Lodestar Takes Center Stage at The Lexington: An Epic Night of Rock

April 25, 2024 rocknews

The Lexington, in North London’s Angel was buzzing with excitement on Saturday night for progressive rock band Lodestar to take the stage.

Rowsie

But before that, we were treated to a superb support set in the form of “American rock band from London” Rowsie. Formed only two years ago this group of four are incredibly tight and it sounds like they’ve been playing together for years. Front man Richard Rothenberg instantly connected with the growing crowd whilst dancing around the stage with his guitar, his rich baritone voice emoting old school rock. Guitarist Holly Henderson went down well with the crowd who cheered for her talent. Pedals at her feet and rocking along with Rothenberg they were quite the pair to watch and along with Andy Gladwell (bass) and Alex Marchisone (drums) they made a tight and sophisticated sound that the audience loved. Highlights from the set were the third song ‘Danish Queen’ which Rothenburg wrote for his wife, stating, “it’s called Danish Queen…because she’s Danish”. Last song ‘Gaslight’ from their 2022 EP was a political number which was prefaced by Rothenburg wishing us all luck in this political climate. What a great band! The noisy, distorted guitar filled rock got the Angel crowd truly ready for Lodestar. We’re really hoping to see more of Rowsie soon!

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Lodestar

The Lexington was filling up nicely and full of anticipation for our main act of the evening. The lights went down and the on to the stage they marched, one after the other: Alan ‘Lord Hagos’ Haggarty, John Morgan and Charlie Beddoes followed by front man Heitham Al-Sayed. And straight into the set they went! Starting with ’1983’, the room filled with the bands unique sounds inspired by occult symbolism and subtle sensuality and was perfectly accompanied with cheers from the crowd. The evolution from the 1996 rap-rock band Senser into Lodestar (revived in 2024 with Charlie Beddoes on bass) has been described as “beautiful and brutal with roomy grooves and gutsy onslaughts” and we saw that in its fullest on Saturday. Their sound is subtle but powerful at the same time, the nuances and musicianship of the four is unmatched and after the release of their new single ‘Surrender To The Tide’ earlier this month (after a 27 year hiatus!) we were excited to hear it live – and low and behold they headed straight into it after their opening song. It did not disappoint and it was amazing to see every person in that room singing along with every word to a song that Metaltalk described as capturing “the dark, heavy, and monumental sound of Tony Iommi”.

‘Surrender To The Tide’ has been described by the band as “the personal struggles suggested by the oppressive scale of the guitars” and you can feel that in the song.

The rest of the set showed their consistently impressive musicianship and vocals, with highlights being ‘Flame’, ‘The Stranger’, ‘Hyperitual’, the epic ‘Lilac Crest’ and ending the night with ‘Waiting For The Sun’.

The 13 song set took us on a musical journey, and we’re looking forward to the new album ‘ZONEN’ – their first since 1996 – this month.

Catch Lodestar at Desertfest London in May.