Written by:	wrathchild
Published:	April 10, 2008
Event:	Rage + Edenbridge: European Tour
Location:	Nouveau Casino, Paris, France
Organizer:	K Productions

Rage April 2nd 2008

Almost twenty five years and twenty albums and Rage is still hardly known in some countries, like France, where they first played in 2003, supporting their highly acclaimed release, " Soundchaser ". I was there, it was in a small cave in Paris and even though I wasn't very familiar with the band at that time, they just blew my mind away! That was just excellent, better than the Helloween/Iron Maiden show I had just seen an hour ago. And every time I had the chance to see them, I did, and that's why I was at the Nouveau Casino on this second day of April.
Yet, the Nouveau Casino is a rather small place - 400 people allowed if I'm right - and it wasn't packed that evening... This has to stop, the world (or well, France) needs to know one can't keep on missing great bands such as Rage when they're performing somewhere close to you!

And now that you do know, you might as well read on



Freakozaks

First band on stage was Freakozaks, and not Aspect as announced. And while few people knew Aspect, my guess is that no one knew Freakozaks. I didn't for instance and throughout the show I had the feeling they were Italians. And no, they are Russians! It doesn't matter what they are anyway, what they play was much more interesting and it was prog metal.


It took me two songs to get into it - I don't know why, perhaps the first two songs were definitely not their best, plus they do lack charisma - but after that they hooked me thanks to the excellent sets of heavy riffs and great solos that fill their songs. I'd say I was a bit disappointed by the singer, though he does a good job. The crowd applauded with respect and something more than respect that makes me think those guys have a bright future ahead of them.




Edenbridge

Then came Edenbridge. I'm of those who have always found this band utterly boring, a sort of pathetic band that got noticed only because they had a frontwoman at the exact time when frontwomen were the new big thing in metal. I checked them from time to time, once when I had heard Lanvall - mastermind and guitarist of the band - was releasing a solo project and once again when they were searching for a new bass player (or was it a new guitar player? I can't remember). But they always left me with the same impression that I described earlier.
Now, maybe they'd prove me wrong while performing live. That was my only hope and well, it didn't last very long. The show was boring, the songs were boring... Only one stood out and I can't remember the name, though I'm sure I had heard it before: sounds a bit country-like, with Lanvall focusing on nothing else than playing the lead melody.
Sabine didn't do it for me neither. The elf-looking singer is not a great frontwoman... I'd dare say she's not a great singer too. The rare times when Lanvall or the bassist used her microphone to address the audience, you could "feel" their presence, unlike the lead singer.


Granted, I only know a few tunes from the band, but not even the song Evermore moved me, and it happens to be the one I know the most. Not a bad show in fact, but definitely not a good one, a rather boring show. And the main attraction wasn't even Sabine, but Frank, the bass player: plays great, smiles great, you would probably consider him your best friend after 5 minutes in his company.




Rage

And the heroes of the day rushed on stage after the few notes of the intro of "Carved In stone", the opener of their last album also entitled "Carved In Stone", could be heard in the venue. The stage was unchanged apart from a cheap monster's head mounted on the drums and that looked like it was sculpted in stone, but Rage wasn't giving a fake performance that night. Anyway, they never do so, I believe: that was like the 4th time I see them and the same thing happened again: they are happy to play, the crowd is happy to see that they're happy to play, thus the band is even happier, and so on. A not-so-vicious circle, you could say. That's why it's hard to accept the fact they can only fill small venues while touring in France... Even the small venue of that day wasn't filled... Well, too bad for those who didn't come.


Rage performed various songs from many albums, mostly the latest one, Unity, Welcome To The Other Side plus a bunch of classic songs like Days Of December, Don't Fear The Winter, Higher Than The Sky as well as Refuge from the 1993 release "The Missing Link" and No Fear from "Speak Of The Dead". You'd have to appreciate their new album to fully enjoy the show, but since it's quite a typical good old Rage album, that wasn't a problem for many of us. Plus they played the best tracks of the album (note that they didn't play "Gentle Murders" although it is the only one available on their MySpace) and well, they seemed well aware that people knew those songs through Internet downloads. The least I can say is that it served the show, for the audience's response to the songs was great.


In fact, apart from those new songs, the only real difference with the other Rage shows I could attend was the lack of a drum solo. Yes, Mike Terrana is no more with Peavy and Smolsky, but André Hilgers (from Axxis and Silent Force) was a wise choice, since he's got that "I enjoy playing" feel that Rage is all about. He was warmly welcomed by the crowd and did not need to demonstrate his abilities for that. Victor Smolsky - in a not so Hawaiian shirt - had to go through a mandatory solo spot though, and although the guy's an amazing guitarist, I'm not sure this solo was that good. Good enough of course.


Ah and I almost forgot to tell you about Jen Majura, a beautiful girl who sang on Lord Of The Flies and Dies Irae, two great songs that, IMO, should be considered classics. That's funny to see Jen behind the stall selling Rage merchandises and then a couple of minutes later she's on stage, singing with that damn great voice of hers.
The encores were also mandatory (given the vicious circle theory I mentioned above) and the thanks and applauses were warm and sincere. I repeat, do not miss them. Do not miss them!


Thanks goes to Jeff, Julien (K Prod), Roger (Base).
Sorry for the mobile phone pics... though they did turn out to be better than what I expected!