RockScotland

CHASAR - Zico's, Wishaw - Saturday 20th June 2009

Alec Pollock - Guitar / Vocals
Ian Tait - Bass / Vocals
Jim Marshall - Drums

Easily the most anticipated gig of the year so far! The return of Chasar to Wishaw!

Certainly, bearing in mind the limitations of the venue and the complete lack of advertising this gig was nothing short of a triumph for Chasar.

With La Paz playing the same venue only two nights earlier it was a concern that the punters wouldn't turn out twice in the same week. Thankfully the Chasar crowd equalled the La Paz crowd (both gigs attracting around 150) and if anything they certainly showed a lot more enthusiasm. Wishaw punters were however, thin on the ground and most of the audience would have appeared to have travelled through from Alloa (and surrounds).

Attendance figures aside, that's where the similarities between these two gigs ended. Whereas La Paz yet again appeared under-rehearsed and suffered from an appalling sound, Chasar were tighter than the proverbial and brought in a professional PA rig and an experienced engineer resulting in a very loud yet very audible mix. The band chose again to play across the narrow width of the venue instead of playing the more preferable lengthwise setup but fortunately the quality of the PA system (and the skilled engineer) meant that this didn't cause the usual Zico's sound problems.

While La Paz are still trading on Dougie White's brief employment with the last incarnation of Rainbow and a set still relying heavily on the Rainbow / Deep Purple covers, Chasar (who could have played it safe with some Rush covers) instead went for musicianship and original material.

Tonight's set relied heavily on the classic "Chasar" album and from posts in this forum there was a slight worry that the band might concentrate on the later less popular material from the four-piece line-up days. Thankfully we got a set that pleased everyone with a mixed selection of old (Destiny, Kings, Visions Of Time etc) and new and previous worries were dispelled!

This was a professional show from start to finish and the sound quality (and clarity) put paid to the suggestions that the venue itself was responsible for the poor sound at previous gigs. Only minor gripe would be that there was no adequate stage lighting to add to the atmosphere with the band relying on the totally useless randomly flashing dance floor lights above.

Vocal duties were shared between Alec Pollock and Ian Tait with (thankfully) Alec handling most of the vocals for the classic material. Jim Marshall played a stormer of a set although I don't think anyone needs to hear an extended drum solo in this day and age. We can forgive him this on this occasion however and it was good to see him obviously enjoying himself.

The band could have played it safe and slipped in some Rush covers but even the encore came in the form of old favourite, Gypsy Roller. Sadly as soon as the last note had stopped ringing the Zico's DJ immediately cleared the place with the usual extra loud dance music to usher in the regular underage teenage neds.

Hopefully the band will consider coming back to Wishaw and surely if this gig was actually advertised they could certainly double the crowd attending?

Shame on those who stayed away - there are very few skilled bands of this quality putting on this type of professional show anywhere else in Scotland.

digital_man

I agree, CHASAR were brilliant, and the sound was amazing, full credit to the PA guys despite the stage being in an awkward position, and it just proves you can have volume as well as clarity with the proper sound engineers! Alec wasn't best pleased as the set up meant he couldn't take centre stage for his solos and was confined to the right of the stage, which is no place for a showman like Alec.

The lighting wasn't right and the reason for this was the venue doesn't allow smoke/haze which you will appreciate enhances lights, during the sound check the lights & lasers were looking awesome untill the DJ stopped the use of the haze. All around the stage were lights and lazers that couldn't be used due to this stupid rule. It was explained that the haze would not effect the smoke alarms but they couldn't (or wouldn't) listen.

Overall a great gig, great musicians, great sound, poor venue.
Looking forward to seeing them again and if you missed this one make a point of seeing them next time.

traxstudio wrote:I agree, CHASAR were brilliant, and the sound was amazing, full credit to the PA guys despite the stage being in an awkward position, and it just proves you can have volume as well as clarity with the proper sound engineers!

Overall a great gig, great musicians, great sound, poor venue.

Agreed, La Paz take note - with a decent rig and a competent engineer it is possible to get a good live sound and acceptable volume in Zico's. We've heard all the excuses before!

Stunning set from Chasar. Great to hear all the old stuff from the album again.

rb