Amazingly, the day before the gig Steel Panther announced another tour in November with tickets on sale on Friday. With their recent opening slot for Def Leppard/Motley Crue and a performance at Download coming up you can’t fault their work-rate. Pretty damn good for a band a lot of people classed as a novelty cover act not too long ago.
Openers The Treatment weren’t too bad. A young bunch of upstarts from down south with all the bottle needed to get a crowd interested in them. They really looked the part with all the poses, bouncing, jackets, flash guitars and so on. The music wasn’t half bad and after the first couple of tracks my foot was tapping. It took me a while to find anything about them online – the name doesn’t make it easy to Google – but if you want to sample some of their stuff then check out their MySpace page.
Steel Panther bounced on stage (despite their creaky ages – Michael Starr‘s 50-ish years is constantly referred to throughout the set) around nine o’ clock and launched into a cracking set of songs from both albums. Starr has a cracking voice and in Satchel they have an incredibly talented guitarist. Drummer Stix Zadinia (*childish giggle*) is no slow poke either, and also a dab hand on the keyboards. It’s always hard to rate bassists especially with the mushy sound you get at the Academy, but Lexxi Foxxx at least looks the preening part.
Steel Panther (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
Despite being just off the lower floor area, we had a cracking view of all the action. They easily had the energy of the younger opening band, and a sense of humour more appropriate for an early teenager. Nob gags, blow-job miming, constant cries of “boobies!”, painful segues into each track – all of this made for a highly entertaining 90 minutes. If there was anything missing it was [name song here].
As ever, when a band has a decent amount of material to pick from, they always have to skip some stuff. In my opinion I’d hoped for “Stripper Girl” and “The Shocker”. Although I bet that there was one guy in the crowd who was more disappointed than me at the lack of the latter – he’d gone to all the trouble of dressing up for it!
The set passed in no time at all, including a couple of songs for an encore. The teenage part of me loved them grabbing girls from the audience to dance on stage for them and – surprise – one of them flashed the audience. I’m sure she’ll love that one cropping up all over Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…
We legged it right after the gig to dodge the crowd and because Wendi had to drive home. As it turned out, the band left the venue while the crowd were still outside to sign autographs and get pictures taken. Great to hear that they’re still very much in touch with the people who are spending hard-earned cash to put them where they are. There aren’t that many bands that will still do that in this day and age.
Bowling For Soup are a great band in many ways, but one thing I really love is the way they tour twice a year. Once as a full band, and once as a two-piece acoustic pairing featuring Jaret Reddick and Erik Chandler. This is the third time I’ve seen any band at the Oran Mor and, perhaps as a coincidence, they’ve all been humorous acts. The others were Hayseed Dixie and Amateur Transplants.
Erik opened the night with a solo set featuring tracks from his EP “Writing The Wrongs”, which we bought from the merch stand. A good enough set, and he’s a great guy on stage. Funny, quick-witted and entertaining. There were only a few songs, and it was often hard to hear him over the buzz of conversation from those who weren’t bothered about his set.
The second act were People on Vacation, a side-project of Jaret and Ryan Hamilton of Smile Smile. Again, they’ve got a good line in banter and some decent songs to while away the time until the headliners (that’d be Jaret and Erik again) came on. Their style is a little different from BfS, and it’s nice to see someone stretching themselves a little wider musically. As luck would have it, they were bundling their EP in with Erik’s so we got both for a tenner.
Bowling For Soup / People on Vacation (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
The two Soup lads were on stage moderately early with a 10:30 curfew (which they ran over), and video cameras poised to record them for a DVD. Whether this was unique to Glasgow or not I don’t know, but the performance was a good one, so fingers crossed they make use of some of the footage at least.
As they stated on stage, Bowling For Soup have a hell of a catalogue of songs. As such, there’s no real set list when they do these acoustic gigs. Instead, the boys have a “cheat sheet” listing all their stuff and they do react to suggestions from the crowd (or at least appear to!). Tracks played went as far back as “Running From Your Dad” and “Emily” and as recent as “Turbulence” which really suits the acoustic sound.
Of course, there were favourites  such as “Girl All The Bad Boys Want”, “Punk Rock 101” and set-ender “1985”. As ever, there are always more songs that it would have been great to hear but with under ninety minutes and some great between-songs banter (including discussion of their discovery of the Scots words “honking” and “pish”), there was no way they’d play every single one.
They were, though, superb. As ever, it seems there will be a full band tour in October to look forward to and if they continue to sell out these acoustic tours then I guess we can look forward to another in a year or so’s time.
Great guys, great music and a great value gig. If you’re not into loud rock music, but like good entertainment from some people who don’t take themselves too seriously, it’s a great tour to catch.
Four months after their show-stealing support slot for Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry returned to Glasgow to play their own headliner at the O2 Academy. The gig was a complete sell-out as evidenced by the nightmare we had parking in the streets around despite getting there fairly early (8-ish) after a nice dinner out at “ask”.
I guess a fair few people had made the effort to get there for doors opening so that they could catch the support act, Rival Sons. Recently signed to Earache after releasing their own debut album digitally, the band seem to have gained a decent following and a good portion of the crowd was cheering each song.
Frankly, though, I don’t know why. They were awful. Slow, boring, widdly, no charisma, no stage presence, dull songs… I couldn’t think of anything positive to say about them. In fact, I thought they’d learned a lesson from Alter Bridge in not having a support band blow you off stage by deliberately getting a crap one.
In fairness, their music just wasn’t my kind of thing. If I had to pigeon-hole them then I’d start throwing band names like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and (someone else mentioned this) White Stripes around. All decent enough bands, but none of which I’d really say I like. As ever, they weren’t helped by the awful sound mix. Every time the singer tried to talk to the crowd, the guitarist would be widdling away. Even quietly, his notes would drown out every word – a common problem at the Academy.
They did seem to divide the crowd. I heard two kinds of comments – “they were brilliant” and “they sucked balls”. Did anyone think they just fell somewhere in the middle?
Black Stone Cherry (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
Anyway, earlier than I’d usually expect a band to appear, Black Stone Cherry strode on stage at nine and kick-started an excellent ninety minute set.
Barely pausing for breath, they must have made it through half a dozen tracks before Chris Robertson talked to the crowd… and then plunged into another medley. Song after song ploughed through the crowd as the band looned about like a bunch of teenagers play-acting in a garage.
Musically, they are simply superb. Incredibly tight, not a note wrong and with a huge amount of energy. Robertson himself was the most stationary (even moreso than drummer John Fred Young who must have spent a quarter of the gig on his feet), though did stand on a monitor now and again. Ben Wells and Jon Lawhon, however, were all over the shop. Name a stereotypical “rock pose” and they pulled it at some point.
I don’t think they failed to play a single good song from any of their albums, although they did – technically – fail to sing one. “Things My Father Said” was performed vocally 100% by the crowd, with the band settling for musical accompaniment.
My facebook and Twitter feeds are full of deserved praise for Black Stone Cherry after the gig and it’s deserved. However, if I may be contentious, I still think that Shinedown pip them so far as “gig of the year”, with the exception of Rammstein which is just on another level.
This was a 4-band show with Job For A Cowboy and Enslaved making up the “Destroyers of the Faith”. However, with a 6:30 door opening and (unbeknownst to us) a bloody club night on, it meant a really early start for the first couple of bands and – I reckon – a shortened set list for each. As a result, we arrived just after 8pm to see Triptykon already on stage. I can only assume they somehow managed to cram the other two bands in as their t-shirts were on sale.
Triptycon certainly know their stuff – not surprising with Celtic Frost founder Thomas Gabriel Fischer fronting them – and their material has quite a variety to it. Very heavy for sure, with some particularly slow segments but also some thrashier moments. I couldn’t name a single song by them – they only have one album and an EP out – but what I heard impressed me (and Debbie, and Jon).
Good value and worth keeping an eye out for in future.
The crowd, though, were here to see the biggest-selling death metal band of all time. Quite a crowd, too. Not exactly crammed into the venue, but it was certainly busy enough that it took a while to get served at the bar! The set change wasn’t too long and shortly before 9pm the lights went down and Buffalo’sCannibal Corpse took to the stage.
The sound wasn’t bad, though Jon reckoned it was missing a bit of bass, but this didn’t bother the crowd. The moment the first chords were struck, the mosh pit opened, and I swear I saw someone crowd-surfing by the time the third snare drum had been hammered.
Cannibal Corpse (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
Now, the music was good. Unfortunately the amount of it wasn’t. First off, the band stopped between almost every song for the first five or six numbers, for no seemingly obvious reason. They simply stopped and wandered around for 1-2 minutes before playing the next one. “Corpsegrinder” did, at one point, mention some kind of technical issue but with no further details. Frustrating.
What we got, though, was superb. If I had to pick personal highlights they’d be “I Cum Blood”, “I Will Kill You” and of course “Hammer Smashed Face” which always sounds better live than the tinny quality of the original recording.
In addition to the delays, the band finished just after 10pm. This is an incredibly short set, barely an hour in length. I can only guess that it was due to the aforementioned club night. Staff were sweeping empty plastic tumblers off the floor within minutes of the gig ending.
What I’d like to know is how long they played for at other dates on the tour. Did anyone else barely get an hour of an otherwise fine death metal performance? Or were Glasgow fans ripped off?
DON’T READ THIS REVIEW OR LOOK AT THE PICTURES IF YOU’VE GOT A TICKET FOR THE TOUR AND HAVEN’T SEEN THEM YET! SPOILERS AHOY
[Talking of pictures, the full sets are on Flickr here: Deathstars and Rammstein (of which there are around 300!)]
First of all “damn you, SECC, for not having an insurance policy that allows the use of flamethrowers indoors” as I gather that was why I ended up having to drive to Newcastle to see these bands. It was either that or Manchester and, let’s face it, Newcastle is always going to win given that choice.
The long trip was made more awkward by a physio’s appointment in the late afternoon which got me out of work a little early, but kept me back later than I would probably have been had I worked to the end of the day. Ah well. With a couple of hours to get down there, we jumped into Gillian’s car (more fuel efficient, but far less fun) and barrelled down the M74 and A69, pulling up in Newcastle around 6:30. Not bad going at all.
We were joined by Wendi and Dean O’Dinosaur (and his handler). As a pleasant surprise we bumped into Lainy and Adam inside the venue as we partook of overpriced beer, pizza and doughnuts. A word of warning for the Newcastle Arena – if you’re on a limited budget, skip the pizza. It’s crap. On the other hand, the doughnuts are great.
With the performance due to start at 7:30, we headed into the arena proper slightly early and got a good place off to stage left. I must point out that the nice lady who took our tickets is the proud mother of a lad who managed to hit Jedward with a (empty, plastic!) bottle at Leeds Festival recently. I shook her hand on all your behalves. Oh, talking of tickets – if anyone has their stub from the evening and wouldn’t mind passing it on I’d appreciate it. I have my tickets from every gig I’ve ever been to, but didn’t get to retrieve on as we poured out post-show 🙁
Rammstein (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
Deathstars took the stage at 7:30 and played an enjoyable, if short, set of around 35 minutes. I’d have been tempted to see them the night before at The Cathouse in Glasgow, but I was utterly buried in work. A shame as they were pretty good and do know how to put on a show. Certainly, they didn’t look out of place on the large stage making more than full use of the smoke machines – something I doubt they’d have been able to do in the Cathouse.
They’re very much a “goth metal” act – both in appearance and musical style. Imagine a slightly more thrashy version of Sisters of Mercy.
This is a band who knows how to pose, gesture and perform. Personally I think they were an inspired choice to open for Rammstein. Dark, but otherwise musically different from the headliners. Good with the audience, too. They had a fair portion clapping their hands and cheering for the German behemoths on several occasions.
After 35 minutes or so, they packed up and headed off, leaving us to wait for Rammstein to amaze, astound and entertain.
Which they did. Oh, my, how they did.
THIS IS THE POINT TO STOP READING IF YOU’RE GOING TO SEE THEM ON THIS TOUR!!!
Rammstein are best known for their live show. Don’t get me wrong, their music is good enough as it is and I’m sure they’d do well if they didn’t have the stage show that that do, but I seriously doubt they’d be selling out arenas. I’ve seen them once before – a superb 90 minute headlining slot at Sonisphere in 2010 where, in my opinion, they blew Iron Maiden away. Impressive given that I knew exactly one song.
Tonight’s show was a shade over 2 hours. Even with the fairly high ticket price, it was worth every single penny.
Ever the mould-breakers, Rammstein kicked things off by appearing not on-stage, but behind the audience in the loftier seating areas off stage right. Marching slowly down, bearing flags and flaming torches, they made their way down to floor level and up onto a platform. A walkway descended from the ceiling allowing them to walk over the heads of the crowd to the stage itself.
Rammstein (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
Every song Rammstein played was accompanied by some kind of on-stage firework, explosive, lighting trick, prop, performance… Rammstein aren’t just musicians, they’re performers. Watching them live is like a stage show with an incredible sound track, rather than a music show with some props.
Lead singer Till Lindemann does a good job of almost ignoring the crowd for the entire set, only really speaking to them at the very end to say “thank you”. From his bizarre dancing and somewhat overzealous use of fire to keyboardist Christian Lorenz‘ off-kilter performance, the whole band are very much part of the show.
While it’s not unusual to see the occasional band member crowd surfing, Rammstein are the only one I’m aware of who routinely have a keyboardist in an inflatable raft “sailing” over the audience. They’re certainly the only one with e lead singer who wears huge, flaming angel wings during an encore performance.
Flaming bows and arrows; huge flash pots (Metallica – you had one one stage and your singer burned himself on it – these guys have dozens of them!); the best light show in the business which actually moves around; flame throwers; burning hearts; fireworks on their clothes; showers of sparkles; a huge foam cannon shaped like a penis… All part of the show. Utterly incredible.
A highlight was the band coming on-stage after a quick break to that walkway descending again. This time, they crawled back across to the small platform from where they’d begin the gig. This time it was prepared with a full set of instruments and they played a good handful of songs from there – far closer to the audience than you’d normally get at a stadium concert.
Rammstein (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)
As well as the excellent performances, I met a couple of really nice people at the gig. One admired my camera (hi, Ant!) so I’ve pointed him at the photos. Another had come down from Glasgow, just like us, and started talking to me because he liked my shirt (“If you can’t mosh to it, it’s not worth listening to“).
Two hours just flew by. I would gladly fork out the money to see them again, and although the drive home exhausted me, it was absolutely worth it. If you’ve never seen Rammstein live before, then it’s something you simply have to do. People pay similar amounts for theatre tickets and probably don’t get half as spectacular a show as we got for our £50.
