Live Reviews - 54 @ Cambridge Boat Race (Supporting BLAZE) by Steve Noel

(A few of you will know Steve as 'Nomad' who helps run the 'planetblaze' network, but is also a huge Area 54 fan as well as BLAZE, so I figure this double review was well worth putting up.)

After playing hunt the venue on a wet evening in rush hour Cambridge and some fine navigating by Floss (Mrs Nomad) we finally arrived, we were a little early to get into the gig which meant food time, so straight into the Kentucky for a mega bucket of chicken.
Once fed and watered it was time to queue for the gig, on entering the Boat Race I quickly bumped into Lakis & Laura from Area54, it was great to have a few words with them as I had travelled to Cambridge to see Area54 as much as I had Blaze.

It was now time for Floss, Satan34 and myself to get some drinks in and visit the merchandise stand, there's some cracking new stuff available (mind you still no skinny -T's for the ladies - TM), the credit card had to make yet another appearance. While waiting for Area54 to set up we managed to meet up with Maddy (Madbird from the Blaze BB), I've had chance to speak to Maddy in the Blaze chat room on many occasions and she really is a nice person to meet up with and was great company during the evening.

It was now time for Area54 to hit the stage, so it was out with the camera and down to the front. They opened their set with a new track 'Personal Gain' a stonking good track which bodes well for the future album release, next up was 'Where To Hide' one of my favourite tracks from their debut album 'No Visible Scars'. By now the camera was taking some real hammer.
'13 Shades Of Insanity' was next, another excellent track from 'NVS' this was followed by 'Beyond A Pale' another new track that really sounded awesome live, if all of the stuff Lakis is writing at the moment is this good I can't wait for album No 2. The shortened set was brought to a close with two more tracks from 'NVS', the very catchy 'You See The Light' and then the highlight track for me '…And The Last Embrace' this is my favourite track from the album and it really does kick ass live.
The set was over way to soon for this fan (as Lakis later told me, it had to be shortened by about 10 mins) which is a real shame as I for one would have loved to have heard more from this upcoming quality British metal band.
I will finish by saying if you haven't heard of Area 54 and you like your metal with furious drumming, thunderous bass lines and quality guitar solos, then get out and purchase a copy of their debut album play it very loud and then keep your eyes peeled for their next gig in your area.

During the short interval between bands I managed to catch up with Metalhead a top Blaze fan that I have had the pleasure of meeting on three occasions now.

It was now the time of night that most of the near capacity crowd had been waiting for and on stormed BLAZE to their now signature opener 'The Launch'. Floss, Maddy and Satan34 shot off into the middle at the front while I stayed front right to do my Evo duty and get some pictures to keep all you BLAZE fans happy.
The guys really were rocking with intensity tonight and it was hard to keep track off them as they flew around the small stage at a hundred miles an hour. By the time they got to 'Ghost In The Machine' (only 3 tracks in) the crowd was having a party, I have to admit at this point I thought sod the photos (sorry all!) put the camera away and dived in to join the others and get some partying in myself.
Every time I see this band live they just seem to get better and better, which I find astounding as, they were totally awesome the first time I ever saw them at Dudley.
They were certainly winning over a few more fans as between tracks I could hear comments all around me in the crowd such as 'these guys are brilliant'.
The set list was unchanged from the previous legs of this tour and I won't run through it here as it's well documented elsewhere on Evo, however the highlights for me as ever were 'Born As A Stranger' - during which Maddy phoned Tony from the chat room on her mobile to give him a BLAZE live blast - and 'Stare At The Sun' which never fails to send a chill down my spine.
Blaze the man really worked hard during this gig whipping the audience into a metal frenzy. In my humble opinion Blaze is now the best front man in metal, the thing with Blaze is that he really can sing and has a tremendous range and power to his voice like no other singer I know, OK he's not a screamer but as far as I am concerned when this band are on stage the only screaming I want to hear is from the twin pronged guitar assault of John and Steve and the scream of audience appreciation.
Once again the set was over way too quickly and a twinge of sadness hit me when 'Manhunt' finally brought the show to an end, however this didn't last long as Jeffo came over on his way off stage and handed me one of his battle scarred drum sticks, thanks Jeffo you made this fans night.

After the band left the stage and before the meet and greet I got another chance to chat with Lakis, Laura, Rob and Steve from Area 54 and they graciously signed my 'NVS' cd booklet. I still can't believe I got to see two of my favourite bands together on the same night.
The meet and greet was it's usual friendly affair with the guys giving a lot of their valuable time over to signing everything and anything thrust in front of them including mobile phones!
The night was summed up for me while talking to Metalhead, I told him I thought that this had been the best BLAZE gig I had seen so far and he agreed, if anyone can judge a BLAZE gig it's Metalhead after all he has made it to well over ten of the gigs on this tour, I think it's fair to say as far as touring goes he's their No 1 fan.
I'll finish by saying thanks to both bands for a brilliant night I'm certainly going to be seeing both bands again as soon as possible, also thanks to Maddy and Metalhead for their company. See you on the road again soon, I hope.

Nomad.