Live performance review from Heavy Summer: Hotter Than Hell:
Never Let It Go
Back to Paradise
Chains of Time
Empty Words
One More Day
Wildcat
Unleash the Power
In a lineup dominated by punk and extreme metal, Midnight Overdrive. Their blend of melodic hard rock, power-metal flourishes and retro synths felt as though it had been transported directly from the late 1980s.
Chains of Time, a song that apparently took a decade to write, saw vocalist Elicia fully embraced the material’s fantasy-quest ambitions, recalling the film Labyrinth in its soaring melodies over wistful keyboards. Brendon’s pinched notes recalled a traditional Chinese string instrument, while drummer Ferdie, needing no introduction within Hong Kong’s rock scene, anchored the arrangement with the charismatic power that has become the hallmark of his playing.
Empty Words, introduced as a ballad, combined atmospheric synths, elegant arpeggiated guitar lines and a nostalgic melody, landing somewhere between Livin’ on a Prayer and Every Breath You Take. Elicia’s huge finishing note earned some of the loudest cheers of the set.
The band maintained the momentum with the hugely catchy One More Day – Madhav hit “starlight” on the synths and Wayne plucked out a retro bassline – prompting a mass sway-along. “One more day, one more night, one more chance to make it right,” went the lyrics – straight out of Europe or Journey’s playbook.
Wildcat introduced a rougher, more hard-rocking edge, with Brendon taking to the mic. Although slightly less polished than some of the preceding material, its “training montage” energy won over the crowd. Joe Esposito, eat your heart out. It was easy to imagine a dancer whirling around on a pole to this attitude-laden song.
Closing anthem Unleash the Power brought back those crystal synths, which shimmered beneath soaring guitar leads. They brought nostalgia and style over the night’s promised heaviness, yet Midnight Overdrive won the crowd over with a soaring hooks and classic rock theatrics.
–El Jay
