Live Review : Lordi + All For Metal + Crimson Veil @ Academy 2, Manchester on April 1st 2024

Metal’s inexplicable love affair with Eurovision seems to be baked into our psyche. In recent years many “big” names from our world (The Rasmus, Blind Channel, Voyager and Lords of the Lost) have taken part and even bigger names (Avantasia and Keep of Kaslin) have unsuccessfully tried to be selected for their respective home nations. This is alongside the fact that every Baltic state entry seems to sound like Evanescence and Italian alt-rockers Maneskin triumphed in 2021 with a ditty that sounded all the world like a shunt job between Rage Against The Machine and Jane's addiction.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas2 April 2024Manchester Academy 2Lordi, All For Metal, Crimson Veil, Academy 2, Manchester, 2024, Live Review, Stewart Lucas, Jason SamuelsComment

Live Review : Sabaton + BABYMETAL + Lordi @ First Direct Arena, Leeds on April 14th 2023

As Bon Scott did declare, "It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock 'n' roll". Sabaton’s meteoric journey to the top of the metal’s pyre has been a marathon as opposed to a sprint. When I first spied them in 2006 (on the very tour that Par nostalgically refers to towards the end of their set) they were an identikit Scandinavian mid-table power metal act, virtually indistinguishable from the other identikit Scandinavian mid-table power metal acts that prowled around half empty club shows and early afternoon sets at Bloodstock.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas15 April 2023First Direct ArenaSabaton, Babymetal, Lordi, First Direct Arena, Leeds, 2023, Live Review, Stewart Lucas, Johann Wierzbicki Comments