In a flyer I read that Dare will play in Vosselaar and I tried to find out about German shows, but Dare just scheduled to play 3 shows in Holland and one in Belgium! Okay, I will see the band, so I'll go to one of the shows anyway, was my first thought. Dare planned to play the last show at Landgraaf and so I got in touch with Theo Samson of Rock Justice and so I got the chance to do that show! Dank U!
Dare were supported by the Norwegian Street Legal. I just heard about them on some mailing lists, so I was curious to see them live. The band came out and started rocking. Björn Böge, singer and bassist and his mates been here to present songs of their debut Thunderdome live. Musically the band sounds a little bit like Blue Murder / Thin Lizzy and have bluesy rock elements like Whitesnake had... But that won't explain their music at all! Street Legal's songs are longer as usual in this genre, but their tracks don't get boring. The set incl. a ballad called Will I Ever Love Again beside rocking tracks like Chasing The Rainbow, Powertool, Wrong Side Of Town and Red Light District. On the album a trio played, but live they got a helping hand by a keyboarder. For the Norwegian it was the first time in Benelux and I think they made a lot new friends! It was obvious that most of the people in the audience didn't know the guys, but had a lot of fun. Also the band seemed to enjoy the show a lot. Hopefully I'll have the chance to see them again after listening to their debut Thunderdome a few times... Most of the fan will agree, I guess!
After a break Dare entered the stage and started with Walk On Water. Darren Wharton decided to concentrate on his vocals live and so the band got joined by a friend of them on keyboard. Even if Vinnie Burns was announced to play the tour, Darren had to replace him. Guitarist Richard played an acoustic (electronically picked up) and the other six string as usual a electric guitar.... This combination makes it sound special. Darren chose songs from all three albums, but surely most material was taken from the current album Calm Before The Storm. Songs like Abandon, Crown Of Thorns and Still In Love make the fans dancing and singing. Especially for tonight's crowd Dare played a version of Emerald . Just for this song the keyboard was placed in the front of the stage and Richard and Darren presented their very own and unique version with keys and acoustic guitar. Actually the band hadn't planned to play an encore, but the reactions of the fans soon made the band come back on stage to play another Thin Lizzy classic.... Rosalie! Between the songs Darren told the fans that they still haven't finished recording the new material and ask them to be patient. I think after this amazing show the fans can't wait to get more, but they will wait for a new Dare album!
At least I want to mention that without people like Theo and his Rock Justice bands like Dare won't get a chance to play, coz they don't follow a trend and that kind of music isn't that popular. Thanks for giving us the chance to see these bands live!!!!