Hi folks,
Well, here we go again, another quick posting just to let you know yes, Chambers of Rock is still alive and kicking!!!
A great show Saturday before last in Chicago's Arlington Heights area at The Home Bar.
Some seriously great acts and the review is coming, but even from the scribbles of the event organizer, Andrew McNiece it seems Melodic Rock Fest 3 was a success!
Check out Andrew's post for Monday 7th, October:
A full review of Saturday will follow but here's some highlights ...
By the way ... I did not get to see headline act Harem Scarem .... :(
More on that in my full review, reports that followed though said they great ..., my loss!
More on that in my full review, reports that followed though said they great ..., my loss!
For me the great performances on Saturday were - And yes I am biased but ... - W.E.T. featuring Jeff Scott Soto, Erik Martensson (Eclipse) and Robert Sall (Work of Art) and most of the Eclipse band were just great for me ...
Oh to have a recording or DVD of that performance, but I know ... No chance!
Great set guys!
Heaven + Earth I have been waiting to see live for so long, now I know many of you know that I'm friends with Stuart Smith and both Richie Onori and Joe Retta have always been so cool with me too - since meeting up with them all through Sweet performances in Detroit .. - BUT .... I had not seen Heaven + Earth live and had wanted to for so long ..., they did not disappoint!
The set was scheduled to be a short'ish acoustic set, that changed to a full blown electric rockin' performance that blew me away!
Arlan Schierbaum absolutely killed it on his Hammond B3, jamming in such a fashion Jon Lord would've been proud of, climbing all over it too!
It was a short set though, but great to hear.
Stuart and Arlan played so well off each other, Joe's vocal performance, excellent and Richie and Tony Morabito - in for Chuck Wright - just had the rhythm section down great!
Loved it!!!
Stuart - Will that footage show up on DVD?
I cannot deny 7th heaven's performance was impressive!
They did have some clear advantages though ...
One - this was like a hometown gig for them ... They have also already open at Chicago's Soldier Field stadium for both Bon Jovi and Kid Rock, so this was like a walk in the park for them.
Two - They had already played the previous two Melodic Rock Fest events, so were already a familiar live act to the melodic rock community.
Three - They appeared to have brought in a bunch of friends with them, who left after their performance.
Four - Their sound guy was walking through the crowd mixing the sound right there on his active I-Pad ...! Er, I did hear sampled sounds and vocals too!
All that said, their performance with new singer Keith Semple was full of confidence, no question. Nice one guys!
A very special performance for me, was that of my old pal Steve Newman and his band Newman for their first ever performance on US soil, also this was the first live performance with the band for bassist Joel Peters!
They had a tough spot in the Saturday lineup too, as they had to follow 7th heaven!
Not a simple task, with borrowed equipment and no sound check as I know was the case for the acts coming in from overseas and some of the US bands ... The drum set certainly remained the same throughout, with some of the drummers throughout the day switching out pedals and a few bits and bobs.
It was apparent there were some monitor problems, but they played a great if short set of just seven songs.
Huge kudos to the Brett Walker band guys, as Matt MacKelvie and the guys supported by Jeff Paris and Shawn Pelata (Line of Fire) to name just two, did an awesome job in paying tribute to the late, great Brett Walker.
Incredible job guys, must've been tough ...
Mecca with Survivor's Jimi Jamison sounded very good too, sadly Fergie Frederiksen (Toto / Mecca) was unable to be a part of the event, as he is currently very sick and undergoing medical treatments.
Nice performance led by Joe Vana ... Good job guys!
Adriangale were good, but nothing stood out to me ... Sorry guys, likewise Tango Down and Evolution Eden, who played good sets.
I missed most of opening act The Radio Sun's set, but the tail end of their performance sounded good.
Reviews are coming, just done James Christian, that should edited, formatted and posted in the next day or so, then Robin Beck, Status Quo, The Dead Daises and more!
Thanks for keeping it real folks!
Keep on rockin'!
Al
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