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Live Reviews : Leprous, Voyager & Teramaze @ The Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne 06/02/2016

By on February 7, 2016

Words: Owen Keswick Gallagher

Images: Mark Hoffmann

When I arrived at the Evelyn Hotel on Saturday night I found a line of people stretching around the corner all eagerly anticipating the opening of the doors. Almost as soon as I entered the venue Teramaze began their set. I’ve seen Teramaze a few times previously and they have always impressed me musically. The almost flawless musicianship and technical abilities of the members is always a treat, and the whole band was very on point. One thing that I will honestly say though is from previous viewings of Teramaze I have felt unsure about Nathan Peachey’s (their vocalists’) performance. Tonight was definitely not the case as the young vocalist’s performance was fantastic, full of energy, and his voice soared about the crowds – hitting impressive high notes with confidence. One slight negative thing about Teramaze was the first few songs of their set lacked much live energy. About four songs in though they launched into their newest single “Her Halo” and suddenly the whole band had a huge new wave of energy and the audience could feel it too with sporadic head banging and devil horns being thrown up whenever a guitar solo was played. Teramaze ended on high note.

Teramaze Evelyn Hotel Feb 2016

Teramaze

I went outside for a breather during the change over and when I went back in it suddenly dawn on me just how full the Evelyn Hotel was, and listening to all the conversations of people near me, everyone was keenly awaiting Voyager to take the stage.

And take the stage they indeed did.

I’ve seen Voyager previously but I’ve never seen them be as commanding of the stage as they were tonight. Hands down Voyager had the best stage presence of the night and were incredibly entertaining. Having two drunken Voyager fans standing behind me and drunkenly sing along to every chorus to every song somehow fitted the gig perfectly. Watching Voyager felt like I was watching an anthemic rock band with how they dance around the stage, and they encouraged as much crowd participation in songs as they could. A massive shout out to the performance of the vocals and vocal harmonies of Voyager as they had some of the best I’ve seen at a gig of late.

Half way through Voyager’s set they paused and announced they would be performing a medley in honour of recent losses the music world has sustained. Voyager suddenly launched into a surprisingly good cover of the “Ace of Spades” with their bassist performing a quite commendable Lemmy impersonation. After a couple of repetitions of the “Ace of Spades” chorus, they launched into Disturbed’s “Down with the Sickness” to much delight and drunken singing along from the audience. The medley ran on to various other artists (Korn, Periphery & Jamiroquai) were played, but the highlight of the medley – I’m sure many would agree – was Voyager ending it on an anthemic metal version of Darude’s “Sandstorm”, which had everyone singing along to the synth line. As hilarious and enjoyable as the medley was, it did slightly change the atmosphere for the remaining songs of Voyager;s set which felt less like an anthemic rock band and more like a bunch of mates having a great jam with an audience. But in saying that they still put on a fantastic show, closing their set with “The Meaning of I” and the audience and The Evenlyn was rocked.

Voyager Evelyn Hotel Feb 2016

Voyager

Finally the mighty Leprous took the stage. Now, I’ll admit, I’ve only heard two albums from the Norwegian prog rockers previous to this gig, so I was going into this review quite new to the band. But let me just say this about their entire performance and what I see as the main selling point of the whole band… Holy Mother of Atmosphere, Leprous took the hot, back-lit, fog covered stage; no backing track, no intro, just the ambiance and atmosphere the band created itself, and it worked fantastically. I almost can’t recall the order of songs or how long it went for because I was entranced by this bleak, sporadic, atmospheric, jarring, discordant, rocking, yet strangely beautiful stage show.

Sadly three songs in to Leprous’ set there were some technical issues that jarred everyone out of the atmosphere for a brief moment, but once it was fixed the Nords quickly swung back into it and by the end of the next song that small blip in the experience was almost forgotten.

Leprous didn’t feel like a band and their performance didn’t feel like I was at a gig, it felt more like I was at an artistic experiment of some sort. And there was no actual theatrics and very little crowd interaction form the Nords. They simply took the stage and played the music they make and it felt more like everyone had gathered in the room to hear what was created more than rock out at a gig, which isn’t to say people didn’t rock out. Leprous launched into some intense moshing and rock moments in their set, but it never felt more than another colour in the painting that was their music.

After a good hour plus Leprous finished, soaked from head to toe in sweat. The group gathered at the front of the stage, bowed and left. The audience cheered, had one last beer and headed home, with everyone present leaving knowing that they had witnessed something special tonight.