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Thanks to Nicky Baldrian at http://www.longislandmusicscene.com/ for the use of the review.

Thanks to Britny Alfonzetti for writing the review.

An appearance by Ten is almost a Gods tradition now, but I have to admit that they undoubtedly landed themselves with the most difficult job of the day in following Harem Scarem. It was obvious that Harem were the band most people had travelled to see and I think that due to this and the excessive heat in the venue by this time, then the crowd had thinned out somewhat. Those of us die-hards who remained were certainly not disappointed with the night’s performance.

We were greeted with the now familiar ‘March of the Argonauts’ intro and a blaze of pyrotechnics leading into ‘Fear the Force’, ok so it was very 80’s, and I think some of us in the front row feared for our eyebrows!  However I think it will look fantastic on
the DVD and its nice to see a bit of spectacle in rock again as its something we don’t see enough of these days. Next up was the Whitesnake swagger of ‘Spellbound’. By now the crowd seemed to have found their second wind and  lapped up the following epic, ‘The Robe’

The improvement in the new line up over the past few months was by now evident. New boy Chris Francis was looking much more relaxed and confident in himself, at last he is moving about and interacting with the rest of the band. In fact the whole band was looking like they were enjoying themselves more than I have seen them do in a long while, a bigger stage made all the difference. It was a pleasure to see the band performing rather than merely playing for us. Long may it continue.

A rousing rendition of ‘Scarlet and the Grey’ was the first up from new album ‘Far Beyond the World’ and judging from the reception it is surely destined to become a live favourite. It is surely criminal that we are unlikely to ever hear this track on the radio.
Its everything the perfect commercial track should be. The ballad 'What About Me?’ slowed the pace down and gave us a welcome breather, this is not one of my favourite Ten ballads, but live it almost brought a tear to my eye.

Dancefloor classic ‘After The Love Has Gone’ was a fitting and touching dedication to the late and sure to be very sadly missed Mike Stone. ‘Babylon’ favourite ‘The Stranger’ stepped up the pace a notch or two and saw Francis riffing like a man possessed and the entire band looking every inch rock gods. Personal ‘Babylon’ favourite ‘Black Hearted Woman’ kept up the heat and drove the front row into a frenzy. ‘We Rule The Night’ saw an appearance by the British flag and a speech about the fact ‘The Gods' is attended by fans from all over the world. Anyone who knows me can testify that this is not one of my favourite tracks but it is easy to see why it has become such an anthem  judging by the smiles and enthusiastic voices singing along.

A phenomenal rendition of debut album classic ‘Stay With Me’ was greeted enthusiastically and left a lump in my throat. The rest of the set was made up of ‘Black Shadows’, the majestic ‘Wait For You’ and was closed with the thunderous climax  of  crowd favourite ‘Red’. We still wanted more and we weren’t disappointed the band  rewarded us with the wonderful ‘Name of The Rose’.

All in all, given the difficult task the band had, I think they more than justified their inclusion on this bill and more than held their own alongside the big name acts. It was no mean achievement to rouse the weary crowd from slumber! Hopefully doubters as to the choice of Chris Francis as Vinny Burns replacement will now have been silenced and with the next album and promised January tour  he will stamp his authority on the Ten sound.