Live Review : Dub War + Bad Earth + Fly-52 @ The Live Rooms, Chester on April 28th 2022

“You’re not on the list. There is no list. Oh you might be on the list. Wait here” is never a good start to the night, but a bit of negotiating and flashing of screen shots later, we’re in on this pleasant spring evening.

First up tonight is Melodic Alt Punk Welsh rockers Fly- 52. A reasonably new project riding the waves of the recent pop punk revival, Fly-52 play like a band who have been at it for years, as opposed to forming in 2021. Whilst crediting the likes of Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Sum41 as their influences, it’s an entirely different band I pick out whilst listening.

Live Review : Feeder + Dea Matrona @ The Academy, Manchester on April 29th 2022

First things first… it’s busy! And not just that, I am unprepared for how “normal” the majority of the crowd look. Momentarily forgetting how spoilt I have been recently with all the metal gigs and more eclectic musicianship. My weirdo beacon is shining brightly as I head to the front to check out the support band. Last time I was in Academy 1 it was to see Skindred, so this all feels very different.

Live Review : Scarlet Rebels + The Karma Effect + Before The Storm @ The Tivoli, Buckley on April 29th 2022

Tonight kicks off with Before The Storm, a local-ish band from Wrexham who play radio-friendly rock that crosses a number of genres. I didn’t catch any song titles but the band were competent and the music was OK. Personally I wasn’t keen on the vocals, the singer has a flat, nasally style that is like nails on blackboard to me. Don’t get me wrong, he can sing, he has both power and range, just not to my personal taste.

Live Review : Discharge + Assert + The Big I Am @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 27th 2022

It’s a sleepy Wednesday night, but Oldham punk band The Big I Am are determined to kick the night off with a bang. Despite the small early crowd they excitedly bound through their old -school punk rock. To me they're reminiscent of Janus Stark, with some gruff singing and mix of surf-rock style vocal lines and twangy overdriven guitars.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser28 April 2022RebellionDischarge, Assert, The Big I Am, Rebellion, Manchester, 2022, Live Review, Matt FraserComment

Live Review : Gaerea + Wode + Gospelheim @ Star And Garter, Manchester on April 26th 2022

So, hats off to Tapestry promotions as this is one of those bills you look at and go “corr! that’s a bit of alright”. Star and Garter is rather busy from the off, though the audience seem to be playing a truncated game of “What time is it Mr Wolf”, standing as far back from the stage as they can without it starting to look or feel uncomfortable. A revamped and expanded version of Gospelheim are first up and it is (putting all the John Badger stuff to one side) a very different band to the one that I witnessed at Factory in September.

Live Review : The Treatment + Piston + South Of Salem @ The Tivoli, Buckley on April 22nd 2022

What a bill to be touring together. One established band with a great reputation, one new-ish band who are also building a solid fanbase for themselves on the club circuit and one (in my opinion anyway) of the most exciting new bands on the scene right now. I had to be there. You should have been there too! No seriously, although we are now “living with” covid the unfortunate aftermath of that is that an awesome bill like this at the Tiv was woefully under-attended. The crowd was enthusiastic, and a reasonable size, but for such a great bill in such a great venue it could have been better. I mean come on, the Tiv even has new post-lockdown carpets so you don’t stick to the floor any more – what more could you want?

Live Review : Stone Broken + Mason Hill + The Fallen State @ Academy 2, Manchester on April 22nd 2022

I tend to compile my reviews in my head as I watch the band in question. With Stone Broken I had already decided that I was going to major on the fact they have successfully managed to combine slick, well-rehearsed arena rock with a real feeling of genuality. There is down to earthiness about them, like they have managed to remove the pomp and pretension form a musical art form that is swathed in it. And then the incident happened that curtailed the show and Rich Moss proved his spurs as an utterly decent bloke and showed that he has inexplicably managed to avoid all the egotistical trappings that comes from leading a band.

Live Review : Monuments + Kill The Lights @ Academy 3, Manchester on April 22nd 2022

There’s a massive mix of rock, metal and punk punters in the Manchester Uni bar tonight, as we see a band from each genre filling Academies 2, 3 and Club. It actually makes for a vibrant and exciting energy in the building and a chance to catch-up with other Rockflesh staff for a pre-gig pint. It’s soon time for Ryan and I to make our way up to Academy 3 though, and despite having a photo-pass tonight I take up position just to the side of what will become the moshpit.

Live Review : Ginger Wildheart & Jon Poole + Carol Hodge @ The Waterloo, Blackpool on April 21st 2022

It’s always good to get back to the Waterloo for a gig, and tonight is no exception. I’m even more delighted to discover that they do KISS rum behind the bar – and I’m not driving! Result! So with a large one in hand I settle in for a perhaps somewhat more gentle than usual assault on my aural senses.

Live Review : Led By Lanterns + Tribeless + Hunter & The Wolves @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester on April 21st 2022

There’s a fair few gigs on in Manchester at the same time as this offering, so it’s great to see a decent crowd turning up early and eagerly for this varied bill. First up are local support Hunter & The Wolves who offer us their take on rocky alternative indie. They remind me very much of Hot Hot Heat, and quite clearly have plenty of influence from The Strokes. There’s definitely a heavy American alt-indie vibe to the songs, with the vocals in particular demonstrating that trademark swagger and drawl.

Live Review : The White Buffalo + L.A. Edwards @ 02 Ritz Manchester, April 18th 2022

Well it would not be one of my gig reviews without some sort of disruption… so tonight it looks set to be a completely wasted journey as we arrive and our names are not on the list. After a few frantic messages back and forth nothing is getting resolved. I hover in the entrance to The Ritz debating whether to buy a ticket as surprisingly (or not as it’s Easter Monday) it’s not sold out and I really, really want to see The White Buffalo… but then what’s this? I overhear a man at the box office handing over a print at home ticket, saying his mate could not make it and to give it to someone who needs it… I check myself, find myself wanting and seize my chance.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Samantha22 April 2022O2 RitzThe White Buffalo, L.A. Edwards, O2 Ritz, Manchester, 2022, Samantha HarwoodComment

Live Review : Nervosa + Burning Witches + Bloodyard @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 18th 2022

Its Easter so a good resurrection story is fitting. In 2020 Brazilian thrashers, Nervosa imploded with the rest of the band walking away from founder Prika Amaral. Rather than see this as some sort of sign that she should do something else with her life, she managed to recruit three new members without actually meeting them (we were slap in the middle of a global pandemic). The miraculous part is the amount of chemistry that there is between this freshly reincarnated unit. But more about that later.

Live Review : Static Dress + Jools + The Throwaway Scene @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester on April 16th 2022

The thing that endlessly fascinates me about the modern music scene is the infinite amounts of crossover and genre splicing. Back in my day (here I go again), there were definitive walls and uncrossable distinctions between different scenes. You had pure versions of the distinct musical categories and you didn’t cross the beams. There is an emerging generation that seems comfortable with bending and distorting all those conventions that we felt were sacrosanct. What that leads to is a much more vibrant and fluid music scene where it is Ok to pull influence from a whole host of different aspects.

Live Review : Igorrr + Otto Von Schirach @ Club Academy, Manchester on April 15th 2022

Good Friday? More like unexpectedly muggy Friday, as my CC cream has slid off my face somewhere between Runcorn East and Grand Central. I want to be Queen of the Night but I am afraid I am more Rosy Cheeked Dickhead right now. I can't even blame my usual rushing from work, as I've not even been there today. I literally had all fucking day to get ready and still I messed up and forgot my glowsticks.

Glowsticks which I suspect I could have made good use of tonight.

Live Review : The Mission + Ist Ist + The Rose of Avalanche @O2 Ritz, Manchester on April 14th 2022

Many many blue moons ago, back when I had more hair and more teeth, I was a Goth. My gateway into Goth was The Mission and my introduction to The Mission was via the rather surprising route of the late lamented pop mag Smash Hits. They loved the “mish” (as they called them) and stuck frontman Wayne Hussey on the cover in March 1987. I was entranced by dark romance of the whole thing and spent my accumulated pocket money on their debut album “God’s Own Medicine”. This sent me down a gothic rabbit hole that, whilst I don’t have the hair and clothes anymore, I am still yet to emerge from.

Live Review : Baest + PIST + Atanamir @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester on April 12th 2022

Well, the shows are coming thick and fast. Tonight, is the utter antithesis of my previous engagement with Ghost at the arena. This is metal in its most gnarly cellar-dwelling form. Harsh, anti-social, un-commercial and utterly unrepentant. Liverpudlians Atanamir are first up, and whilst Satan’s Hollow is not in any way full, they pull a good crowd for this time of the day. They trade in doom laced thrash, which results in a really interesting intertwinement of the formers lethargy and the latter’s pulsating canter like nature.

Live Review : Ghost + Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats + Twin Temple @ AO Arena, Manchester on April 9th 2022

The rise of Ghost has been stratospheric. Eleven years ago I saw them open for a In Flames and Trivium double bill. They weren’t the slick flamboyant show-people that they are today, but the foundations were there. Press fast forward, and on the back of the fastest selling album of the year they are starting their campaign for global dominance here in Manchester. The arena is a seething mass of merging tribes. Ghost have attracted a heady mix of grizzled metallers, one-show a year trendies, goth nuns and curious bystanders. What these diverse groups share is a desire to be entertained. Ghost have tapped into that pent up need for escapism and showmanship.

Live Review : Therapy? + Enola Gay @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on April 10th 2022

Two gigs in one weekend? Yes. It’s good and bad now everything is back up and running again, feels like everything is coinciding and not sure I can keep up. However I wasn’t going to miss this gig for anything as I bought my ticket back in 2019 and after 3 or more postponements we are finally here! We arrive early and the place is quiet, much quieter than expected. I do not know if this is due to all the rescheduling or because it’s Sunday night, but by 8pm the place is starting to fill up for tonight’s support band.

Live Review : Skunk Anansie + Gen and the Degenerates + Holocene @ O2 Warehouse, Manchester on April 8th 2022

Taxi traumas... 30 minutes late and with much swearing… it finally turns up and I arrive slightly disorientated and not in the best mood. I grab a drink and can hear Holocene, a singer-songwriter and guitarist aka Sian Kelly sounding great, but sadly she finishes as I am about to watch. Having caught up on YouTube I’m really disappointed to miss her as I’m sure she gave a brilliant performance; powerful vocals (think slightly Taylor Momsen-esque from The Pretty Reckless), melodic guitars, all a bit reminiscent of a chilled version of Garbage.

Live Review : Devil Sold His Soul + Urne + Forlorn @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 8th 2022

It’s been a long nine years since emotive metalcore heroes (emocore if you like), Devil Sold his Soul last headlined in this city (they did remember we exist back in 2017 but that was to support Skith). Well in support of their rather excellent “Loss” (their first album in nine years and number 73 in our 2021 countdown) they are back, and they have brought the rather wonderful Urne (probably ROCKFLESH’s fav new band) with them. However first up are Forlorn. Sadly, this is not the legendary but now defunct Nordic Viking metal forebears, this Forlorn are from various places in the South of the Country (essentially not the North).