Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Gorica (Gorizia) / Ex Mercato All'Ingrosso / Italy
Concert date: 20.09.2014
Attendance: 500
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!)
This September has been pretty barren when it comes to concert highlights. At least as far as hard rock and classic heavy metal go. And even when there are gigs, they all land on the very same date. That’s exactly how it was on the twentieth of this September. In Italian Gorizia, the GO4Rock festival had Saturday’s headliners, NWOBHM veterans Tygers of Pan Tang, while over in the Ajdovščina valley our own Šank Rock were warbling away at the very same time. There wasn’t a moment’s doubt about where we’d point the bow of our untamed RockLine caravel. Toward Gorizia! We arrived a little after eleven at night! By then four Italian bands had already put in their own concert “chore” – Ravenhouse, Insanity Fair, Crazy Uncle and Fake Idols – so the crowd was only waiting on the big veterans of the new wave of British heavy metal, whose birth year we can put at 1980. That very year, Tygers of Pan Tang put out their debut studio album »Wildcat«. A band whose career started out promising, climbing the following year to the front ranks of their genre with the release of their most recognizable achievement, the album »Spellbound« (1981). Riding on big ambitions, they put out »Crazy Nights« that same year, but it failed to break them into the metal elite and so remained unfairly overlooked. At the time, the MCA label was squeezing the band from all sides and shoving them toward commercialization. That’s why the fourth album, »The Cage«, meant the slow collapse of the system for Tygers of Pan Tang. The key members left the band, and the group entered a period of »musical weirdness«, put out two more subpar albums, and, full of frustration, called it quits for good in 1988!
That lasted until 1999, when guitarist Rob Weir, today the only original and founding member, reactivated the band. The same year the band appeared at an exclusive show in the middle of Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival, and from then until this year they’ve released three studio albums worthy of succeeding the first three! »Mystical« (2001) came out relatively quickly after the reunion, followed by »Animal Instinct« (2008) and, two years ago, the still-current »Ambush« (2012).
Tygers of Pan Tang showing up right next to the Slovenian border is about as likely as a frog growing feathers on its head, but luckily miracles do happen! Besides Rob, the lineup today features Italian singer Jacopo Meille (since 2004), bassist Gavin Gray (the man first played for the band in 1999, then joined permanently in 2011), drummer Craig Ellis (since 2001) and newcomer guitarist Mickey Crystal (since 2013).
On an improvised stage set up under the roof of the market hall, the guys stormed on about 20 minutes past eleven and opened the show the way it should be done! With a track off the debut album »Wildcat« called Don’t Touch Me There! Without Weir there’d be no Tygers of Pan Tang today. The man, with a whole three humbucker pickups planted in his replica Gibson LP guitar, remains the driving force of the band. He still knows how to build a guitar phrase so that it comes alive effectively in the newly written songs that mark the band’s albums of the new millennium. Singer Meille is excellent. He’s got a lovable combination of melodic, clean authority that rules every register of his vocal performance, which he dosed with a bigger or smaller helping of grit that gives the songs an extra atmospheric contrast. The energy in the crew was great, so the band delivered a hugely dynamic stage show that felt tight, well rehearsed, and, for all its produced metal roughness, subtle too. Weir forgot two or three times to step on the footswitch that was supposed to boost his solos in the mix, so those came out barely audible! But of course, whenever Rob is in a pinch, he can always lean safely on the masterful playing of the fast-fingered Mickey. The riffs of the classics and the newer songs get along great live, too, fusing into a solid and unique musical conglomerate that defines the character (and work) of Tygers of Pan Tang.
To the great delight of the true fans of their catalog, the band built the setlist around a hefty serving of songs from the classic Tygers of Pan Tang album »Crazy Nights«. The band’s excellent third record, that is, which to this day has remained unfairly in the shadow of the first two studio albums. After the earth-shaking Gangland (»Spellbound«, 1981), the band jumped to the newer record »Animal Instinct« and delivered the rockin’ Rock Candy, full of hooligan swagger, and then came a string of »Crazy Nights« classics, starting with the title track, then Raised on Rock, Love Don’t Stay, the superb Do it Good, plus Never Satisfied and Runnin’ Out of Time. So they skipped only three songs from the album. The show tipped into its second half, and the band tackled two encore-style medleys, where Euthanasia, Insanity and Suzie Smiled stirred up the nostalgics again, culminating in the quietly expected finish with the »Spellbound« firestarters Tyger Bay and Hellbound, the concert’s grand finale.
All well and good so far, but the set was definitely too short. By at least 20 minutes. The band certainly doesn’t lack songs to stretch the repertoire. But this was a festival slot. That’s the first reason for the shorter setlist, and the second is of course that folks in town need their peace and quiet at night so they can sleep! The event took place a stone’s throw from the city center. The obligatory encore was miraculously well chosen. With the brand-new, and otherwise excellent, Keeping Me Alive (»Ambush«, 2012) and the only song from the album »The Cage«, the hit and cover of The Clovers called Love Potion No. 9. You could surely miss a classic or two, like Mirror, Take It, or Don’t Stop By.
A cute little gig, short, punchy and sweet. Still, it was worth paying attention to where you picked your spot in front of the stage. You had to stand right by the mixing desk to enjoy optimal sound. It was also surprising at first that the crowd was a bit less responsive during the show, even though Jacopo kept up effective contact with the audience in Italian throughout. When you got a closer look at the faces in the front rows, it was clear they’d been through some serious battles with their throats, and the exhaustion of tipping back liquor all day simply took its toll. The venue was of course also packed with Slovenian metal fans, some of whom drove all the way from Žiri and Litija, which is an act worthy of all respect.
We can say that the GO4Rock festival has stepped up a rung compared with last year. Last year, when the event was only a one-day affair, only Italian acts played. Obviously more money was found for this year’s edition, and the right people are at the helm of the organization, in the right places. That’s why the event has grown. Let’s hope it keeps developing and living on, and delivers plenty more concert joys over the years!
Setlist
1. Don’t Touch Me There
2. Gangland
3. Rock Candy
4. Crazy Nights
5. Raised on Rock
6. Love Don’t Stay
7. Do it Good
8. Never Satisfied
9. Runnin’ Out of Time
10. Mr. Indespensable / Paris by Night / Euthanasia
11. Insanity / Suzie Smiled
12. Tyger Bay
13. Hellbound
—encore—
14. Keeping Me Alive
15. Love Potion No. 9
Photo gallery
