Stage Left
It’s been a while since we last caught up with Reading’s Exit Ten and they’ve clearly been busy judging by the impressively large crowd they draw into the Gibson tent.
They waste no time in getting the crowd going with their own brand of tuneful metal but whilst it’s tuneful it also packs a real punch. Guitarists Stuart Steele and James Ward do their fair share of classic metal stances and that in part makes up for the lack of sound quality on the guitars. They’ve clearly honed their performance since we last saw them and use their 25 minutes well. Older songs are mixed in with tracks from new album ‘Remember the Day’ such as ‘Warriors’ and ‘Godspeed’, all of which are met with wild applause from the crowd.
Ryan Redman’s vocals are clean and go a long way to making Exit Ten stand out on a day when clean melodic vocals are at a premium. He also proves himself to be a good front man as he never stops moving and engaging with the crowd, jumping down into the pit and giving it the personal touch. Some of the songs lack the catchy hook but for a band on the up they seem to be well along the right path.
There’s a good mix of ages in the crowd and the fact that they are hard enough to appeal to the metal fraternity yet melodic and radio friendly enough to capture a wider audience probably has a lot to do with it. We’ve been watching it for a while now but Exit Ten’s star continues to rise, another festival and another great show.