Page 46 - Black Velvet Issue 96

BV96 pg46_BV96 pg46 12/03/2018 02:31 Page 1

BlackVelvetMagazine.Com - 46
RAVENEYE / SKAM - LONDON DINGWALLS, 02.02.18
Tonight may be a little different to the kinds of stages RavenEye has become used to in recent times. Enjoying high profile performances at festivals
such as Download and Reading and Leeds in the UK and Rock Am Ring and Rock Am Park in the States not to mention touring alongside Kiss, Slash,
Deep Purple, Aerosmith and Bush across the UK and Europe, they have played to much larger audiences than the humble Dingwalls at Camden Lock
in London can accommodate. Yet, by the end of the evening, lead singer and guitarist Oli Brown is telling the 500 or so strong in front of him that this
is “hands down, the best gig of their lives,” which is some claim, but one which, given the size of the smiles he and his band mates are wearing and
have been for the past hour or so, you do not doubt for one second. Surely a big reason for these smiles and such high self-praise of the evening
comes from their polished performance, which is near on impossible to fault, but another massive factor is that unlike all those aforementioned other
appearances, the crowd tonight are not being won over by RavenEye, they are here to see them!
Well maybe not quite everyone, as it’s apparent from the moment fellow three-piece outfit SKAM arrive on stage there are a good number of
people here to enjoy their slice of classic style rock as well. It’s hard to believe lead vocalist and guitarist Steve Hill and brother and drummer Neal had
only arrived at the venue about 20 minutes before their set after an extremely difficult journey from Leicester as they roar away with opening song ‘Be-
tween The Eyes’ as if they have had all the time in the world to prepare. The opening song from new album ‘The Amazing Memoirs Of Geoffrey
Goddard’ is not the only song from their latest LP squeezed into their tight set and the rip-roaring ‘Take It Or Leave It’ with its blistering instrumental
and ‘The Iron Cross’ are clear highlights of their show, the latter quickly becoming a live pick of the band.
There is still time for some old
favourites and ‘Massacre’, which is in-
jected with a bit of Black Sabbath’s ‘War
Pigs’, has not lost any of its shine over the
years and remains a triumphant conclusion
to their time on a stage which they are
surely deserving of headlining themselves
in the very near future.
But tonight is the night for RavenEye
to headline and they more than make the
most of it with a bumper 14-song set which
is packed full of their past, present and fu-
ture and with their adoring fans firmly in
their corner there is little chance of failure
here. ‘Hate’ provides a solid start to the
show in which Oli, bassist Aaron Spiers
and drummer Adam Breeze quickly find
their feet and settle into their groove, which
allows them to blast things into the strato-
sphere with ‘Come With Me’, undeniably
one of the highlights of their debut LP
‘NOVA’ and equally one of the best songs
of the night and already a massive fan
favourite based on the volume of the crowd
singalong with Oli, none of which is overly
encouraged by the vocalist.
From here, things just escalate. With
each song, the band’s confidence grows
and with it their obvious enjoyment, and
this is matched by that being had by their
audience producing a superb atmosphere
throughout the venue which would be the
envy of any rock and roll show. Admittedly
it is a pity some more respect couldn’t have
been shown by some to the acoustic per-
formance of ‘Eternity’, where Adam joins
Oli and Aaron on the guitars, the unwanted
chatter of some being a disappointing dis-
traction from a superb and emotional per-
formance.
It’s a minor niggle and you can forgive
people’s excitement and there is excite-
ment for the future too with new songs
‘You’re A Lie’ and ‘Turn The Lights Out’ not
only fitting into the set list smoothly but
they do so as if they have been there the
whole time which bodes very well for what
is next to come from these three who close
their evening in stellar fashion with ‘You
Got It’, almost bringing the (Ding)walls
down. Having not vacated the stage for an
encore it gives them a little extra time to
play and Oli spends some of this surfing on
the hands of those in the front few rows
while performing his solo in glorious rock
and roll style and the roar from the crowd
when he lands back on the stage on his
feet is a perfect coup de grace to what has
been a majestic evening of guitars and
drums.
YYYYY
Michael Coventry

Oli Brown (RavenEye) Photo By Jess McPhee
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