Review: The New Divide @ the God Rock Cafe
Feb 27, 2010 Concerts
Posted by
Gabe
As the new God Rock design changes slow down in favor of back-end changes to improve their ability to server customers, the number of bands isn’t slowing down. This week, as expected, another quality experience. It wasn’t amazing (i.e. Children 18:3) or the ultimate musical experience (Newsboys at SWC), but it was, nevertheless, fun.
To be fair, is was a birthday party and the kids showed up already expecting a fun band. The good news, of course, is that The New Divide didn’t disappoint. With a slate of solid rock tunes, these four musicians keep their music just outside of the standard rock-worship sound (save for the actual worship tunes). It shows both constraint (they’re not Symmetry / Symmetry), and a the ability to step, albeit a single foot, outside the box. In short, this band is exactly what it claims to be. Best of all, they enjoy their own music (as opposed to churning out stuff merely because they think the crowds will like it).
Their set that evening was well chosen to entertain. Upbeat and lighthearted, each song included enough stage performance to keep the eye interested and enough expectation of participation to keep the crowd involved. In between the songs, the band never shied away from engaging the crowd, whether it be instructions for the next song’s participation or sharing a funny anecdote.
Although it doesn’t appear from this performance that any of these musicians received long-term musical training, their natural talents have made up the difference. Even without complicated, haunting melodies and deep, metaphorical lyrics, The New Divide puts on a show well worth seeing if you have the time. No, I wouldn’t pay $12 at the door or $10 in advance to see them, but for the price that evening I can say I was happy I’d come.
As a note, the founder of Freedom Fest also spends his Friday nights at the God Rock, eyeballing entertainers for this years tentative festival. If you’re a band, it might be something to consider.
Also, the lead singer of The New Divide runs the Rockhaus venue in Montlake Terrace. So if you’re looking for a venue for an open Friday night, this might be the guy to get ahold of.
And now, a selection of four songs from that evening. I’ve included some of the banter to highlight their light-hearted, all-ages friendly interaction.
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Tags: birthday, Christian, Everett, God Rock, New Divide, rock
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