• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Ever been looking forward to going to a show and when the day comes, you don't feel like going out, and end up having to kick yourself in the butt to go? Well that was my case yesterday, as I had been looking forward to seeing Ivory Knight live for a long time but somehow didn't feel at all like going out. Well, good thing I resisted the envy to stay home. First, a few words about the venue. The Whipping Post is a very small bar in downtown Ottawa. I do mean SMALL. I had heard about it but still imagined it a bit bigger. Oh my. When I saw the size of the stage I wondered how they would do it! As usual for Ottawa, attendance was low, so it was almost like an intimate concert. I could have counted the number of people... Maybe 50-60 tops.

Ivory Knight were the only band on the bill and the show was separated into two sets. The band got on stage around 10:45pm, and finally I was about to see if they could deliver the merchandise live. Short answer: Definitely. I won't go into the details of the performance as I can't possibly remember everything (note to self: eaaaasy on the beer) but the one thing that marked this live performance is how heavy and powerful the material sounds live, especially the songs from their first full-length, "Up From The Ashes". The sound on CD is very melodic and lacks some heaviness, but well, sorry for the play of words, the songs totally come to life in the live performance! For one thing, considering the venue, the sound was surprisingly good, and also the band managed to put some life into the show despite the - I need to say it again - VERY SMALL stage. What little space they had, they made good use of. Vocalist John D. Perinbam is a pretty good frontman and I hope I'll get to see them in a larger venue where he'll be able to move more to his convenience. Bassist Steve Mercer also did some vocal work and some major headbanging at times, and guitarist Rob Gravelle treated us to a pretty cool solo performance. I never really realized the drum work on the CD but seeing George Nesrallah in action, whoa, all I can say is "cooool!" ;)

The band treated us to a couple of new songs, Introspective, a relatively heavy and progressive sounding song, and Holy Martyr, a pretty heavy rocker. Sounds good for the next album! There were two other songs on the set-list that the band didn't mention as new but are neither on the demo nor the full-length, those are Theater of the Insane and Borderline. I guess I'll have to ask. :)

Overall, a surprisingly good show. Ivory Knight had not played in years and this was the first show with this lineup. I also got a chance to chat with the band members between the sets and after the show and the guys are all very cool and down to earth - the metal attitude! The crowd wasn't the usual metal crowd that I'm used to seeing here, although I've only seen death/black metal acts and a Metallica cover band. Seems like there's a different crowd for melodic metal. Well, too bad for those who didn't come, it's their loss. Don't let that happen again. The metal scene here is small enough that people should try to make all the *few* shows we get! :)

Set list:

First set:

Intro
Voice (In your Nightmare)
Into the Black
Yesman
Theater of the Insane
Shattered Glass
Borderline
Last Dance
Perfect Ten
Roads To Glory

Second set:

The Cage
Introspective
Turn Of The Wheel
Picture Of Innocence
Out On The Streets
Inferno
Holy Martyr
True Signs Of Life