Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 8th 2011.

It’s not every band that gets to open for the legendary rock band Kiss, to do so you must have something really special in your armoury. Nevada based band Taking Dawn are one such band that have passed the acid test of touring with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and matched them in desire, ability and in some respects even showmanship.

Even with the last album having been in every decent metal fan’s collection for the last year, the crowd that greeted the band as they come on stage was as loud and full of expression for the new metal heroes.

Taking Dawn opened the night with some of the songs from the 2009 debut album by the band the wonderful, head splitting Time to Burn. There was no time to relax as the hard American metal heads thrashed, teased and generally blew the good natured audience away with renditions of Save Me, Like a Revolution and the superb Never Enough.

With Chris Babbitt on vocals the band had the iconic figure who could deliver the songs with the passion that the crowd deserved. The good thing about the band is that most certainly are not just a one man institution, this was proved time and time again during the evening as the other three members of Taking Dawn caressed the excited and generous crown with their ability and showmanship.

During the set, it was possible to wonder if finally, the metal world had a band to replace the likes of Metallica, Megadeth and even Annihilator. If the gig was a boxing match then commentators would have been praising the group as being able to stand toe to toe and pound for pound with those heavy weights of the metal genre.

Taking Dawn showed their music credentials right up till the last where there preformed an outstanding version of the Fleetwood Mac classic, The Chain. Not only did it work as a speeded up reading, it also seemed to get rid of the innocence that is associated with the track and turn it into a grinding, pulsating and disturbing song that would stand head and shoulders with any song from the horror genre.

Ian D. Hall