by Mark Gromen

New Yorkers put up with a lot: traffic gridlock, daily influx of millions (visitors and commuting workers) and top the global attitude/impatience scale (NYC is #1. All challengers? Forget about it!). Slush and mountains of hastily shovelled/plowed snow crowd the pedestrian crammed narrow streets/sidewalks, further heightening anxiety, but it’s just another roadblock (in some cases, literally) to life in the Big Apple. No wonder they party so heartily, like the rare opportunity to see GAMMA RAY in a rather intimate setting, like the Gramercy Theater. No less constrictive than the subway at rush hour, but this night was not sold out and rather comfortable on the floor.

For their part, the Germans re-enacted Planes, Trains & Automobiles, getting into snow ravaged Manhattan (Thumbs up on the clean-up this time Mayor Bloomberg!) from the sunny 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise. Talk about culture shock! Frontman Kai Hansen sported a goatee/soul patch (perhaps the result of not shaving at sea?) and a band t-shirt designed to look like the Jack Daniels label beneath his sleeveless vest. The frenzied commute didn’t seem to faze him. The same can’t be said of the sound, as it was noticeably over modulated on ‘Fight’ and ‘Deadlands’. Rumor has it the band disembarked the cruise and flew into NY earlier in the day, arriving at the venue close to 6pm, an hour before doors opened. Kai was in good spirits, making his usual quips to the crowd. Center stage, predominately with his cream colored Flying V and a mixed drink suspended on the mic stand, Hansen was ably backed (musically and on vocals) by toque wearing Henjo Richter (guitar) and Dirk Schlachter (bass). Drummer Dan Zimmerman even got a solo spot, right before ‘Armageddon’.

The set was heavy on the current To The Metal disc (‘Empathy’ up early, followed directly by ‘Deadlands’, while later ‘Mother Angel’ and ‘No Need To Cry’ were also back-to-back and finally, the title cut) and was notable for what it omitted, but most of the standards were there. No ‘Land Of The Free’, ‘Heavy Metal Universe’, ‘Heaven Can Wait’ nor ‘Valley Of The Kings’, but ‘The Saviour’ right into ‘Abyss Of The Void’ was! ‘Fight’ was the only representative from the pair of albums before Metal. After a clash of instruments, they opened with ‘Gardens Of The Sinner’. ‘New World Order’ was one of the few sing-alongs in the early portion of the set. Is it just me, or does the hair falling down in his face make Hansen resemble Kurt Cobain?

The parting duo of ‘Rebellion’ and ‘Man On A Mission’ sees Hansen and Richter reprise the duelling guitar motif, much to the fans’ delight. For the encore, there was the requisite I Want Out, right into the planned, evening ending ‘Send Me A Sign’. But wait, they return for a second encore, ‘Ride The Sky”! Probably not the definitive Gamma Ray show, but glad I was there to witness some of these lesser aired songs.

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