By Andrew Bansal
October 16th 2013, Malone’s, Santa Ana CA: Veterans of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement that began in the mid-70s, Diamond Head and Raven embarked on a North American tour earlier this month, and the two cult legends hit Southern California last night with a show at the Malone’s Bar & Grill in Santa Ana. Of late, Southern California has been blessed with visits by some great old-school British metal bands, the likes of Carcass, Saxon and Orange Goblin, and last night was yet another British invasion to come through the area. The last time I saw Diamond Head was in 2011 at the Observatory in this very town of Santa Ana when they were touring by themselves and playing with local openers, a good show by all means, but this time they returned with Raven as support and it promised to be a show to remember.
The show started at around 7:15 and the venue had two stages, with the main headliners not scheduled to play until much, much later in the night. I thought that was a strange schedule for a Wednesday night, for a town like Santa Ana. But regardless, I hoped for the best and while the openers played, the wait for the main acts began. Even though I literally go to every single show in Los Angeles, I had never heard of any of these openers before, which just goes to show how separated Los Angeles and Orange County are in every aspect, including the metal scene. But aside from that, I’m afraid none of these bands did anything that impressed me or even caught my attention in a positive way, and it was not only me, but almost everyone present here for the show was of the same opinion. These bands didn’t have any draw either, and I’m just wondering as to why they were put on the show. Support bands are called support bands for a reason, and the bands on this bill certainly didn’t live up to that title, save for one. But I’ll get to that band a little later.
Despite the fact that there were two stages and the set times were lined up in such a way that the band on either stage should be ready to play as soon as the band on the other stage is done. It was a noble idea but failed miserably. With the venue having only one sound guy and the stages being so close to each other, there was no way a band could even do their line check while waiting for the other band to finish. So as a result, things ran quite late, and the event was turning out to be a bit of a drag, at least until 10:50.
It was at 10:50, around 40 minutes past their scheduled set time, it was finally time to rejoice for this tiny but faithful and excited crowd, as Raven took the main stage. The trio of John Gallagher on bass/vocals, Mark Gallagher on guitar/vocals and Joe Hasselvander on drums gave it their all and the set began in top gear with the initial part consisting of tunes like ‘Take Control’, ‘All For One’ and ‘Hard Ride’ which got the crowd singing along to the extremely easy and catchy chorus lyrics. The mosh pits started rolling in and the energy level in the room went up tenfold. ‘Rock Until You Drop’ was another highlight of the set, and some of their recent material sounded just as good as the early classics, blending in very well together as the band gave a good representation of their musical history. All three members were sounding excellent, specially John as he was mic’d up and free to move around, displaying the traits of the ‘athletic rock’ Raven are famous for. Both John and Mark hit all the high notes, much to the satisfaction of their fans here.
Mark’s guitar solo followed Rock Until You Drop, and unfortunately, this is where the set started to drag on a little bit. The solo was too long and killed the momentum of the set to an extent. Things picked up again when they got on with playing songs again, but just as the crowd was on a high from the last song of the set, they decided to do an encore consisting of, guess what, a bass solo and a medley including Black Sabbath covers. These two items were completely unnecessary and pointless to be honest, and they just shouldn’t have done the encore at all. Even during the songs, their crowd interactions, prompting everyone to do the ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ got a little repetitive and over-the-top. I mean, I’m certainly not against cheesy, over-the-top metal, but Raven overdid it to an extent. Nonetheless, aside from that and the set length, it was a great set by Raven. It’s safe to say that they still have what it takes.
Set List:
1. Take Control
2. Live at the Inferno
3. All For One
4. Hard Ride
5. Rock Until You Drop
Guitar Solo
6. Into the Jaws of Death
7. Speed of the Reflex/Mind Over Metal
8. Faster Than the Speed of Light
9. Gimme a Break
10.For the Future
11.On and On
Bass Solo
Medley
Straight after Raven were done, Ventura, California’s very own traditional metal trio Night Demon started their set as the headliners of the ‘bar’ stage. These guys impressed and quite frankly blew me away the last two times I saw them, and last night was probably even better as they brought out some new material from their forthcoming full-length album as well. Quite a few people left after Raven because it was already past midnight, but the people who were sticking around for Diamond Head definitely seemed to enjoy Night Demon, and none of those people left the room. A few technical issues with the guitar aside, Night Demon’s set was powerful, compelling and fantastic in every sense. I couldn’t imagine a better, more appropriate act to precede Diamond Head. They are playing two more shows on this tour, so if you’re going to the LA show tonight or the Vegas show on Sunday, make sure you don’t miss Night Demon.
Set List:
1. Ritual
2. Heavy Metal Heat
3. The Chalice
4. Ancient Evil
5. Satan
6. Livin’ Dangerous
7. Night Demon
Finally at a ridiculously late start time of 45 minutes past midnight, the legend himself, Brian Tatler, appeared on stage with the rest of Diamond Head. Honestly, I was really worried that they might cut the set short due to the time on the clock and the poor turnout (of around 30 people at the most), but I was glad to see them do their full set, and contrary to Raven who overdid it, Diamond Head completely nailed it with their performance. In terms of the song selection, the order in which they were played, and the quality of the musicianship itself, they were top notch. Their set had an unmistakable flow to it, and the 70 minutes flew by pretty quickly for all in attendance. Songs like ‘Lightning To The Nations’, ‘Shoot Out The Lights’, ‘It’s Electric’, ‘Sucking My Love’, ‘The Prince’, and of course, the set-closer ‘Am I Evil’ and the encore offering of ‘Helpless’ brought much joy to this audience full of old-school metalheads.
I have to say, the one thing that distinguished this crowd from the Los Angeles folks is my observation of their general reaction and behavior during Diamond Head’s set. They were there to enjoy the band’s show and participated in the singing along. They weren’t there just to be there, and there was no one standing with arms crossed.
As for the band itself, Tatler sounded brilliant on the guitar, and his tone is just exemplary. The biggest positive aspect of this venue was its sound quality, and it brought out the best of Diamond Head. For that reason more than anything else, I’m glad I went to this show. His band mates did their bit as well, and I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of singer Chas West, who I saw perform with Brian Tichy’s ‘Moby Dicks’ a few months ago. I gave him a negative review for that one, not for the singing but for the fact that he was literally standing on stage and reading lyrics for every song. I expected him to bring out his giant lyrics book again, and he did, but I was very, very glad to see him not refer to it at all during the show. That’s the way it should be.
All in all, Diamond Head put on a great show, and even after 35-plus years of inspiring many bands and being blatantly ripped off by many, they still rock. If this tour is coming to your town and you love old-school metal, take my word for it and go attend the show.
Related: Interview With Diamond Head Guitarist Brian Tatler (Audio)
Set List:
1. Play It Loud
2. Lightning to the Nations
3. Alimony
4. To Heaven From Hell
5. In the Heat of the Night
6. Shoot Out the Lights
7. It’s Electric
8. Give It to Me
9. Sucking My Love
10.The Prince
11.Am I Evil?
Encore:
12.Helpless
Remaining Tour Dates:
10/17: Los Angeles, CA @ The Vex (w/ Night Demon, Gypsyhawk and Volture)
10/18: San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick
10/19: Corona, CA @ M15 Concert Club
10/20: Las Vegas, NV @ Vamp’d (w/ Night Demon)
10/22: Denver, CO @ Jammin’ Joes
10/23: Kansas City, MO @ TBA
10/24: Oklahoma City, OK @ The Chameleon
10/25: Dallas, TX @ The Boiler Room
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