Live review: Pam and Mark Schaff
Photos: Pam and Mark Schaff
Being fans of Raven since the early 80’s it was a special treat to finally see them live. One bucket list band crossed off our list. Seeing these guys was like stepping back in time. While we are most definitely older, the guys in the band sound like they haven’t aged one bit. This crowd wasn’t the largest of crowds as there were 5 big rock shows all playing the same night in a small market which took away people who most likely would have attended. That was a shame, but Raven are true professionals and they played as if there was 30,000 in attendance.
Being one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal groups, brothers Mark (guitar/vocals) and John (bass/ lead vocals) Gallagher, showed they haven’t slowed down a bit with their self-described athletic rock. And they could run circles around some of today’s younger bands. Raven was one of the more legendary standouts from the NWOBHM bands. They had great songs and I know I personally wore out “All For One” back in the day from listening to it non stop.
Kicking things off with ‘Destroy All Monsters’, they blew up the stage with their signature sound, and John showed he still had the pipes of a young lad. They hammered out a few songs and got to one of their biggest anthems with ‘Rock Till You Drop’, which ended with a blazing guitar solo by Mark Gallagher. His frenzied solo got the crowd at the Evening Star worked up with him constantly looking for approval to carry on in the solo. He showed he can still shred with the best of them, It was awesome!
After hitting a few more of the fan favorites, they got to one of their biggest hits with ‘On And On’, which was then followed by a thumping bass solo by John Gallagher that left the crowd and the venue pummeled, and shook the foundations. They ended the night with a fun set of covers that started with a couple Black Sabbath tunes (War Pigs and Symptom Of The Universe) and ended with the fantastic cover of Steppenwolf’s ‘Born To Be Wild’.
Since this was the first time we’ve seen them live, we couldn’t have asked for more from the band. Raven hasn’t lost a step in our eyes. The band sounded great, they sounded tight as hell. They put on an energetic show from the get-go and never let up throughout. We would love to see them again, and next time they come around, we won’t hesitate. They’re gonna be kicking off a European tour with Accept in the fall, everyone needs to hit that show up.
http://www.ravenlunatics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ravenbandofficial/
Setlist
Destroy All Monsters
Hell Patrol
All For One
Hung, Drawn & Quartered
Rock Until You Drop
Guitar Solo
Tank Treads (The Blood Runs Red)
Fire Power
On And On
Bass Solo
Break The Chain
War Pigs/ Symptom Of The Universe/ Rock Bottom
Born To Be Wild
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