It’s always nice when you see bands that are starting to do well for themselves give a hand up to those coming up behind them, and that’s exactly what Gin Annie have done on this tour. Although White Raven Down have been their support on most of the dates, they have also opened up a third slot at some venues, which has gone to a local band. 

Tonight that’s Bastette, recent winners of Hard Rock Hell’s “Highway To Hell” (which is a sort of battle of the bands) and I can see why they won. They are a female-fronted hard rock band, and I enjoyed watching them. The genre is classic rock, Caroline’s voice is tuneful and she has both power and a decent range. The band are tight and play well. The sound occasionally seemed a little thin though, and I thought some of the songs could benefit from some backing vocals. They have just released a new single “Rollercoaster” which is available on all the usual platforms and is a good introduction to who they are and what they do if you want to check them out. Overall though not a bad watch.

White Raven Down are a harder, heavier proposition. They have come all the way from Essex, and this is their first visit this far north so I was pleased to see them get a decent welcome. They play gritty heavy rock with a blues feel and just a touch of funk as well. My notes say “Red Hot Chilli Peppers on steroids”! None of the songs particularly stood out for me, but there was some good musicianship going on, the vocals were clean and I found myself nodding along to most of the set. This style of music isn’t my favourite genre, but White Raven Down did it well and even threw in a bit of a singalong snatch of Sabbath’s Iron Man in one of their choruses. They have just released a single/video of their track “Roll Of The Dice”, and a full debut album is apparently in the pipeline so if you want a look at what they are all about that’s probably a good place to start. Not the best band I’ve ever seen, but by no means the worst either, there was a lot of potential on that stage tonight. 

On to Gin Annie then, tonight’s headliners. Despite the setback of covid over the last couple of years there has recently emerged a little cohort of British rock bands with the potential to go on to much bigger and better things. We’ve already seen Massive Wagons reach the dizzying heights of being able to afford a proper tour bus, and Those Damn Crows are also flying high right now. Hot on their heels in terms of potential fame and fortune, I hope are Gin Annie. Hailing from the Midlands they play an infectious brand of hard rock with radio-friendly choruses. They manage to meld commercial with catchy but without compromise or corporateness. If you like your rock on the lighter side, this band literally have it all. Clean soaring vocals, perfect harmony backing vocals, twin guitars that riff, rhythm and shred, a bouncing bass player with great hair and behind it all a solid, serious drummer keeping the beat going. The heartbeat even, because this is what Gin Annie do. Their songs get into your brain, under your skin, and they make you move. Staying still is not an option, they are the sort of band that invite the crowd to be part of the show and you are compelled to dance, sing and punch the air. If you can watch this band and NOT bounce along to their good-time happy-go-lucky party rock then call a doctor because I fear you may be dead. There is humour here – have a look at the picture of the setlist in our gallery. The die-hard fans amongst you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief that your favourite song (mine is “Falling”) is still in the setlist, the rest of you may notice shall we say a hint of schoolboy tongue-in-cheek merriment. It does kind of encapsulate what this band is all about though. They are seriously talented musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously. There is a lot of on-stage banter between them, as well as a lot of audience interaction and stagecraft. In fact, they are extraordinarily ordinary. It was a cracking night of fast-paced singalong rock anthems, and I’m still humming the songs today. They too have just released a new single “Jealousy” (available on all the usual platforms) and it shows a band who are going from strength to strength in terms of both their writing and their performance. Watch this space, all the classic rock bands of the 80s and 90s are getting a bit long in the tooth now, and I think it’s entirely possible that these guys could be the new pretenders to the Britrock throne.