Tonight\u2019s entertainment at the Garage was ”Spinefarm night” \u2013 a gig by three bands signed to Spinefarm records, Amaranthe, Soen and Dynazty. The gig was advertised as an Amaranthe show with the other two bands not being announced till a few weeks before the gig, so inevitably the majority of the crowd were Amaranthe fans, with plenty of their T-shirts being worn.<\/p>\n
The night kicked off with Swedish band Dynazty. By the time they came on stage at 8pm the venue was already busy and the temperatures inside were climbing rapidly (well that\u2019s what happens when you have a busy venue on one of our few hot sunny summer days). Right from the start they made a great impression with the crowd and really impressed a lot of people with their brand of rock. Tonight\u2019s set included several songs from their new album, \u201cSultans of Sin\u201d, which I\u2019m going to have to get a copy of after hearing how good it sounds live. Dynazty really did a superb job of warming the crowd up (both figuratively and literally) and by the end of their set the fans would have happily listened to more despite the sauna-like temperatures.<\/p>\n
Next up came Soen, a Swedish-American band whose members count Testament and Opeth among their former bands. Things started badly with them having technical problems that meant they were late starting, but this didn\u2019t seem to faze them. They started with a slow intro before the song picked up pace \u2013 a pattern repeated with many of their songs. Soen were an interesting band to watch \u2013 the music is clearly very good, and they played it well, but it was a bit too slow and unexciting for tonight\u2019s crowd. They got plenty of applause between songs but for the most part the crowd stood still and looked bored. The highlight of their set for me was an excellent cover of the Pink Floyd song \u201cHey you\u201d which went down well with the crowd as well. I think Soen\u2019s album could be really good to listen to, but like Opeth they aren\u2019t an exciting live band unfortunately \u2013 a sentiment I heard from several friends after the show (the consensus being that they are good but just weren\u2019t the right band for the night).<\/p>\n
More technical problems preceded Amaranthe\u2019s set so their 10pm start slipped badly and it was 10.20pm by the time they finally made it on stage. This hurt their audience badly as quite a few people with late night trains and buses to catch had to leave before the end of their set, which wasn\u2019t due to finish till around 11.20pm. Sadly I was one of those people who missed the last 20 minutes, which was a real shame as what I saw was excellent.
\nIf you haven\u2019t heard Amaranthe before then they have an interesting style blending death metal and a more pop sound to create something that\u2019s both radio friendly and also heavy at the same time. They have three vocalists \u2013 clean female vocals, clean male vocals, and male growling vocals, and for me it\u2019s that third vocalist that makes them stand out and really helps give the vocals a unique sound.
\nHaving played London before, both supporting Kamelot and also at their own headline show at the Borderline, they\u2019ve already built up a good fan base here (and around the country too, particularly after their Bloodstock appearance, but sadly for fans outside London, once again there are no more UK dates). The crowd were clearly loving Amaranthe\u2019s performance, and the band also looked to be enjoying themselves. The band are not just good musicians but also know how to keep the crowds attention. The three singers in particular are constantly moving around and regularly interact with the crowd and its that sort of thing that really helps a band win over the audience.<\/p>\n
A great night, with Dynazty in particular winning plenty of new fans and Amaranthe putting in another great performance and showing why they were the headliner tonight.<\/p>\n
Amaranthe setlist:<\/p>\n
Leave everything behind
\nEnter the maze
\n1,000,000 lightyears
\nSerendipity
\nAct of desperation
\nSpinter in my soul
\nAmaranthine
\nDirectors cut
\nCall out my name
\nMy transition
\nRain
\nAutomatic
\nHunger<\/p>\n
Soen setlist:<\/p>\n
Fraktal
\nFractions
\nDelenda
\nLast light
\nCanvas
\nPurpose
\nHey you
\nSavia<\/p>\n
Dynazty setlist:<\/p>\n
Come alive
\nLove junkie
\nLights out (in Candyland)
\nThis is my life
\nLand of broken dreams
\nMore than a man
\nSultans of sin
\nRaise your hands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight\u2019s entertainment at the Garage was ”Spinefarm night” \u2013 a gig by three bands signed to Spinefarm records, Amaranthe, Soen and Dynazty. The gig was advertised as an Amaranthe show with the other two bands not being announced till a few weeks before the gig, so inevitably the majority of the crowd were Amaranthe fans, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}