Elephants Of Scotland At Nectar’s March 18, 2014

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing Elephants of Scotland tonight at Nectar’s. Last time I saw them it was all new songs, and a couple of new songs that I had seen once, months before. I liked it, but their music is challenging to get into. Heck, it took hearing the songs a couple of times to get into the first album, which I now love.

Tonight they mixed most of the first album with a lot of new songs, and it was wonderful. The new songs all had a lot of spirit and flowed nicely from section to section. The classics were masterfully played. The whole set rocked hard, slowed for some poignant moments, then rocked again. Full Power opened a little slow, but they felt out the sound and played it strong. Starboard followed and rocked hard through all of the changes. I seem to like Amber Waves more every time I hear it. Home Away From Home rocked hard enough that maybe that night they played it at Metal Monday, it was just the usual heavy, not something special for the occasion. Mousetrap rocked hard and had a lot of nice movement to it. They played a glorious version of The Seed, and Endless parts 1 and 2 were just as wonderful as I remember. They kicked the night with A Different Machine. and the crowd, that grew from 4 to 24, applauded appropriately.

I hung out and chatted with the guys for a little bit then headed out. I checked in at the WBKM.ORG studio and it was empty. Earlier I had purchased the new Elephants CD and it came with two immediate downloads. I loaded them into the computer and meant to put Endless part 1 into queue. A blues rock song was playing, and I accidentally grabbed both that and A Different Machine. I moved Endless to the top, and the next song popped in. It was the remix of Watcher of the Skies. Endless part 1 followed it and sounded great. I headed out knowing Machine would play in a few minutes. I’m blissfully happy I was able to get out for the show, and loved it note for note. Thanks Elephants! Knock ’em dead in Gettysburg!!!! See you in April? Or is that just a fools joke?

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.