Live Review : Mason Hill + Hollowstar + Empyre @ Academy 3, Manchester on September 25th 2021

You know what my first thought was about tonight’s bill when I was asked to come out and watch it? Any of the three bands playing could actually be headliners. Despite their different styles and their different strengths and weaknesses,I am genuinely amazed at the quality of some of the bands knocking about on the club-sized venue circuit in the UK at the moment. Tonight we are treated to three who are all different, yet also share an eagerness to make music and perform it, a keenness, a hunger. It’s good to see that although not a sell-out there is a decent-sized crowd gathered, and also good to see that most of them get in early and stay to watch all three acts.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby1 October 2021Mason Hill, Hollowstar, Empyre, Academy 3, Manchester, 2021, Live Review, Jo Crosby, Ryan HicksonComment

Live Review : Gin Annie + White Raven Down + Bastette @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on September 24th 2021

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.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby27 September 2021Gin Annie, White Raven Down, Bastette, The Waterloo, Blackpool, 2021, Live Review, Jo CrosbyComment

Live Review : Blood Youth + Death Blooms + Leatherback @ The Live Rooms, Chester on September 19th 2021

It’s been a while since I’ve been along to The Live Rooms in Chester. Yes, yes I know there’s been a pandemic or something going on, but even factoring that into the equation the churn of heavy or alternative metal bands going through Chester remains limited. The schedule leading up to the turn of the year seems to be putting a change to that. This is a Sunday night gig though, and it’s been moved to the front bar rather than the main room. A small stage houses the bands to an attentive and decently sized crowd and atmosphere.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser23 September 2021Blood Youth, Death Blooms, Leatherback, The Live Rooms, Chester, 2021, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Ryan HicksonComment

Live Review : Massive Wagons + Chris Catalyst @ Academy 2, Manchester on September 19th 2021

Like dawn slowly unfolding itself across a field of corn, the Manchester music scene is beginning to awaken from its enforced hibernation. Parklife returned last weekend, the arena spluttered back into life Friday night just gone with Stockport “finest” The Blossoms and on the way in I pass a fully functioning Apollo (Dodie. No, me neither). Here at the Academy complex (basically the students union) it very much business as usual. The students are back and the cheap(er) beer of the main bar is being lapped up by packs of Wagons t-shirt adorned aging rockers, determined to prove to the young whippersnappers that they don’t have a monopoly on having a good time.

Live Review : Stevie R. Pearce & The Hooligans + Porcelaine Hill + Dig Lazarus + Falling Doves @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on September 10th 2021

Tonight is not the night I’m expecting to have. There’s bad news on the drummer front for all the bands playing, and even the addition of an extra band to the bill can’t quite shake off the bad vibes. Said band are a bunch of reprobates from California called Falling Doves. Yep, even in these days of covid restrictions and quarantines this band plus Porcelain Hill have sneaked in under the radar to tour together. How’s that working out for ya boys?

Live Review : Sertraline + Dreameater + Lost In Lavender Town + Aleya @ the Bread Shed in Manchester on September 9th 2021

First up are Aleya who impress with their varied take on tech-metalcore. They’re straight into it, with no introduction to the crowd, delivering their brand of Bury Tomorrow style song-process, through Blood Youth new nu-metal heaviness, out to Northlane or Erra influenced tech-metal. In fact, Erra are the closest match to this young band of any potential ‘for fans of’ suggestions. This is a young band finding their feet, but there is definitely something here with these guys.

Live Review : The Wildhearts + Those Damn Crows + The Middlenight Men @ Academy 2, Manchester on September 8th 2021

Tonight, is all about the redemptive and restorative power of rock n’ roll. You see, initially the signs aren’t good. This is the first major rock tour to hit the highways and byways of this fair country since we exited lockdown. The trepidation and uncertainty of the “mature” crowd is evident, for many this is the first post pause experience of an indoor crowd and there is an uneasy feeling in the room. The hall is never more than half full, with many of The Wildhearts faithful deciding that they are not quite ready to go back into battle. In fact, to start with, the crowd is so sparse that there are more members of openers The Middlenight Men on stage than there are people watching them which to be honest is a crying shame as they are as about good time rock n’roll as you can get.

Live Review : Dawn Ray'd + Agvirre + Underdark + Gospelheim @ FAC251, Manchester on September 3rd 2021

The last time I was in this iconic venue it was the mid-nineties. It was called Paradise Factory and I had jettisoned metal in favour of a brief but passionate fling with hardcore rave. The main reason we are here tonight is that Rebellion is still out of action (thank you national rail) and the metal community has taken an “any port in a storm” attitude to what is now ground zero for Manchester’s commercial dance scene. This is an intriguing quadruple bill of four acts flirting with black metal but taking it off in all sorts of immersing and alien directions. Its promoted by the manc metal juggernaut that is Badgerfest, which means we can forgive the indomitable Badger for placing his very own projects in two of the four available berths.

Live Review : Devin Townsend @ The Academy, Manchester on August 12th 2021

Arriving about five minutes after the show begins my heart sinks as not only is the support act Devin himself doing an acoustic set, but the place is absolutely packed out and it looks like I might actually have to watch from outside the door! Photos are going to be impossible…

Think, think… The venue is hotter than Satan’s armpit (insert far more unsavoury metaphor here) so if I’m going to push my way down to the front I had better quench my thirst and throw myself into the (hopefully Covid-free) fray. Quick run to the bar downstairs and then I go for it… skilfully following a lady with two pints headed to the front. About a third of the way from the stage I decide this is probably the best spot.

Live Review : Midnite City + StOp,sToP! @ Eleven, Stoke on July 6th 2021

Have I mentioned before how much I hate the M6? Picture the scene. The dancing shoes are on. The rum is poured. I’ve got both bands’ new albums on the car stereo to listen to on the way. I even managed to get away from work a bit earlier than usual. Only to come to a total standstill on the M6 for no apparent reason, aaargh. The reason I am telling you this is because tonight’s bill advertised 3 bands, the first being an outfit called The Event, but the motorway gods ensured that I got to the venue at 8pm just as StOp,sToP! hit the stage. I have no idea if this band played, or even if they exist. Sigh. So whoever they are, you’ll have to wait for another time to find out if I liked them or not!

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby9 August 2021ElevenMidnite City, Eleven, Stoke-On-Trent, 2021, Live Review, Jo CrosbyComment

Live Review : Sam Millar & The Sass Bandits, Atlas + Square Wild @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on August 1st 2021

This gig has been a long time coming! It was first mooted before there was even a hint of covid in the air – Sam Millar had got the band together and recorded a couple of EPs and they were itching to get out on tour and play live. The possibility of a date at the Waterloo was mentioned, we were waiting for confirmation and then the world stopped. When things started to open up again there had been some shifting of band members, and the Waterloo show was originally booked as the band’s second ever gig. It was to be a socially-distanced event in October last year but sadly it got cancelled for the first time when we went into lockdown again in the autumn. Tickets in hand we waited eagerly for a new date.

Live Review : Arcaeon + Where Oceans Burn + Cut Short + False Hope @ Jimmy’s, Liverpool on July 28th 2021

It's my first time in Jimmy’s, and my first metal gig back following the lockdowns of the pandemic. I like the vibe in the venue – the staff are welcoming, offering me their own Jimmy’s brews, all served beneath the neon signs and lava lamps flooding the walls. It has the feel of a rock bar, and that’s something you don’t actually see that often these days. Meeting up with Rockflesh overlord Johann, we move downstairs into the gig venue. It's certainly intimate, and has an awesome DIY punk feel to the whole place. I leave Johann to dash down the front as I set-up shop at the back of the room…about five people from the front of the stage still!

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser4 August 2021Jimmy'sArcaeon, Where Oceans Burn, Cut Short, False Hope, Jimmy's, Liverpool, 2021, Live ReviewComment

Live Review : Those Damn Crows + Empyre + These Wicked Rivers @ The Tivoli on July 30th 2021, A Welsh Government Pilot Gig

16 months! 16 months since the Tivoli closed its doors and was then not able to open them again until this show. It feels like forever. But hey ho, here we are, and after imposing seated limits on the Tiv that would have meant they couldn’t break even, the Welsh Government have allowed tonight’s show to go ahead unrestricted as a pilot. This means that everyone who came had to show proof of a negative lateral flow test taken within the last 24 hours, and also bring photo ID. Masks had to be worn whilst queuing outside the venue but once we were in it was business as usual.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby4 August 2021The TivoliLive Review, Those Damn Crows, Empyre, These Wicked Rivers, The Tivoli, 2021Comment

Live Review : Party Cannon + Crepitation + Twitch of the Death Nerve + Visions of Disfigurement + Coprocephalic Mutation @ the Star and Garter, Manchester on July 23rd 2021

As Douglas Adams once wrote “We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem”. This is Manchester’s first Metal show since the so-called Freedom Day. It falls to this Slam Metal package tour, topped by party slam uberlords Party Cannon, to, well, bring the party. For the uneducated Slam Metal is Death Metal’s feral younger sibling. Whereas Death Metal can be reserved and sophisticated when it wants to be, Slam is a puerile art form that reveals in being uncouth and unsanitised.

Live Review : Download Pilot @ Donington Park on June 18-20th 2021

Ok lets cut to the chase, last weekend’s Download Pilot (or Diddy Download as every bugger and their aunt are calling it) was probably the most pleasant experience I have had in the eighteen years I have been making an annual pilgrimage to Donington Park. Let’s put all the emotion aside of this being the first one back and concentrate on what worked, which frankly was its size.

Live Review : Pist + Mastiff @ the Manchester Academy on June 11th 2021

On March 11th 2020 I went to see Employed to Serve at one of the smaller rooms here at Manchester University Student Union’s sprawling Academy complex. I consider this place a second home. I went to university here, so been attending gigs in its four venues for thirty years. I did my finals in the Academy (and was only halfway through my additional time when the Indigo Girls came onto soundcheck, but that’s another story). Hell, the main security guard on the door welcomes me with a hug. What I didn’t know that night as I cycled off was that it would be my last visit for fifteen months.

Live Review : Shining Blackjazz Streaming Show on June 6th 2020

Live streams are evolving. Bands are realising that there is an opportunity to make “event” shows. Shows that stretch the boundaries of what performance actually is. Tonight “gig” is about as far you can possibly get from the usual fare of rock star strumming acoustic versions of their hits in their designer kitchen. It is a taut, claustrophobic and hypnotic experience that discombobulates as much as it entertains. Shining have always trod the left-hand path and have made a career out of being challenging and often contrary. “BlackJazz”, the record being celebrated here tonight, is the last word in free form jazz reimagined as Black Metal. It is a monumental piece of work.

Live Review : Amorphis 30th Anniversary – Stream From The North Side on June 4th 2020

It must be lousy to have a landmark birthday or anniversary in 2020. All those carefully laid plans scuppered by this bugger of a pandemic. This is exactly the situation that Amorphis find themselves in. This year is the 30th anniversary of their formation and they had grand designs of how to mark this momentous occasion. Sadly lockdowns and the fact that none of us are going anywhere quick has put paid to all of that. However, instead of being downhearted they have decided to jump on the live stream bandwagon and perform two special commemorative shows from their home town of Helsinki.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas6 June 2020KaapelitehdasAmorphis, Stream, 2020, Review, Stewart LucasComment

Live Review : Dropkick Murphys Live Stream at Fenway Park, Boston U.S.A. on May 29th 2020

How do you do a socially distanced gig when you have eight members? You play on a sports field! Not a stage set up at the end of a stadium but literally on the field of play. Tonight is by far the most ambitious and large scale live stream event that has been attempted. The Dropkick Murphys are never one to do things by halves and here they are playing on diamond at the Red Sox home …

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas30 May 2020Dropkick Murphys, Bruce Springsteen, Red Sox, Fenway Park, Boston, 2020, StreamComment

Live Review : Insomnium Winter's Gate's Live Stream on May 29th 2020

Ok! We have the man that wrote a whole blog about not doing live streamed gigs doing a live stream (well to be honest two in one night but let’s stick with the first one first). The reason is that it would take something really special to coax me into the streamed show fad and put simply, “Winter’s Gate” is that something special. A single forty minute long melodic death Metal masterpiece ...