I arrive as A New Hope start their set within a fairly busy Academy 3. I would insert a Star Wars reference here but I know nothing and won’t embarrass myself so you can fill in for yourselves! Making my way to my usual position at the front I try to figure out their slightly squashed stage set up. A little way into proceedings it becomes obvious their singer is missing (apparently due to illness), so much respect to the band for going ahead with tonight’s performance. From where I am stood I see the drummer, guitarist and bassist. Behind the speakers I can hear someone else but I can’t see him.
Read MoreIt may feel like the world is returning to hell in its ever-reliable handcart, but if we are going to go down the crowd tonight at club academy are going to go down partying. I am not quite sure why there is such a jovial atmosphere tonight, maybe it’s the time of year or maybe it’s the promise of being in close proximity to living breathing superstar, but there is an air of a runaway hen do from the off. Openers Stitched Up Heart benefit greatly from this.
Read MoreWargasm – up and coming genius, or annoying AF? Let’s explore…
But not before we visit the weird and wonderful world of tonight’s opener, Bambie Thug. I find her nestled on a Spotify Misfits Playlist between some of my other favourites like Cassyette, Nova Twins and Ghostemane.
All the way through her set I’m hearing the influences of pop, trap, electro, but it’s on a much darker and unusual scale, and I can’t actually stop watching her. She commands the crowd with ease, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people into an opener before. I may be wrong though, I am getting old and losing my memory a bit. By tonights crowds average age, I am practically their Nana.
Read MoreTonight’s audience is of a certain vintage and a certain gender. There are fadedIron Maiden t-shirts everywhere and a large gaggle of fanboys have already reserved their spot on the barrier and are not planning on moving anytime soon. Yes, a barrier at Rebellion (and two security guards), but it isn’t often that you get visited by Heavy Metal royalty. British Lion is Iron Maiden head honcho Steve Harris’s other band and there is a palpable level of excitement about being within touching distance of one of the most important and omnipresent figures in our world (presumably the barrier is there to stop any actual groping).
Read MoreIt’s been quite a weekend. Some months ago, April in fact, when we were still in lockdown and the world seemed bleak, The Offspring announced a winter 2021 UK Tour. This was received with some derision at ROCKFLESH Towers. It’ll never happen, they said. Other, better bands have booked and then cancelled. And anyhow it’s only The Offspring, are they even relevant these days? A little part of me died inside at that one, because I love The Offspring. Much of the 90’s passed me by musically (I’ll come back to that in a bit) but not The Offspring. I first heard ‘Self Esteem’, the “hit” single from their third and breakthrough album “Smash”, on German TV as the soundtrack to a programme that I couldn’t understand about the Isle Of Man TT. I was instantly hooked, tracked it down, bought the album and played it relentlessly. To this day it’s one of my all-time favourite songs.
Read MoreI’m dashing to get to the venue for the earlier start time, only to read online that Kill The Lights have pulled out of tonight’s show due to illness. As it turns out, they’re fine to play the next night, so who knows what the illness was. Anyway, I cross my fingers that it means longer sets from the remaining two excellent bands, and as it turns out we get good lengthy sets from them both.
Read MoreIt is weird being seated in a Philharmonic auditorium for a prog-rock gig, with hardly a head bobbing along to each song, let alone any other action. No circle pits or walls of death tonight my friend! Antimatter are the only (non-advertised) support on this tour, and they’re fundamentally now Mick Moss’ solo project. Tonight, they perform as an acoustic guitar/electric guitar dark/prog-rock duo, and as the crowd make their way in and to their seats there is a gentle murmur of appreciation.
Read MoreYes’s Pink Room is as you would imagine it, very pink. It feels like some bizarre torture chamber designed to affront the victim with pastel colours. Shading put to one side it is still a strange venue. The stage is carpeted meaning that Serena Cherry’s DM’s leave indentations in it as she stomps around the stage. There is also a nice curtain (pink obviously) behind the stage that makes it feel a working man’s club (one of course with an odd taste in interior design). Finally, it is hidden away, sandwiched between two hipster bars. If you don’t know exactly where you are going it is incredibly easy to miss its almost concealed behind a pink (obviously) door.
I head into Rebellion for the first time since the before times of January 2020, slightly disorientated by the new wall around the entrance (pretty sure that wasn’t there before?) and even more disturbed by the toilets now seeming to be outside… and while the original toilets were not great now I am greeted with portaloos! Bar isn’t much better as I order a pint of coke but it’s more akin to Rola Cola than something more palatable. Urgh.
Read MoreIn a time where tours are being pulled left right and centre, it is certainly hats off to Batushka and Belphegor for preserving with their co-headline endeavour. Across the continent, venues have changed and host cities have been swapped at last minute, but somehow, they have managed to keep the wheels on this tour. Maybe being in league with Satan is good for something after all? They pull into Manchester after a night in the Heavy Metal capital of Bedford (no me neither) and the Black Metal hordes of the north west are certainly out in droves to meet them. In many ways this line up is a promoter’s dream as Batushka, Belphegor and Diabolical all have their own fiercely loyal fanbases (don’t worry Warhammer and Almost Dead, your time will indeed come) and the presence of not one, but three well stocked Merch tables illustrates that all three are headline material.
Read MoreBritish AOR and melodic rock giants FM are in town with their first UK dates in nearly two years. It’s been a long time to wait since they last graced the stage on their Big 3-0 tour with Dan Reed Network and Gun, and tonight the tour that was postponed in support of their twelfth studio album 2020’s “Synchronized” finally gets underway.
Read MoreFirst on are hardcore thrash merchants Last Wishes. We’re only about five bars into the first song and the roundhouse-kick-brigade are in full force. This guys sound a lot like Madball or Terror, and when they hit their stride remind me of very early Stick To Your Guns. They’re intensity and passion is contagious and the energy in the room remains high throughout their set. They do lose my attention at points with repetition within songs, and the guitar tone is a tad tiring with the nu-metal mid scoop.
Read MoreOxford Road’s Academy 3 welcomes the Wayward Sons back to Manchester this evening for their eagerly awaited headline shows of 2021. With the recent release in October of third album “Even Up the Score” to promote, and with a ridiculously low ticket price of £12 and quality T shirts for just £15, where else would you rather be on a wet Tuesday in November?
Read MoreLive music on a Saturday night? On my birthday? In Manchester? Yes please. I might be gigging alone but as I enter the venue I remember what a great little space Academy 3 is.
I go back through the files in my brain and as usual (obviously my age) I draw a blank as to the last band I saw in here but I’m thinking maybe Clutch but that was a LONG time ago (before they were well-known and after I saw them originally with one of my favourite bands Corrosion of Conformity). Even further back in the annals of time I saw Jerry Cantrell in this room and what an absolutely mind-blowing experience that was…
Read MoreIt’s my first time reviewing at Victoria Warehouse, although I’ve seen plenty of stuff here as a punter, and as I join the long queue there’s plenty of anticipation for the great night of varied metal ahead. I catch our photographer Ryan before he’s able to use his photo pass to duck the queue (damn him!), but actually everyone is chatty and in high spirits for the night ahead despite having to stand around in the cold with COVID passports at the ready.
Read MoreSome things in life will inevitably never change. Stuff like death, taxes, and of course The Quireboys. OK that’s maybe a little tongue-in-cheek but for over 30 years now, The Quireboys have been up there, out there, doing what they do best. Bouncy fun-time rock and roll, with a hint of country and a lot of bonhomie. The lineup may have changes slightly over the years but the core of Spike (vocals), Keth (keyboards), Guy (guitars) and Paul (guitar) seem to have settled into a groove that is almost a canyon. Well-worn, familiar and somehow comforting, The Quireboys are the pipe and slippers of rock music these days.
Read MoreTo say the music scene has taken a battering over the past eighteen months or so is somewhat of an understatement at the very least. So much so that this iconic bastion of the North West almost closed its doors for good; but like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, thankfully it didn’t and appears to be bigger, better and bolder than ever before with a new stage and mixing desk and the ‘small venue with a massive attitude’ continues to throw its doors open to welcome a variety of international and local acts. With its impressive array of memorabilia and posters adorning its walls and ceilings, selection of real ales and good food, it’s exactly the sort of place to enjoy a gig such as this one this evening. Headliners VEGA need no introduction to those familiar with this hard hitting melodic 6 piece, those who have seen Revival Black pop up on numerous support tours for the likes of Mason Hill will no doubt have been suitably impressed.
Read MoreWalking into Academy 1 felt normal until I got to the front and suddenly it hit me... I’ve not stood here in literally YEARS. Even before lockdown I had been to gigs in Academy 3 but I could not tell you my last gig in 1, probably pre-2017 (Machine Head? – it’s actually starting to annoy me!) And now here I am at my second gig since lockdown lifted, but unlike at Devin Townsend I am not flying solo and have some companions with me
Read MoreTonight I have travelled on the Highway To Hell. No really. The M6 is not my favourite place at the best of times, but tonight it exceeded itself to make my life miserable. Some of it was flooded. Some of it was on fire. This meant the bits of it that weren’t closed were moving incredibly slowly, oh and just for laughs there was also torrential rain to contend with. Deep joy. 2 hours later and I am in Blackpool just in time to catch most of openers Heartbreak Remedy’s set.
Read MoreIt used to be so clear cut. You either liked metal or you liked pop. They were two polar opposites, existing in different and wholly incompatible worlds. You never crossed the beams or even contemplated being able to like both, that was, frankly, heresy. Somewhere along the way, the younger generation have blurred the battle lines that we saw as being so uncrossable. They ignored our protests that pop and metal don’t combine, and you end up with nights like this.
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