Well, this definitely was not a helluva night. I had so much in mind while heading out of the Underworld Club on a 'silky' Saturday night that I simply needed some time to loosen up and write down a proper live report.
By-passing the usual 45' delay for the concert to kick off, not more than 90-100 faces (most of them familiar for years now) were present to witness the gig of one of the most 'melodic' exports of Great Britain since the 'golden' 80's. There's been too much 'fog' regarding the current status of long-running rockers Praying Mantis, since the band has been quite inactive after their excellent The Journey Goes On (2003) last studio release. Ex-Maiden credited Dennis Straton left the band, leaving the Troy borthers (Tino & Chris) pulling the strings on their own. Reading a rave review concerning the band's appearance at the NWOBHM 25th Anniversary gig in Astoria, London in November 2005, I was also curious enough to check out the band's current (?) singer Damian Wilson (Ayreon, Star One, Threshold).
Greek band Raindream (contact_rain@yahoo.gr) were the ones to hit the stage first. This was one of the first live gigs for this quintet, still they succeeded in delivering 40 minutes of well-done music, in a vein of 'hardrockin' Queensryche I should say. The band performed the two songs off its Miracle (2006) promo CD single, plus 3-4 other interesting tunes with great guitar work, good vocal lines_harmonies and an excellent onstage behaviour. 'Teasing' the crowd with three excellent covers of Tyketto's Forever Young, Queensryche's I Don't Believe In Love and Firehouse's All She Wrote, they walked down supported by a generous applause. I think we'll have lots more to hear from these guys in the future (I'm also planning to get in touch with them for a brief interview), since they really left a good impression.
Heavy/Power metallers Clairvoyant were next to hit the stage. Well, the band's a killer in general, since they've been performing for many years now with excellence in mixing the basic Iron Maiden elements with the best parts of 80's Power Metal (European and U.S.). Yet, this was definitely an 'unwise' move ? to put Clairvoyant on the bill ? since their sound/style was tons away from the general Hard Rock atmosphere of that night. They were labelled as 'boring', but this was not their fault. With a 40'-50' set, Clairvoyant left the stage in an average applause and we're really looking forward to see the band again live on a more familiar 'ground'.
The time (22:50 pm) had come for the main reason of this gig. Even if Praying Mantis released their first works back in the early 80's (credited, eventually, as a NWOBHM band), they proposed a different view at the UK sound of that time. Based on both strong guitars/keyboards melodies and excellent vocal harmonies, the Mantis succeeded in gaining great recognition in Japan (mainly) from 1990 and onward, with a strong melodic Hard Rock sound that rarely reached European/U.S. ears (zero distribution from Japanese labels). Hence, starting off with the 1991 classic Can't See The Angels was the proper intro for such a gig. Unfortunately, the sound was ? at least ? average, with Tino Troy's guitar 'buried' six feet under, the keys 'pushed' back and forth - as if someone was playing games with the console ? and the drums barely being heard! The sound was unacceptable and only got (a little bit) better in the last two songs. The vocals mix was average - even if Wislon proved to be a great singer/entertainer, stage diving(!) every ten minutes and showing his excellent mood by singing along with the crowd continuously ? but the band really tried its best to overcome the sound difficulties and 'push' a total of 100+ fans have a good time.
A Cry For The New World was next to follow, an audience favorite, while Best Years was welcomed with a big applause. Still, it was the 1981 hymn Lovers To The Grave that brought an eerie feeling to everyone (especially the NWOBHM devotees). If the vocals' sound was proper enough, we'd be talkin' 'bout a legendary performance of this song... Moving on to Lettin' Go and Rise Up Again, the band expressed their gratitude for the Greek fans' support all these years, while Turn The Tables (1982) was a real British rock killer!
And then came the killing?The band left the stage, with Wilson mumbling somethin' 'bout fuck the rules or something like that and I now had the suspicion this was the end of the 'normal' setlist. Chattin' 'around with other guys, there was a strong belief that Praying Mantis was 'forced' to shorten their setlist in order for the venue to be 'prepared' by the concert organizers to operate as a 'normal' Night Club afterwards. So, the band returned for a 'chopped' version of their Children Of The World 1981 classic and left again after a total setlist of 8(!) songs and 55 minutes(!) of performance. O tempora, o mores...
Many faces looking at one another to see what happened; that's not the proper scene for a gig to end. Praying Manits' performance was more than good but the rest, honestly, is out of question. It's a shame, for this band is really a have-a-good-time live act and I did not feel that way in the end. Some years ago this would not have happened without some fans' reaction... At least, thank you, Troy Bros!
