Saz + Temple Bar + Open Air - The Moorings, Aberdeen 24-09-05
New group to me called Open Air started the night and they were excellent. A dual guitar attack that poured forth solid riffs and red hot solos, with a rhyhtm section kicking it all up the arce and driving it forward. Vocally, pretty darned fine too, and the tracks had me in mind of a kind of slightly post early days, slightly pre-"Black Album" era Metallica, with this fantastic chunky sound to it all and a pace slower than thrash but really powerful too - apparently they are supporting Saz at their gig at the Westport Bar in Dundee at end of October - a band to watch, for sure!!
Next up were Temple Bar - a no-holds barred hardcore holocaust with an, admittedly charismatic, vocalist who shouted and hollered and sang his way through a ferocious set of hardcore tracks - I think the audience, including myself, were somewhat phased by this - a case of right band, wrong setting.
Headlinig were Saz - I had meant to do a complete track by track set review of this one, but I forgot to bring the book.It wouldn;t have mattered anyway because, and I don't say this lightly, this was the best ever set the band have played. The running order of the tracks (see setlist below) is just spot on and although I miss "Pictures", you simply can't argue with the quality of the tracks. But here tonight, with one of the best sound systems I've heard from a rock venue of this size in recent times, was one seriously tightly knit band in action. You could hear each of them perfectly aware of the individual performances as well as the band as a whole and I've never heard such a solid and energetic performance from guitarist Kev and bassist Marina to date, both of whom seemed to know that this was one of the better gigs, and, feeding off a wholly enthusiastic audience, played their asses off. Kev's soloing tonight was upfront, spot on and right there - always had this idea that his riffing and rolling was more driving force and soloing was more an afterthought, but tonight he showed that here is one seriously hot guitarist.
So to Nicky and Nicola - wow!! What a pair - of vocalists, that is.Not putting a foot wrong, with the mix allowing both vocals to come shining through, you were finally aware of what a magical and quite unique frontline they are. For Saz to work this well, both of their timing has to be spot on, with tracks where they'll switch from one to the other with rapidity or where Nicola will join in on the chorus lines or where they will be doing separate parts simultaneously - whatever, the high register of one set against the mid-range of the other made this the best, most incendiary dual female vocal band since the glory days of Heart, only a lot, lot heavier.
Debuting a stunning new track in the form of "Evil Lady", Nicky was whipping things up literally, thanks to a new stage prop - Evil Lady and then some!!! "Metal Attack", one of the fastest numbers that they do with a positively tongue-twisting performance from Nicky delivering the verses at light speed, was just HOT - the dual-vocal chorus positively anthemic, while the track as a whole seems to be the one that fires the audiences onto the headbanging floor, if they're not there already after the soaring flow of "Get A Grip". "We Are Saz", the set closer, gets ever nearer to being spot on, and while at times, due to the combination of PA, unfamiliarity with the tracks and sheer speed of vocalising on a a few numbers, the lyrics aren't always 100% audible in a Saz set, this version, and the set as a whole, was one of the best to date for anyone new to the band.
Overall, then - what can I say - continuing to go from strength to strength - possibly one of the best and most original rock bands around today - surely only a matter of time before the world catches up - catch them Oct 7th at my promotion at The Doghouse - you won't regret it!!
SET LIST FOR SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER @ THE MOORINGS