Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Trieste / Etnoblog / Italy
Concert date: 28.09.2011
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €10.00 (presale) / €12.00 (day of show)
White Widdow are Australian melodic rockers who formed in 2008! Despite only three years on the clock, these guys are no rookies. This is a seasoned quintet with a clear vision. The excellent debut “White Widdow”, released last year, proves it, and the second studio album “Serenade”, out just now, (again) via AOR Heaven Records, really drives it home. “Serenade” hasn’t even been officially out for a week, and White Widdow are already in Trieste.
Etnoblog is a club space near the Trieste marina. At nine o’clock, on this side of Trieste at least, finding a parking spot is no trouble. It’s half past nine in the evening and local boys Fist Of Rage hit the stage. Going by the name alone, which sounds more at home in power metal waters, and by the singer’s indie-rocker jacket, you’d expect just about anything from Fist Of Rage except hard rock. And yet. Fist Of Rage plant their roots firmly in the classics, drawing inspiration from Whitesnake, Rainbow and Deep Purple. Exemplary playing, with covers of Deep Purple, Whitesnake and AC/DC thrown in, though of course most of the set went to songs from the band’s self-titled debut. The lineup is a sextet, with two guitars and a keyboardist. The tightness and chemistry are on point, and the singer loves borrowing David Coverdale’s gestures and stage manner. The guys only had some trouble with the vocals, which were set too quiet in the mix, so now and then he drifted off the ideal melodic line. Otherwise, a solid performance. Down to the English in the vocals!
White Widdow needed just 15 minutes, if not less, to get the stage ready for their show. Ten minutes to eleven at night the quintet opened with One More Night, from the band’s debut. The classic synth intro motif sucked people into the club and in front of the stage, a good 100 heads, who at first just listened politely and stared at the band. Jules Millis, a guy who in build and facial features vaguely resembles a cross between Jeff Keith (Tesla) and Johan Fahlberg (Jaded Heart), needed a solid dozen minutes to finally get most of the crowd actively following what was happening on stage. That White Widdow are nonetheless no strangers in these parts of our western neighbor was proven in the middle of Spirit Of Fire, where the crowd spontaneously joined in singing the lead keyboard motif, and right at the end with Broken Hearts Won’t Last Forever, since they recognized the choruses in both songs, which means the band’s debut has already nicely “stuck” in northern Italy. That surprised Jules too, who immediately stepped to the edge of the stage during Spirit Of Fire, planted his foot on the monitor and kept the audience even closer that way.
The band ran into some trouble before the tour started, having to find a replacement bassist in a hurry. Sadly I didn’t manage to catch the name, even though the charismatic and agile frontman Jules Millis introduced the bassist twice during the show. Anyway, I doubt it’s a permanent swap, since the guy, judging by his look, can hardly be a melodic rock devotee at heart. He wore a Metallica shirt, and with his “alternative” appearance he reminded me of the eccentric bassist Nick Oliveri (ex-Queens Of The Stone Age). Whatever, the man is a master of his craft, having learned both White Widdow records in a few days and saved the band’s tour.
White Widdow are exceptionally strong when it comes to vocal harmonies. Jules is backed on vocals only by guitarist Enzo and Jules’s brother Xavier on keyboards. Interestingly, both Xavier and Enzo hit a tone very similar to the timbre of Jules’s voice, so the band has no trouble weaving in split verses too, which all three members trade off on lead vocals. Excellent execution. The same goes for harmonizing the multi-part vocal lines. Perfection, in other words. And that’s a very important element of the melodic rock recipe, where it really doesn’t pay to flub it, because when you do, the real AOR vibe in your music goes up in flames with you. White Widdow have nothing to fear on that front, since when it comes to vocal harmonies they’re, if anything, a model for others.
Enzo drew plenty of inspiration in his musical development from the figure and work of Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen), as well as George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), and in a few bravura solo spots he made it clear he’s a seriously well-versed guitarist. The sound served the room well. Only the vocals were again a touch subdued in the mix.
That Whitre Widdow really are a coherent, well-equipped outfit in performance terms was confirmed by the crowd’s euphoria at the end of the show. In the first third the audience seemed very reserved, which was especially surprising for the proverbially hot Italian temperament. By the end, though, well over 100 heads were chanting fiercely and loudly in the room and demanding an encore.
After a good long pause the band returns to the stage. Jules points out again that the band is a bit handicapped by the unexpected change on bass, which meant the singer wanted to hint that the lineup doesn’t have every song from both studio albums fully under control. Still, the guys tackled one more song! The new Mistake (“Serenade”, 2011), and after five minutes of encore they said their final goodbye to the audience.
Mention White Widdow and melodic rock / AOR in Slovenia today and hardly anyone bats an eye. Still, the fact that the band has been invited to the annual two-day British festival dedicated to the melodic rock tradition, called “Firefest”, after just three years of existence, is proof that this is an excellent new band. Not just the Trieste show but both studio releases too, which are examples of great melodic perfectionism in the AOR revival, this time of Australian origin, though with quite a bundle of atmospheric parallels to Survivor or Scandinavian acts like Treat, 220 Volt or Renegade, are all direct proof that a new melodic rock band is on the march, one whose musical activity is worth following every step of the way.
After an hour and 10 minutes the show was over. White Widdow played most of both studio albums. For anything more, they’ll have to record a third one. The fact that a band from a dying genre, one that no longer evolves and peaked in the eighties, can headline its own tour of Europe is undeniable proof of how appreciated its music is, music that is (for now) embodied by the albums “White Widdow” (2010) and “Serenade” (2011). If you’re a fan of this kind of music, don’t think twice about whether to go see White Widdow, if this excellent Australian melodic rock quintet ever shows up on the stages of Trieste again!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
WHITE WIDDOW: 1. One More Day 2. Shoukai (intro) / Tokyo Rain 3. Cross To Bare 4. Do You Remember 5. Cry Wolf 6. Change Of Passion 7. Fire & Ice 8. Strangers In The Night 9. Serenade 10. Spirit Of Fire 11. Reckless Night 12. Broken Hearts Won’t Last Forever —encore— 13. Mistake
Photo gallery
