Written by:	Medea
Published:	September 24, 2007
Event:	Lot Of Rage (Website)
Location:	Roman Arenas, Bucharest, Romania
Organizer:	Metalfan
Galleries:	Lot Of Rage - Bucharest, Romania by Unknown user (23)

I honestly couldn't wait for this show. Not for Rage as much, but for Lake Of Tears. I now admit that a band can catch your attention live even if you don't know much about them and I admit the reverse too. For now, you can make your own conclusions as to who played a great show and who didn't. You will find mine a little later in this article.

The long awaited Lot Of Rage event started later than the announced time. The opening act, Romanian Heavy Metal band Thunderstorm, had quite a few problems at the sound check, so their set list began really late. What positive thing can I say about them, besides that they have a very good bass player who manages to make atmosphere too? Not much. Their performance was pretty poor. They were kind of supported by the crowd though. They have released their new album at this event and they seemed to have some fans of the song 'Avertizare' as there were people singing along to it. I wonder though, if those fans discovered the reason they like that song so much. I think the reason is the band's and their common love for The Pirates Of Caribbean series, because that song is obviously a 'real tribute' to this movie's 'he's a pirate' music theme. I don't know how many people noticed that. I regret not taking a look on the CD booklet to see if they specified this fact.






After their short set list, the pirates left the stage, leaving it to a master band of Power Metal, Rage. Yes, I called them masters, because they really showed they are. Peavey Wagner, Vic Smolsky and Andre Hilgers brought a very energetic atmosphere on to the stage, showing what a professional band is all about. They love to play, they do it the best way and they know how to catch your attention. Even if more than half of the crowd had come for Lake Of Tears, Rage managed to make it scream and appreciate them. I wasn't very interested in Rage and I also didn't know much about them as most of the people there, but I admit they ruled and they deserved to be the ones to end the event, but the fact is that they are not very popular in our country and it would have been quite a risk to do that.












Lake Of Tears were next on stage. I missed their concert last year and I was very glad to have another chance to see them live. Why? Not because I'm a big fan, but because I discovered their music at a special period of time and some of their songs own a little part of my heart. I had heard So Fell Autumn Rain, Forever Autumn and Demon You Lilly Ann every day of my first year of high school, played in the school's basement. We were a gang of 10-15 metalheads and there were two or three bands at my high school. Well, actually there was just one band but the members were always switching places with instruments and forming other ones. But the main thing is that Lake Of Tears songs were played a lot by these little bands, because it's not as hard to learn to play a Lake Of Tears song, of course, but also because we liked them a lot. Discovering ourselves in the depressing and self-pitying melodies and riffs, living the first 'dramas' of our lives. I don't want to be ironic against the band, but that's the truth. They don't say much after a while. And that's why I probably had a big loss of connection with their music after that high school year. But still, there was a time I was loving them and I have this desire to see every band live, doesn't matter if I like it more or less. You don't know what you can discover when you see a band live. What happened at this show is an example.

Getting back to the point, Lake Of Tears is a band which can create some 'special' atmospheres, but they are not real musicians and they proved that this night. I'm really sorry I wasn't able to see them when they played indoors to compare the two shows, as this one was outdoors. Maybe I was hoping not to remain with this bitter thought of them playing live. They sounded really bad. They seemed like they weren't on stage, in a bad way, and that their presence there was just a happening, an unscheduled appointment. They just killed the feelings they had once brought to life in the studio. The crowd acclaimed them because they had come to see THEM and were hoping for better, but the sound problems and the apathetic attitude of Daniel Brennare didn't leave the stage during the show. A summary of how Daniel communicated with the crowd would be "Amazing, my friends!" and "It's good to be drunk?sometimes!". Is it, mister Brennare? Too bad things turn out so disappointing, because the setlist was pretty inspired, to please everyone and also promoting the new album, Of Moons And Mushrooms. But they didn't manage to play the songs in a way to inspire our moods and make us have a good time.

Setlist
01.Return Of Ravens
02.You Better Breathe While There Is Time
03. Hold On Tight
04. Boogie Bubble
05. Cosmic Weed
06. Shadowshires
07. Last Purple Sky
08. Rainy Day Away
09. Paganwish
10. A Trip With The Moon
11. The Organ
12. Foreign Road
13. Ravenland
14. Greyman
15. Like A Leaf
16. Making Evenings
17. Crazyman
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18. So Fell Autumn Rain
19. Forever Autumn
20. Sweetwater
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21. Headstones
22. Burn Fire Burn





So the way Lake Of Tears came on stage was the same way they left it. Too calm, too bored, too drunk or stoned?I couldn't tell. But they didn't care much of what they were doing there.It is obviously that music is just a hobby and they do it for their own sake, but they should take it into consideration in a more professional way. At least live.

The event ended with autograph sessions from both the bands.

Written and photos by Medea.