MrBungle
11-18-2002, 02:33 AM
by Tim Wadzinski
The Other Side @ Sammy's, South Elgin, IL
November 1, 2002
The reformed Lillian Axe has been playing shows for a while but this
date was part of their first foray up into the Midwest in quite some
time -- this was the first Chicago-area show in some five years. The
band is currently supporting its new double live set, LIVE 2002, and
there's hope of a new studio album.
The revamped lineup now consists of main men Ron Taylor (vocals) and Stevie Blaze (guitar), longtime bassist Darrin DeLatte, and relative newcomers Sam Poitevent (guitar) and Ken Koudelka (drums). The set started out a mirror image of the LIVE 2002 track list, but the addition of a quiet, Taylor-and-Blaze-only version of "Diana" was a nice surprise. Eventually all of LIVE's disc 1 was played, but not disc 2. The set was cut short by four songs due to the venue's early closing time. The "missing" songs were "Sign Of The Times" and "Mercy" (both personal favorites) and "Voices In My Walls" and "The Day I Met You." (In the past, Radakka's Jon Dobbs was known to join Lillian onstage to sing "Mercy," but with that tune being cut who knows if
that was gonna happen this night?)
The band was as tight and strong as ever, with Taylor's charisma and Blaze's quasi-evil "heavy metal faces" on display as expected. These guys are right up there on the list of classic front man/guitarist duos, and neither has lost a step over the years, hiatuses, and side projects. The band's music has withstood the test of time as well.
This show's set list nicely documented the band's evolution from the more commercial bent of its self-titled debut album ("Misery Loves Company," "Dream Of A Lifetime") up on through the darker, more mature PSYCHOSCHIZOPHRENIA ("Those Who Prey," "Deepfreeze"). Although, three of the four cut songs are from PSYCHO, so as it happened the older material ended up being showcased more.
It'd been a while since Lillian played these parts, and the
enthusiastic response from the audience let the band know it. The
expected crowd singalongs in "Nobody Knows" were *loud*, and Taylor's promise to "come back soon" was met with resounding approval. I love seeing these guys in clubs but maybe, just maybe, a "real" tour could materialize? That would certainly give them a push, and hey, with the recent glut of announcements of foreign bands making their first or second trips to the US (Blind Guardian, Angra, HammerFall), stranger things have happened!
Relevant links:
Lillian Axe
http://www.lillianaxe.com/
http://www.lillianaxecentral.com/
The Other Side @ Sammy's, South Elgin, IL
November 1, 2002
The reformed Lillian Axe has been playing shows for a while but this
date was part of their first foray up into the Midwest in quite some
time -- this was the first Chicago-area show in some five years. The
band is currently supporting its new double live set, LIVE 2002, and
there's hope of a new studio album.
The revamped lineup now consists of main men Ron Taylor (vocals) and Stevie Blaze (guitar), longtime bassist Darrin DeLatte, and relative newcomers Sam Poitevent (guitar) and Ken Koudelka (drums). The set started out a mirror image of the LIVE 2002 track list, but the addition of a quiet, Taylor-and-Blaze-only version of "Diana" was a nice surprise. Eventually all of LIVE's disc 1 was played, but not disc 2. The set was cut short by four songs due to the venue's early closing time. The "missing" songs were "Sign Of The Times" and "Mercy" (both personal favorites) and "Voices In My Walls" and "The Day I Met You." (In the past, Radakka's Jon Dobbs was known to join Lillian onstage to sing "Mercy," but with that tune being cut who knows if
that was gonna happen this night?)
The band was as tight and strong as ever, with Taylor's charisma and Blaze's quasi-evil "heavy metal faces" on display as expected. These guys are right up there on the list of classic front man/guitarist duos, and neither has lost a step over the years, hiatuses, and side projects. The band's music has withstood the test of time as well.
This show's set list nicely documented the band's evolution from the more commercial bent of its self-titled debut album ("Misery Loves Company," "Dream Of A Lifetime") up on through the darker, more mature PSYCHOSCHIZOPHRENIA ("Those Who Prey," "Deepfreeze"). Although, three of the four cut songs are from PSYCHO, so as it happened the older material ended up being showcased more.
It'd been a while since Lillian played these parts, and the
enthusiastic response from the audience let the band know it. The
expected crowd singalongs in "Nobody Knows" were *loud*, and Taylor's promise to "come back soon" was met with resounding approval. I love seeing these guys in clubs but maybe, just maybe, a "real" tour could materialize? That would certainly give them a push, and hey, with the recent glut of announcements of foreign bands making their first or second trips to the US (Blind Guardian, Angra, HammerFall), stranger things have happened!
Relevant links:
Lillian Axe
http://www.lillianaxe.com/
http://www.lillianaxecentral.com/