Tonight is set to be a night of nostalgia down at the Tivoli. Three bands that I remember from many years back who are still going in one form or another, I’m hoping for an evening that takes me back to my teenage years in the early 80s. The thing is, can these three veterans of the scene deliver?   

First of all we get Tytan, who are proper old school '80s metal led by bassist and NWOBHM stalwart Kevin Riddles, of Angelwitch and Baphomet fame amongst others. They have a couple of aces up their sleeves, the main one being unassuming vocalist Tony Coldham who looks like he’s just wandered onto the stage by accident but has one of the best rock voices I’ve ever heard. No really. Power to light up a thousand stadiums, range you could shoot a million guns on and a vibrato to make even the mighty Bruce weep. On top of that the rest of the band back him up with some stunning harmony vocals and the set turns into one of those goosebump moments. The songs have melody and emotion without ever losing their hard edge, and although they are very firmly of their time it turns out that their time is also my time and I really can’t express how good they were this evening. There's a song called ‘Fight’ because of course there is, every band of the early 80s had a song called fight! It's all been done before but that's why we're here, because sometimes a trip down memory lane can bring you right back to the present and still be just as relevant. Forty-odd years on their songs are the same old same old but done with such love, such passion, and such a twinkle in Kev Riddle’s eye that you can’t help but fall in love with it all over again. This is what metal was when I was 16, it's not changed but it doesn't have to; it has stood the test of time and based on tonight’s show I think if you youngsters want just a taste of the music that shaped my very soul then Tytan would be a great place to start. 

16-year-old me loved Girlschool back in the day as well. They were only a couple of years older than me but they were fun, they were chaotic and they hung out with all the cool rock stars. They were the original Girl Power band, and what they lacked in talent they made up for in mayhem and giggles. Tonight I have to say they haven’t changed much. Despite a couple of lineup changes along the way they have stayed true to their ethos of get up there, have a laugh and get the job done. They come on to the sound of wailing sirens which makes my inner teenager who knows her Greek mythology snigger a bit. These days they are competent musicians who have a large back catalogue to draw on but I notice that the biggest cheers seem to be reserved for the oldest songs. I've always loved their spunky attitude and give them kudos for still being at it after all these years but at the same time, after a while the music starts to all run together, and in places goes a little bit beige. I think this might be why, despite so many of their contemporaries hitting the big time, Girlschool always stayed firmly in the minor leagues. They’re good, but not great. The novelty of them being all women wore off a long time ago, and although they still deliver I seem to remember them being a lot more exciting back in the day. About halfway through the set they get to bring out a guest in the form of guitarist Niky from Czech band The Agony and this adds just a little extra oomph to the proceedings. Their standout track (for me) is still the cover of The Gun’s ‘Race With The Devil’ which really gets the crowd moving, and they also cover Motörhead’s ‘Bomber’ which goes down well. It was a decent enough set, but somehow never quite matched up to my memories of them. I guess the past really is another country, huh?  

So we come to tonight's headliners Alcatrazz. I have an album of theirs gathering dust in my vinyl collection somewhere, and I’m pretty sure that Graham Bonnet sang on it. A quick google shows me to be correct, but also marks them as the supergroup that never was with the likes of Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen passing through their ranks over the years as well. Don’t remember much about their sound, but the first thing that strikes me as they come on tonight is that they want to be Rainbow. A lot. The guitarist has a white strat and a thousand-yard stare, and singer Doogie White (who I have a lot of love for due to his work with Michael Schenker) appears to have brought Joe Lynn Turner’s hair which was a bit bizarre. Actually the whole thing was a bit bizarre. It's all about the pose with these guys, the brand new (only 24 hours in the band at time of writing) bass player has 6 strings, Doogie likes to stand on one leg like a leather-clad flamingo and I’m struggling to fathom what the hell is going on with the guitarist. At first I thought he had some technical issues but no, it seems that dropping suddenly to the floor and whipping the strings with his lead is his “thing” and is all part of the show. Didn’t anybody introduce him to the concept of a wireless setup? He’d be proper fucked! It was all a bit pointless and didn’t really make much difference to the sound, which was the sort of pompous widdly stuff so beloved by the late 70s bands who paved the way for metal as we know it now. Doogie has awesome vocal skills but there's a very big lack of backing vocals going on and as the set goes on I find I’m taking it less and less seriously. They're all very accomplished musicians but seeing them together on that stage doing this performance was like watching Spinal Tap and I just kept giggling at the unintentionally hilarious bits. The music is good, it's fast paced and well performed but I just can't keep a straight face. The sad thing about this is that unfortunately they are deadly serious and I can't help thinking what a waste of Doogie's voice and all that musical talent because it’s just not gelling for me, at all. The keyboard player seems lovely and also looks a little bit embarrassed - I wonder if he's getting the feedback from the crowd? Speaking of which I noticed that a lot of people left well before the end of the set and I don't know what that's all about. Anyhow in other news there's a new album out in May and a new single out today which they play midway through the set and then come back on and play again as an encore because they must have run out of other songs that they'd rehearsed? They are joined by Girlschool for the encore version to do the shouty bits of the chorus, which would have been fine if they hadn’t already played the song earlier! I’m actually kind of enjoying the nostalgia value of the music, but they are so po-faced about it that my joy doesn’t last long. They just don't look like they're enjoying themselves, it’s more that they're going through the motions and it's just not working. Hey ho, if you like that Rainbow, Deep Purple era music with hints of Led Zeppelin then you’ll probably enjoy them but they really weren't my cup of tea. Towards the end of the set they do a cover of Rainbow’s “Temple Of The King” which they dedicate to Jimmy (Bain), Cozy (Powell) and Ronnie James Dio, and instead of the emotional response I should be feeling I discover I am grinding my teeth. Somehow they take a song which was a true masterpiece and turn it into an Athena poster. It's all a little bit flat, they tried but they just didn't live up to my expectations at all.  

Who would have thought after my last review of them I would be writing that Tytan totally stole the show and were the far superior band tonight? Strange times indeed.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!

Alcatrazz, Girlschool, Tytan