home…) but such a professional band has no fear, hence a rich encore was hailed with extra enthusiasm by the core fans remaining loyal to James and Co.

If HOUSE OF LORDS comes to your town (see the full dates here) you can as well not miss this show. You'll spend a nice evening, guaranteed.

HOUSE OF LORDS setlist:

01. Sahara
02. Talkin' Bout Love
03. S.O.S.
04. Cartesian Dreams
05. I Don't Wanna Wait All Night
06. I'm Free
07. Born To Be Your Baby
08. Love Don't Lie
09. I Wanna Be Loved
10. Come To My Kingdom
11. Rock Bottom
12. One Foot In The Dark
13. Never Look Back
14. Pleasure Palace
15. Slip Of The Tongue
16. These Are The Times

(photos by a lord)