Artist: Haken
Venue: Highline Ballroom (New York, NY)
Opener: Sithu Aye
Date: 9/2/2017
Label: InsideOut Records

Written By: Steven Stolper (copyright 2017) for PiercingMetal.com

Haken is a Progressive Metal band from England that has been steadily gaining popularity on this side of the pond. Last time around they packed Webster Hall’s Marlin Room and now it was onto bigger spaces. The Highline Ballroom is a bit larger in scope but I wonder if this show would have been held at Webster Hall if it was still open. Whatever the case, I do think Highline is a superior venue, with better stage, sound, and lighting. And no ceiling “thump” that The Marlin Room events often suffered from when The Grand Ballroom shows upstairs would get rowdy. As with Webster Hall though, there are late night events scheduled at Highline, so music, events can get pushed into early slots. This concert started earlier than posted, at around 7:10pm, not 7 30 as advertised. Sithu Aye, a proggy instrumental guitar shredder from Scotland opened. An enjoyable set, sort of what one might expect Joe Satriani to sound if he listened to a lot of modern Prog-Metal. I was disappointed to find the use of backing tracks for keyboards and some guitars. It kind of takes away from the live feel, and I don’t really see the point, considering that he actually brought a full band with him which included a second guitarist. Why not improvise, or play album keyboard parts on guitar?
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