H.E.A.T. London Electric Ballroom 18-10-22
Tuesday night in London and the crowd were out in force early with Collateral receiving a welcome some headliners would be happy with.
A 30 minute 6 song set with Angelo Tristan on vocals and acoustic guitar leading from the front with Todd Winger on guitar a star in the making his riffs and soloing putting an extra oomph into the band's arsenal in comparison to the studio counterpart.
Lullaby, Mr Big Shot,Merry Go Round and Midnight Queen from the debut cd and Sin City from the soon to be released Re-Wired cd and one new song showing a promise that should see Collateral taking it to the next level.
I am a huge Mason Hill fan and great to see them on a bigger stage and with superb sound the 40 minute 8 song set flew past and the sore throat I have today is a reminder of the magic that sees Mason Hill as the best new band in the UK.
Led by Scott Taylor on vocals their debut cd Against The Wall was a highlight of the last few years and their LIve In Glasgow live cd is a must buy.
Big choruses made for arenas with even bigger riffs from James Bird and Marc Montgomery on guitars with a rock solid rhythm team of Matthew Ward on lead bass and Craig McFetridge on drums.
Hold On and DNA are a 1-2 to start any show and special mention has to go to Where I Belong. A ballad with Scott's vocal emotional and James's melodic guitar start before the band kick in and James lengthy stunningly melodic guitar solo took it to even greater heights.
Broken Son and Against The Wall ended a show that shows the sky is the limit for Mason Hill with an audience response to match.
H.E.A.T. hit the train like an express train with Back To The Rhythm and didn't let up for 95 minutes and their 16 song set leant heavily on new album Force Majeure with 4 plus 4 more from 2020 album H.E.A.T. 2 which saw no live work due to Covid.
Yes let's get the elephant out of the bag and this was my first experience of H.E.A.T. with original singer Kenny Leckremo who has returned in the place of Erik Gronwall who left the band due to illness which thankfully he has now recovered and is now the lead singer of Skid Row.
Energy levels were as high as before with Kenny everywhere and his trademark vocal expertise was there in abundance with some mighty held notes and screams and a huge smile never left his face all night.
Ably backed by Dave Dalone on guitar who had some minor issues in the first few songs that quickly disappeared and his mighty riffing and melodic soloing was a show highlight.
The rhythm team of Crash on drums, Jona Tee on keys and Jimmy Jay on bass all play their part in the musical tour de force with again the energy levels all at 10.
We dipped into the back catalogue right back to the debut single Straight For Your Heart and Beg Beg Beg was extended with an audience singalong.
Angelo from Collateral joined in for 1000 Miles before the 1-2-3-4 hit of Breaking The Silence, Living On The Run, new song Nationwide and A Shot At Redemption finished the evening in style with the crowd begging for more as all good gigs should.
H.E.A.T. are heading for the stadiums of the world and you are all invited to join in.
