Friday night in hamilton at Altitude.
8forty8 have been playing pretty often in the last 20 years but I hadn't seen then since 1993. The band of brothers was tight and professional with various members swapping between guitar, bass and keys. Marcel's voice is as good as it ever was. the highlite may have been the drummer....but Simon Koretz remains one of there country's accomplished rock guitar pros..
Knightshade have not played much (if at all) for many years...Again the last time I saw them was 1993. This was a "farewell" show and, as I understand it, driven by singer Wayne Elliott's bout with cancer. With hired in bass, drums and keys Knightshade is really Wayne, with long term guitarist Rik Bernards and not quite so long guitarist Craig Pollock.
From the very start of the first song this was a band out to show the packed crowd that they were as vital as ever. Waynes vocals, as always better live than on record, were strong and controlled with very few high notes shortened back. Wayne put on a fantastic show and proved once again that he deserves a greater slot in NZ music history than he got.
Rick and Craig showed the expected consummate skills on both ryhthm and lead...at times holding down simple grooves and at other timers demonstrating lightning fast dual harmonised tapping solos that should have pleased any shred fan altho as always with Knightshade, most solos were melodic and singable...A couple of extended improv slots let the boys stretch out a bit...great stuff!
A surprise was the segue from one of the singles (I think Last Night in the City) into the dual solo from Hotel California...the only non original music of the night and a sly wink to show that the boys can do more than just rock hard.
The sound was pretty good with great clear vocals...but the solos were not lifted above the mix and the overall energy always dropped when the vocal wasn't present...not my approach to mixing a guitar band like this.
Overall Im rapt that I made the effort to be in the Tron for this. Long timers will know I have studio connections with both bands....so the music and the chance to catch up with old friends made this a great night out.
Knightshade with 8Forty8
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Lawrence
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Knightshade with 8Forty8
GrantB wrote:
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“You might be cool, but you’ll never be playing a white Steinberger through a JC120, wearing a white jumpsuit with white shoes and sporting a mullet cool”.
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Aquila Rossa
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Re: Knightshade with 8Forty8
i only saw them once. widely recognized as NZ's best metal band at the time
talking about old school NZ metal, an old friend i stay in touch with used to play bass and sing in a band called Confessor. they just had a new video made using old footage from the power station. i never realized they were so good back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1UjITuRwM
talking about old school NZ metal, an old friend i stay in touch with used to play bass and sing in a band called Confessor. they just had a new video made using old footage from the power station. i never realized they were so good back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1UjITuRwM