Savatage, a heavy metal quintet, was in town - and the crowd was wired.
Pushing and shoving for a spot near the front of the stage, they nestled in Rafter's like packed sardines, jumping up and down, shouting and waving their arms.Trouble, another rock quintet, opened the concert, pounding out music that, like Savatage, was nothing short of blistering. Loud and reckless, the music of the evening was course and powerful heavy metal - yet still embodied diversity, featuring sporadic mellow undertones.
It was everything a good rock concert should be.
And that's not to mention the smoke machines blowing thick clouds all over the stage and the multicolored lights, which pulsated to the beat, punctuating the white hot music with visual effects.
Amid the smoke and lights, Savatage delivered music ranging from fast driving speedmetal to delicate ballads, which spotlighted an acoustic piano. The piano was new; an instrument that is featured during heavy metal concerts about as often as vanilla ice cream is served with beef stew.
Trouble kicked off the evening, and on the bottom line, was a better band than Savatage. Trouble's music had better chord changes, stronger melody lines and rhythms that were easier to understand - not to mention appreciate.
Trouble hit a high point of the evening with "The Wolf," a song about coming of age. The composition equates the figure of a wolf with a fearful, yet mature, state of mind, which occurs when one reaches adulthood.
During the rocking, but often placid, composition, lead singer Eric Wagner sang, "Goodbye to the world - seems just like the other day . . . I'm so afraid. The wolf knows where I am."
While the wolf might, the music scene might not. If Trouble has one problem, the band doesn't know that the '70s already happened. Their music has a sound akin to the legendary Led Zepplin. Trouble also has another foot in the punk rock of the early '80s - not to mention the psychedelic acid rock of the late '60s. Still, it wasn't much of a drawback, and Trouble packed a fierce musical punch.
After Trouble finished - the crowd waited for Savatage to hit the stage.
"I liked that band," one female crowd member commented to her friends. "They had a beat I could dance to. The problem with a lot of heavy metal nowadays is that it is too loud and too fast."
Savatage were all of the above - and good.
"Gutter Ballet," the title song from Savatage's most recent album, was their best offering for the evening. Inspired by the street life, and urban terror, of low-rent areas in New York, the song, oddly enough, manifested a sense of optimism, delivered in the form of delicate piano playing by lead singer Jon Oliva.
But despite the title, the evening wasn't exactly the "ballet." It was, however, a serious cut above most death or speedmetal concerts.