Well, I’m going to cut to the chase… the highlight of the night happens within the first hour. The Picturebooks, tonight’s support act are outstanding. I suspect the sizeable crowd that have already gathered at the earlier than normal time of 7pm, have anticipated this too. This dynamic duo from Germany have 6 album and having only ever heard them on the radio, it is a delight to see them tearing up the stage tonight with their blues/ rock n roll goodness.
Read MoreWe manage to grab some quality interviewing time with As Everything Unfolds (here) and Lake Malice (here) before the show. Both interviews are both fantastically fun and interesting, but it does mean we end up missing tonight’s openers Tropic Gold. By all accounts their set went down great with the sold out crowd though, so we’ll be sure to catch them next time.
Read MoreThe template for a UK tour by a stateside metal icon is a tentpole London show and then, if we are lucky, a couple of reconnaissance trips into the provinces. Obituary have, as ever, decided not to play by the rules and since late August they have been haunting every byway and layby of this fair country. We as fans have responded to their commitment by getting out of the house and getting down in front.
Read MoreA suitably cinematic sunset is casting its final rays over Lancaster as I finally set foot in The Pub (despite the best efforts of Friday night M6 traffic and Lancaster’s circuitous one-way system). The only things that could have made it even more appropriate would have been a pair of swinging saloon doors, a spittoon by the bar, a table of disreputable poker players and a dodgy honky-tonk piano player, for an evening spent in the company of the Gypsy Pistoleros.
Read MoreThere is something nourishingly cathartic about unadulterated noise. To the ear of the uninitiated, this four-band bill probably sounds like chaotic clatter, a cacophony of unconnected hullabaloo with no discerning rhythmic touchstones. However, there is an utter beauty to be found within music that skates this close to being an unrefined racket but still manages to maintain a coherent shape and form.
Read MoreAfter what seems a severely long break away from reviews I am back, and tonight is a new venue to review in for me. Club Academy is almost completely empty on arrival and the first band are on at 7.30pm. Playing to a couple of people are Lost Romantic. Formed only last year this London duo (drummer and singer) state it’s their first time ever in Manchester.
Read MoreWe've managed to catch Harbinger this summer headlining Tech Fest and putting on a killer main stage performance at Radar. Tonight, we get the treat of a much more intimate affair with our favourite tech-metal boys. They're on fire once again, and each of them is clearly revelling in the chance to play to the ever enthusiastically rabid Slamchester crowd.
Read MoreOne guitar and one voice.
Sometimes that’s all you really need to deliver a great set, and that’s precisely what Dan Byrne delivers tonight. Proving once again, that he possesses one of the finest new voices in rock today, his performance tonight is an exercise in control, power and delicacy.
Read MoreAfter touring their latest album, “In The Court Of The Dragon” for the best part of two years, metal icons, Trivium, have took it upon themselves to wind down with a rather lengthy tour of the UK, dubbed the Goblins and Wizards tour. Taking place across 13 dates and covering cities and venues they likely haven’t played in years, this can be considered quite the intimate tour for a band who more often than not find themselves towards the top end of every festival poster they end up on.
Read MoreFor years now Don Broco have been slowly but surely rising through the ranks of the reliable, hardworking, quintessential British Band League Table. What started off as 4 guys fresh from the pages of Lad Bible has turned into an unstoppable behemoth that is hell bent on making sure that every corner of the British music map has something they can see in Don Broco that makes them think “yeah these guys are the shit”.
Read MoreJimmy’s Bar in Liverpool isn’t a venue I am able to say I’ve had the pleasure of visiting before, but my first impression is that it is the definition of a hidden gem. This bustling bar at the top of Liverpool’s Iconic Bold Street is the last place you’d expect there to be a Metal Concert, but one trip down into it’s basement reveals a venue that almost seems tailor made for this type of show.
Read MoreBeth Blade is in fine form tonight, but really is that a surprise? I’m not sure Beth and her merry band of Beautiful Disasters are capable of performing at less than 100%. Always endearing the Beautiful Disasters’ front woman and her band bring a charm and contagious enthusiasm to any show they play, exemplified by opening number the uplifting ‘Tonight I’m With You’.
Read MoreThis is the third experience I’ve had of Empyre (the first time being in a Library of all places) and like a fine wine they seem to be improving with each year. Constant touring and hard work has honed them into the tightly disciplined and impressively together band that grace the Waterloo’ stage tonight.
Read MoreOne of the things I like about the Tivoli (apart from the newly-refurbished jungle-themed ladies loos and the cheap rum) is that they always try to get at least one local band on the bill. This is a huge boost for the local rock scene, and I applaud it wholeheartedly.
Read MoreOriginally scheduled for last December, this show has gone through a number of proscriptive homes before finally settling here at the Academy. Alongside date and geographical location, the undercard has also going through a number of iterations. Those still expecting Crobot and Blue Pills are left equally disappointed and surprised by the appearance of the Black Spiders.
Read MoreTorrential thunderstorms around the UK and particularly here in Manchester threaten to wreck the evening before it gets underway with a half hours delay in starting, allowing more time for the drenched and sopping wet people to purchase a 2 pint pot of beer, grab the nibbles and take up a seat in the sold out show tonight.
Just after 8.00 pm the lights go down, and an enthusiastic cheer echoes around the AO Arena signalling the entrance of The Tubes. Dressed in rather colourful suits, the 1970’s San Francisco quintet kick tonight off nicely.
Read MoreThere is a level of cynicism about whether this truly is the end of the road for perennial rock monsters KISS. After all, this is the second time in four years that their never-ending final hurrah has wound up here in Manchester. Adding fuel to that fire is the fact that this is their second conclusive lap of victory around the world, having already done the farewell tour pizzazz 20 years ago. However, all that will they won't they gossip is put to one side as we stand to marvel at probably the purest and most unrefined personification of arena rock.
Read Moret’s been a while since I’ve been along to a gig at O2 Victoria Warehouse, so it's good to get my bearings again before Radar Festival is held here later this month. Whilst it’s sometimes reassuring for things to remain the same, I’ve got to say with this venue it’s not that great a trait. As usual while the photographers get direct access, the reviewers have to queue up with everyone else (not even affording us O2 priority access). What it means is it's a race against the clock and a 30min queue to get in for the opening support band. That’s not a great scenario for us or them I’d suggest.
Read MoreYou are unlikely to find “Somewhere in Time" in any list of the greatest albums of all time, in fact it would struggle to make any best heavy metal records countdown. However, it manages to hold a very special place in the hearts of Iron Maiden fans across the globe. For many of a certain age (including myself) it was our entry point, it was where we came in.
"Number of the Beast" may well have been the album that plunged them into the public perception and "Powerslave” may well have cemented them as an international commodity, but it was with "Somewhere in Time” that they became a household name.
Read MoreAccording to popular stereotypes, the Swiss are known for, amongst other things, Toblerone, Cuckoo Clocks and a calm neutrality. I don’t know about the first two, but no-one seems to have told Daxx and Roxane about the last!
When before they’ve even played a single note they are knocking back shots from a square bottle, you know this is a band that’s here for a good time not a long time. A delightfully madcap confection of classic rock riffage and eighties excess, they are a blur of energy, colour and fun from start to finish! Cal Wymann on lead guitar is a veritable dynamo, careening from one side of the stage to the other, vaulting from the riser with scant regard to logic or indeed safety.
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