Bowling For Soup are always bound to guarantee a giggle and also to bring good support with them. This year we got Orange (who we missed, sorry) and Suburban Legends who were incredibly good fun. As well as having nice bouncy songs, they were well-choreographed and acted like a headlining act for their short tenure on the stage. Definitely a band to keep your eye out for if they tour sometime.
BFS themselves strolled on stage around 15 minutes after SL finished – a quick set change by anyone’s standards. Sadly, three of the band are recovering from ‘flu which did seem to affect their performance. Don’t get me wrong. They were great fun, but you could just tell it was a harder slog than normal. Credit to them for fighting through the snot and headaches to put on a performance.
Many of the classics were blasted out at rapid speed as well as a decent selection from the current Fishing For Woos. As a bonus, we also got “Stacy’s Mom” which the band recently released as a B-side because people keep thinking they did the original. The between-song banter was as good as ever, though perhaps not as prevalent as last year due to the headaches being suffered by the band. Man flu is a killer.
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
Despite this, they did pretty damn well though the stage set itself wasn’t as good as the one at the Academy in 2010 where we had nice big video screens. There was an inflatable pig, though. Admittedly it was about 12″ long and thrown up from the crowd, but hey. Beggars can’t be choosers. You’re not going to get a 25′ inflatable sheep into the ABC without crushing half the crowd.
Overall, an enjoyable show but not the best I’ve seen from them. I put this entirely down to evil viruses and not the band. Other acts would have considered cancelling, so full credit to Jared and the guys for going ahead with the show. It was worth the effort!
Also, please excuse the short post. I’m knackered after virtually no sleep from last night after the Volbeat gig…
This will have to be a very quick review as I’m absolutely knackered, have work in the morning and Bowling For Soup to see tomorrow night.
Quick back story. I’d really never heard of Volbeat until their gig was advertised on Rock Radio (sadly rebranded this week and sounding like it’s going downhill already). The one riff they used appealed, so I searched around and got hold of Volbeat’s albums.
Wow.
I then promptly forgot about the gig, partly as we already have tickets for so many. Then I realised it was a couple of days away, and assumed I could pay on the door. Thankfully I checked and was informed by the staff that I couldn’t (on this occasion) and managed to get one online in the afternoon.
Remembering the early curfew at the Garage, I got there around 8pm as the Black Spiders were finishing their set. I’d last saw them opening for Airbourne and didn’t think much of them. They sounded a lot better in this small venue, but they still don’t do it for me.
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
Volbeat took to the stage at 8:45 and started as they proceeded to go on until around 10:30 – rocking.
Take one look at lead singer/rhythm guitarist Michael Poulsen‘s tattoos and you’ll have some idea of their sound – “J.R.Cash” across his collarbone; “Elvis Aaron Presley” on his left bicep; “Social Distortion” down his left forearm. Yeah, quite a variety. For a band with a singer who sounds so American it’s almost surprising to find out that they hail from Denmark.
I can honestly say I have never seen a band grinning so much on stage as this bunch. They obviously enjoy what they’re doing and it transfers into their music which – despite the heavy rhythms and low toned vocals – is generally upbeat.
The crowd were definitely well up for a good gig and they certainly got one. Don’t ask me to name any of the songs, though as well as a ton of great home-grown material, there were two cover versions (one Johnny Cash, one Hank Williams) plus a smattering of snippets of songs from other artists such as Metallica, Slayer and Mercyful Fate. Hell, the band were doing “requests” based on the t-shirts they could see in the audience.
For a gig by a band who I barely knew, I had a tremendous time and would definitely recommend seeing them if you get the chance. And getting their albums.
If there’s one thing you have to be careful of in the music world, it’s not having a support band that put on a better show than you. I’ve seen it happen – Pantera opening for Megadeth, Machine Head opening for Slayer… Airbourne came very close to doing it with Iron Maiden this evening.
Not to say that Maiden’s set wasn’t spectacular (I’ll get to it in a moment), but Airbourne – quite simply – rocked. Immensely.
According to the ticket, they were due on stage at 19:30. By my watch, they kicked off a minute or two early while Gillian was having a chat with her mates outside and I was making impatient “will you hurry the **** up?!” gestures. What can I say? I like Airbourne. The lads had 45 minutes to warm the crowd up for the might Maiden, and they didn’t waste a second of it.
Track after track was played, applauded and then followed up with another. Given they only have two albums, a 45 minute set isn’t too hard for them to fill especially when there isn’t a single bad track on either LP. With the limited stage set and time, there weren’t any insane activities from lead singer/guitarist Joel, which was a shame, but didn’t really detract from a frenzied, active, loud, brash set.
Well done to them and I can’t wait to see them again.
And on to Maiden who had around two hours to fill once they took to the stage a little before 9pm. They opened with tour and album titler “The Final Frontier” (8:42) and plodded on into “El Dorado” (a shade under 7 minutes). “2 Minutes To Midnight” was a welcome relief and the crowd visibly and audibly erupted when the backdrop revealed the upcoming song. I could almost be unkind and say that people finally woke up… OK, I will. Up until this third song, I couldn’t see a single person around me bouncing, shouting, punching the air or singing. In fact, even applause after the first two songs was rather scant.
So, great, they’re onto the old stuff at last. Phew. Bruce even went as far as to say that the band had 14 other albums to take music from other than the new one. Good.
Then they launched into nine bloody minutes worth of “The Talisman” from The Final Frontier. Bloody hell. The crowd, again, died. A few people near me wandered off when the next track – “Coming Home” (thankfully comparatively short at under 6 minutes) kicked off. Whether they went home or to the bar, I don’t know.
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
This is exactly what happened at Sonisphere last year and why I was so disappointed with them then. The Iron Maiden fan club (and a couple of other people) responded to my disparaging tweet on the night with “What do you expect from The Final Frontier tour?”. I’m at a live Maiden show, I don’t give a bugger what album they’ve just released. I expect a fast-paced show with a ton of classics, not almost half of the performance being taken up with slow, dirgy, rambling, boring songs I don’t know. yes, I have the album. No, I don’t like it. Listened to it, consigned it to the same pile as Virtual XI and Brave New World.
If you’re going to support a new album, don’t fill it with songs that are so long. I saw Judas Priest the night before and I know far less of their back catalogue. However, if a song came on I didn’t recognise then I only had to wait 3-4 minutes, enjoying the pretty lights, until the next track.
The show improved, however, with the backdrop swishing back to introduce “Dance of Death” (OK, another long-ish one at just under 9 minutes, but at least it’s a good song) then “The Trooper“. Awsome. “The Wicker Man”. OK, one of the better songs off a fairly weak album. “Blood Brothers”. Pretty much the only other good one.
Oh. Then nigh on ten minutes of “When The Wild Wind Blows”. I was asleep on my feet by the time this was halfway through.
The rest of the set was, thankfully, excellent. “The Evil That Men Do“, “Fear of the Dark”, “Iron Maiden”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Hallowed be Thy Name” and “Running Free“. Oh, and of course the appearance(s) of the Eddie.
However, it still galls that out of a 2-hour set we got almost 45 minutes of new material. That’s an average of nine minutes per flipping song. What else could they have filled some of that time with? I’m not going to list all the songs I’d rather have heard, but judging by the grumbling from around me at the gig and outside as the crowd filtered out I was by no means in the minority at missing out on some classic tunes in favour of long, rambling new ones.
In future, I think I’ll be basing my decision to see Maiden on the strength of the current album or by checking out playlists from earlier performances on the tour if it’s possible. And if the tickets are gone before then? Well, it’s money saved.
P.S. The only worse decision I can recall Iron Maiden making was actually at the first gig I ever saw them at. They were touring in support of the No Prayer For The Dying album despite it not having been released as yet. Precisely one song was available (the single, “Holy Smoke”) and yet they played a good handful off it. If my memory serves, these definitely included “Tailgunner” and “Mother Russia”, possibly others. They then played the exact same set a couple of months later when they re-toured larger venues after the album’s release.
The first of two big nights at the SECC with Iron Maiden tomorrow. It’s almost like a mini-festival with comfier beds.
Tonight, though, Judas Priest with Queensryche and Rival Sons in support. We missed Rival Sons entirely and only made it in time to see maybe three songs by Queensryche. In honesty, I was never a fan and what little I saw of them was never going to sway me. They’re not bad… they just never grabbed me musically.
If memory serves, this is the third time I’ve seen Judas Priest live. The first was way back in the early 90’s on the Painkiller tour at Newcastle City Hall. I only got tickets as Annihilator were opening for them. I ended up front row for a very impressive gig by a band I knew about 3 songs by.
Next up was Graspop in 2008, coincidentally with Iron Maiden headlining one of the other nights. Here they put on a great show, but Rob Halford really looked like he was struggling.
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
No such problems this evening. Once the annoying DJ stopped messing about (good music, but good grief… what a nutjob), the curtain dropped and Priest burst into life. A shame KK Downing had left the band but nobody could have any complaints about new member Richie Faulkner. Aside from being a bit younger than the rest, he fit right in and was note perfect. Well done, son.
I’ll admit to not being the biggest Priest fan. I know a couple of the really old numbers, but mainly I got into them around the time of Ram It Down. As such, I didn’t recognise some of the tracks, but it didn’t really matter. Sure, I enjoyed “Painkiller”, “Nostradamus” and “Blood Red Skies” that bit more but the show was powerful enough that even the handful of tracks I didn’t recognise were enjoyable enough.
A half dozen flash pots, some smoke stacks and a bunch of lasers were all that was needed alongside a nice big amplified rig. Halford doesn’t talk a lot to the crowd, but what he does say is nice enough – pointing out album covers, crediting the original writers of songs Priest have covered and so on. Even a drum solo towards the end didn’t dampen the crowd who really started to go mad past the halfway mark of the 2-hour show with a pit opening up. OK, so there were only about 10 people in it at the peak, but still…
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
Two encores rounded off the evening, and of course the highlight was “Breaking The Law”. I don’t think Halford sang a word of the first verse and chorus, leaving it to the audience to make the noise.
It’s a shame this is their last ever world tour, but at least we know there’s another album on the way and live dates will be forthcoming, though not on the scale of the past. In fairness to the guys, they’re all around the sixty mark and have been doing this for an incredible forty years. I hope I have that much energy when I get there. And that my beard mysteriously gains colour like Halford’s. Seriously, why isn’t his grey? No fair.
[More pics of the gig at these two Flickr sets – one for Revoker, one for Cavalera Conspiracy. Sorry, I didn’t get any of Sylosis]
I’ve got a whole slew of gigs coming up, but this one looked good due to a strong bill. Three decent bands for a moderately low door price, and at a venue with decent sound and security staff. We got there in time to catch most of Revoker’s set, and they were worth seeing. A lot of energy (well, except for the bassist) and I can see the guitarist running wild on a larger stage. They were, however, confined to a diddly bit at the front with the drums dangling off the left hand side.
I can pretty much forgive them being Welsh, they put on such a good show. There must have been around 200-250 people in the club to watch them and they did seem to go down well.
During the gap between bands, I went to the bar to get a second drink for the evening and was refused service… because I wasn’t wearing a wristband. Apparently these were being handed out to “everyone as they come in” and were being used to somehow count how many people were drinking. I looked around. At that point well less than half the number of people with a drink in their hand was wearing a wristband. Hell, Gillian had been served barely 30 minutes earlier and wasn’t wearing one.
So screw them. Rather than bugger about wandering downstairs and missing any of Sylosis I just kept my money in my wallet. I’ll do the same in future, too. The Wetherspoons over the road is cheaper, serves a wider variety of beers and doesn’t have any stupid ******* wristband policies. Your loss, Garage.
Sylosis used the same amount of stage as Revoker, and once more did a decent set. I swear I’ve seen them before – maybe Sonisphere last year? – and this time round was a short performance, I guess partly due to the early weeknight curfew. Short but sweet.
Just after 9pm and Cavalera Conspiracy took to the stage. If memory serves, this is the second time I’ve seen them. The first was at Graspop a couple of years ago when I got out of my face on Jäger and supermarket own-brand energy drink. A set full of old Sepultura tracks, some awesome pit action and being crowdsurfed to the bar at the end. To be fair, very little is going to live up to that.
Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr
They were good, that has to be said. Tight, fun, and the band themselves seemed to be well up for the show. It’s still great to see the two brothers back together again after they parted company those years ago (I got one of the last interviews with them before the split, back when I was working for the university radio station).
As well as playing a decent smattering of tracks from both Inflikted and the newer Blunt Force Trauma, there was a decent number of what I guess now count as cover songs. One by Black Flag (“Six Pack”), four Sepultura numbers (“Refuse/Resist”, “Territory”, “Desperate Cry” and “Troops of Doom”) and – awesome! – a Nailbomb song (buggered if I can remember the title… sorry).
For me, this was the reason for going. I kind of like the new stuff, but I adore the older material. While I think Sepultura started to decline with the release of Chaos A.D. and really slip with Roots (my own opinion – too tribal for my tastes), their earlier albums to this day rank amongst my favourites of all time. “Troops of Doom” in particular is such a good live song with a rhythm and beat that any thrash band would kill for.
The crowd were a little lacklustre, and sadly that’s something I’m getting used to these days. A good track would start, the small (at least sparsely populated) pit would kick off… and last about a minute into the song. I have three theories:
The fans are getting older and less fit (myself included)
A large number had already buggered off to Sonisphere for the weekend
Nobody was drunk enough because the Garage weren’t selling beer to people who didn’t have a ******* wristband as they hadn’t been given one
The applause at the end was well earned. Gillian had gone to the gig not really knowing what to expect, but enjoyed all three bands. She even labelled Cavalera Conspiracy as one of the best acts she’s seen all year.
They were good… but given the gigs we have lined up before the new year (and Rammstein in February…), I can see the Brothers Cavalera being knocked down the chart sometime!
