So I went to see Hawkwind on their 50th anniversary tour at G Live yesterday and this happened...


Eric was so comfortable on stage that he stayed to play with the band the rest of the show!

 
Faith No More confirmed for Sunstroke festival in Ireland.

Bit of a pain in the arse, as I'd like to see FNM but the rest of the bill is shit, and they only have weekend tickets at the moment. Venue is also rural which means having to drive to it and the inevitable nightmare of getting home from it.
 
Sunstroke sounds like the alternative to Drownload

It's a revival of the name of a former festival from the 90's, one which FNM played back in the day. As far as medical records go back it seems that there has never been an actual case of sunstroke in Ireland.

It's actually on the same weekend as Download.
 
Saw The Darkness last night.

Great gig. They did two sets, the first was the whole of their new album, then they did a second set with all the hits from their heyday as well as a load of uptemp rockers from subsequent albums. Hawkins is a great frontman.
 
Going to see Amon Amarth and Arch Enemy tomorrow. I've got a dribbly eye thing/conjunctivitis going on, though, so I'm not really looking forward to it. Or looking anywhere, come to think of it, other than a hankie.
 
Saw The Darkness last night.

Great gig. They did two sets, the first was the whole of their new album, then they did a second set with all the hits from their heyday as well as a load of uptemp rockers from subsequent albums. Hawkins is a great frontman.

I saw them on their previous album tour and they were great.

Do they still go on stage with Mike Oldfield's 'Arrival' as the intro tape?
 
I can't remember if anything was played over the pa before they came on, but the gig opened up low key, the first track off the new record starts off with an acousticy sort of intro verse which the band just wandered out and started playing with Hawkins hidden off stage singing.

I missed them on the last tour but had seen them a few times previously, Hawkins in far better shape physically than he was when I saw them first on the One Way Ticket to Hell tour, where he had obviously been enjoying the trappings of fame.
 
I can't remember if anything was played over the pa before they came on, but the gig opened up low key, the first track off the new record starts off with an acousticy sort of intro verse which the band just wandered out and started playing with Hawkins hidden off stage singing.

I missed them on the last tour but had seen them a few times previously, Hawkins in far better shape physically than he was when I saw them first on the One Way Ticket to Hell tour, where he had obviously been enjoying the trappings of fame.

When I saw them in Guildford a couple of years ago they used that Mike Oldfield track as the intro. Being one of my favourite Mike Oldfield's tracks, it was kind of nice.

 
I've come to the conclusion that Amon Amarth are singlehandedly responsible for global warming. Very impressive pyros tonight, far more than I've seen them use before. I smell like a barbecue.

Good show, some of their Berserker material works very well live. Arch Enemy also put on a decent show, and opening band Hypocrisy.
 
I have a couple of shows from this week to review. It's a busy time of year.


On Monday I went to Nottingham to see Halestorm. After selling out an entire UK tour of medium sized venues last year they have been promoted to arenas for this year with other shows in Glasgow and London. It was an all female-fronted line-up which was not as good as one might think. The opening band was New Years Day, a generic Californian Rock/Metal band, who were not particularly interesting. All their songs were on the Poppy end of Rock/Metal with catchy choruses and some unimpressive harsh vocals. They covered a Pantera song at one point which the singer dedicated to the "Metal Gods Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul" and claimed "they said a girl couldn't sing this one" - they were correct. It was not good. The lights for New Years Day was very annoying too. Always red and at eye level so I was frequently shutting my eyes and looking away. To be fair to them, they had some decent energy and engaged with the crowd well so were a decent opening act in that regard. They were also better than The Raven Age.

The next band was In This Moment whom I first heard of last year when their song 'Black Wedding' (an adaptation of 'White Wedding') featuring Rob Halford got a lot of radio play on Planet Rock. That's the only song I know by them and they didn't play it, so I was a bit lost during their set. I find their music quite dull and the vocals are nasally and irritating. Their show is very visual so there's at least some stuff to watch. Think of Ghost but without the tongue & cheek aspect. The themes of the costumes - nuns and priests - are reminiscent of Ghost. Before I checked them out last week I wasn't aware they'd been around since 2007 and that they're fairly popular. Many people were wearing their merchandise and they went down very well, so fair play to them. I guess I just don't get them.

Halestorm put on a good show and from the opening song it was clear that they belong in arenas. They've got the stage presence and collective personality to pull it off. Lizzy Hale is such a good singer and frontperson - she can go from doing a full on Hard Rock song to covering Adele's 'Someone Like You'. There was a bit off meandering with an extended instrumental part in one song and an overly long drum solo. If you're not someone like Neil Peart or Mike Portnoy then why are you doing drum solos? Nicko McBrain doesn't do them for God's sake. Just play a regular song that people can singalong to. Halestorm's drummer does at least take out a massive comedy pair of drumsticks for the last part, but why it took nearly five minutes to get there is beyond me. Asides from those frustrating parts it was an impressive performance and had a much better atmosphere than when I saw them in Sheffield last year where the crowd were really fucking boring. This time around people seemed to enjoy them a lot more.


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On Thursday evening I saw Sumo Cyco (a Canadian Punk band) at the Camden Underworld in London. Their singer was some sort of discount Avril Lavigne when she was a teenager and then decided to form a Rock band, which gives me the impression of being some sort of extended rebellious phase. They are a fun live band who always get the crowd going. The singer does a bit of crowdsurfing, perches on a random crowd member's shoulders and wanders around the crowd during songs. Both support bands sucked a bit though. Suburban is an Australian solo artist who does some sort of skinhead white guy Hip-Hop with a backing track and drummer. He seems like a decent guy but I do not like Hip-Hop. As Sirens Fall had several fans in the venue and performed fairly well, but the both look and sound like a discount version of My Chemical Romance. So they obviously suck.


Next for me is Thursday, one of the seminal Emo bands, on Monday evening playing one of their albums in full. I'll be revisiting my teenage years.
 
I've come to the conclusion that Amon Amarth are singlehandedly responsible for global warming. Very impressive pyros tonight, far more than I've seen them use before. I smell like a barbecue.

Good show, some of their Berserker material works very well live. Arch Enemy also put on a decent show, and opening band Hypocrisy.
EPIC RUN TO THE HILLS AS INTRO TAPE
 
No…It was just my interest for pyro XD…and I found a video
It's funny how a punk guy sings run to the Hills…if Steve could see it LOL
 
Bought tickets to see Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets next year. Formed by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and performing only the early, 1967-1972-ish, Pink Floyd tunes. Gonna be a blast.
Guy Pratt will be the bass player (bass player of Pink Floyd since 1987 I think and David Gilmour solo band), great bass player. You're going to have fun
 
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