B
|
BRITNY FOX/BULLETBOYS/PRETTY
BOY FLOYD + Fatal Smile -
Corporation, Sheffield, Thursday, 2nd October, 2008 The odd one out in this bill for those who didn’t realise the glam metal live scene has enjoyed a recent rebirth in the past half decade, Pretty Boy Floyd ‘s appearance in Sheffield tonight is their fourth in Steel city since 2003, their previous being the co-headliner with Tuff in this very room last year. Tonight though, they are tri-headlining, together with two other behemoths of the big-hair scene, namely Bulletboys who were due to play here once before didn’t quite make it, and also the recently reformed Britny Fox- the only one lacking their original line-up. Starting off however are the latest hard rock discoveries from more Scandinavian shores. Sweden’s Fatal Smile entertain unexpectedly well with their Motley Crue-meets-House Of Lords - propelled platters and while there are only 35 people in the room, 30 of them, myself included as one are clapping after every song. Suitably warmed up to applaud LA’s finest everyone is, as the Pretty Boys themselves and mount the boards and knowing that time is a little less than on their side tonight, opt wisely to form their set totally of ‘Leather Boys...’ material. Well the two thirds of the set that they manage to churn out that is, as a ten minute gap halfway along, instigated by technical matters ruins the opportunity they had to air the entire of their classic debut which would have been appropriate with all but one of the original PBF troupe in situ tonight. ‘Leather Boys....’ , ‘Rock n’ Roll Outlaws’, ‘Toast Of The Town’ and ‘Wild Angels’ are amongst the successfully-aired favourites and the vibe appears other wise undamaged, though still the punters who have paid especially to catch the Floyd are possibly less than impressed with their lot. The following four-piece on only become recognisable as the Bulletboys once Marq Torien’s unmistakable scream comes from the mouth of the dark haired- brown, green face-painted guitar wielding figure strutting his stuff beyond the centre mike stand. Lead axe in his side solo project, he brings his additional talent, as now a full time guitarist in the double – B’s too and it shows to be a major part of the revitalisation this act has enjoyed. Getting only 40 minutes for their first time in Sheffield is not the warmest of welcomes but like the previous act who vacated the stage ten minutes before, the Bulletboys do it by the book and throw all the faves at the followers with total suss. Sitting as expected on the first two discs- yes they include ‘Freakshow‘ material too and the spot or two from more recent workings. Marq, while tonight looking like something like a cross-clone of Marc Bolan and an Oompa Loopa is nonetheless the perfect example of the classic rock n’ roll star. He wears his Les Paul low-slung and throws in all the poses between lines and all tunes no matter from which disc they’re culled , give fans something great to talk about. Fellow titans Britny Fox finally arrive in Sheffield and seem in fear of being blown off by the two other main entries on tonights program but NO, they rouse the rabble without fail. New frontman Jamie is, like the bands original still powerful throat, Dizzy Davison might be today, totally unrecognisable, but matches up to him mouthwise in more than one way, rubber lips included. Bass man Billy Childs, the band’s resident Ronnie Wood look-alike , and surviving original occupant, looks to be loving every second as well, a smile rarely leaving his face but you think we were unhappy. Rusty as I may be on titles with these lads, I recognise ‘Long Way To Love’ and Girlschool’ from the very first scratch of strings - who wouldn’t- but all ten numbers, raked in from every corner of their catalogue though mostly of course the two older pleases with everyone ready to party. And so, with BF’s set also ground to a halt after only three quarters of an hour, probably the best party metal evening in town all year long is sadly over. It may be Thursday night they came, but for us, Saturday was twice , this particular week. With Ratt, Tesla and White Lion also having recently visited, and Black n’ Blue on the way shortly too, who knows what 2009 holds fro the scene. But for now..... thanks boys, and to Mr Hobson for making it all possible once more. 9/10 By Dave Attrill |
| Buckcherry/TVG/Silverjet - Corporation, Sheffield, 5th June 2006 Well who would have thought it- Buckcherry at Sheffield - in our fave club as well - confimed about 3 weeks previous - this was their Northern warmup show for the Download Festival at Donington. This gig was an absolute priviledge for Silverjet as I was only saying to Jon Hardcastle (Drummer) when we knew about the gig taking place that it would be awesome if they were supporting - then law and behold, they get confirmed just over a week later.
Fantastic is that one kid ! In fact they were even doing any gigs during this period but simply couldn't resist the stage in the large room on this particular night. I reckon I am right in saying this was their biggest gig to date - previously supporting the likes of Dogs D'Amour and The Quireboys.
On this night Silverjet totally were totally on fire, airing 2 brand new songs 'Hell Yeah' & 'Cold Love' from the forthcoming album that are as strong and in similar style to their other more familar material.
Firm faves are still well pressed into the set such as partyfilled numbers like the opening 'Mardi Gras'; 'Get Me Up' & 'Wings'.
The guys were as tight as ever - bang on form and each member was buzzing on rock 'n' roll, posing 'n' playing away, needless to say, completely oozing with confidence.
The peeps in here loved them and the lads got the loudest cheers - seems most of their fanbase was here tonight in droves. Now this was 30 minutes of a Wednesday night well spent let me tell ya ! 10/10 Next on the stage were a band with a name that basically meant nothing to us at all - I think they were from somewhere in London and called TVG - yep - that's right because Paul from Silverjet managed to get a skinny top with the bands logo on it.
They were kinda like a miserable sounding Doors like band who had too much indieness for me even though there were elements of rock and glam in their material - each to their own I guess.
They didn't go down that well particularly and recieved a rather luke warm response - probably because the vast majority werent familiar with their material. They were tight enough and had a really good guitarist - but I personally can't be doing with that Liam Gallagher look from a frontman at all and the voice wasn't particularly strong either.
I remember seeing one number listed on the set list 'Angry Pig' but apart from that, nothing much else. A rather odd band to be supporting Buckcherry - oh well - nevermind. 5.5/10 When it came to the headliner time, everyone was fully revved up and ready to be on the recieving end of some high-energy rock 'n' roll from one of the hottest bands to ever grace the planet - thank god frontman Josh Todd put this band back together as no-one could ever replace them.
Right from start the 'Cherry were on fire with anthems such as opener 'So Far'; 'Porno Star' and of course their smash hit with the band made video - yes the dirty 'n' funky 'Crazybitch' which had us funking out and singing along with Todd as his request.
Not that we needed him to ask, followed by their current single - the groovin rocker 'Next 2 You'.
Now these guys had damn good stage personal - Josh Todd is like a spring cocker spaniel Mick Jagger or something with the boystrousness of a young Bon Scott - it's hard to put your finger on it but he's got that X-Factor that you associate with someone like Seb Bach or Axl Rose in his heyday.
All of the band were exceptional - totally polished - no wonder as well - they've knocked up over 200 gigs on the chart on this tour alone since the release of the '15' album.
The now famous dancefloor classic 'Lit Up' did exactly that to the room where Todd gave us a commentary about the 1st time he did cocaine and had the best ...... well let's not go there - kids may be reading this review .. more tea vicar !
If you were there, you know what I'm taking about - but yeah - it's something that's always good that you can always rely on. Rock 'n' Roll Baby.
The Sheffield Choir went f*ck*n' crazy for it too - this version clocking in at a good 8 mins+. Everyone in this band has just got it - nice soloing there Stevie D ! We had our hands in the air a lot of the gig as well.
It was simply impossible not to be totally enthralled by the sheer brilliance and professionalism of Buckcherry - even doing an encore for us before retiring for a well deserved cool off and a pizza or two.
This was a concert that was nearly if not equally electrified the venue as Slash's Snakepit did back in the days of 'Bank Street' or when Seb Bach played a couple of years ago.
More nights like this - yes please man - We all wanna get 'Lit Up' again'. Well how were the lads at Download at Donington Park a few days later - for those of you who were there you will know that no-one was left dissapointed - a bit like this night at Corporation - I can see these guys supporting the Rolling Stones one day - more than likely they probably have already. Keep it comin' as we don't wanna lose this 'Cherry.
Now go out and buy the current album '15' - it makes complete sense to me and many others. So what ya waitin' for - do it now !! And While you are at it, purchase the 1st 2 albums as well !! 10/10 By Glenn Milligan
|
|
The Edgar Broughton Band – The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Thursday, 16th March, 2006 Now here’s a band that I first found out about by watching re-runs of Beat Club from the late 60’s/early 70’s shown on one of them German channels – think it was N3 or something like that. Frontman, Rob Broughton has whipped off the beard and lost some hair of his head but he ain’t lost his unique guitar playing – that blues prog fuzz tone and to the other extreme – that melodic cleanness as well plus thus that unmistakable quirky vocal of his – either the wailing tenor or the ever brilliant deep sawing throaty grumble. The rest of the band line-up remains intact as well, with even his son on keyboards. I would say that the venie was about ½ to ¾ full as ell for this marvelous spectacle – they aint tour3d or played a gig in 10 years and it did not show at all from the performance here tonight. Mixing in a load of old songs which had a styles of Frank Zappa, Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band, Dr John (in his Night tripper period) and Mountain, as well as pure Edgar as well. The set included an updated ‘American Boy Soldier’ with the opening dialogue section changed (using China instead of Russia) to incorporate the Iraq War which Rob was p*ss*d off about, due to the UK being involved; ‘Love and the Rain’; Why can’t somebody love me’ and of course their most famous song ‘Out Demons Out’ that we all sang the title chorus to. A rare, brilliant evening was had by all and in the words of The Who’s ‘Long Live Rock’ – “even the Promoter smiled’ 10/10 By Glenn Milligan
with help from Martin Bellamy |
|
Dan Baird and Homemade Sin – The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Wednesday, October 12th, 2005 I missed Dan the last time he played this venue about 3 years or so ago, so wasn’t going to let this chance go. The Boardwalk was about half full but still plenty of anticipation was here from an audience who were mostly aged around mid 30’s plus with a decent male to female ratio who were all up for a grand night of rock ‘n’ roll.
When the band came on and started they did something quite unexpected by opening up with a cover that they’d not even covered themselves – the crackin’ ZZ Top number ‘Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers’ with vocals also coming from the lead guitarist – now this is the way it should be done. They then went into a fair few Dan Baird cuts which were culled from past and present. Ok, I ain’t that familiar with some of the more recent stuff, but do have 3 of the Georgia Sattelite albums – the first three actually.
These southern boys made you feel like you’d been transferred to a Redneck Bar in the deep swampy part of the US of A. I wish it was too – like you could go out the entrance door and feel the presence of the Gators or something cool like that. . Dan exclaimed they would do no encore and instead play right through from 9.30 to 11.15 – beats hearing a loud of pointless ‘Mores’ from the audience don’t it – gets my vote.
Anyway, this was so together apart from when the drummer f*ck*d up as Dan put it now and again and started a couple of songs wrong – not to worry – it was a laugh and nobody seemed too bothered anyway. Countrified 12 bar blues was in a-plenty through-out – a bit too much at times but at least we did get the classic ‘Keep your hands to yourself’ from the G. S. debut album that’s still played in Rock Clubs today. The only snag of the set was the omission of ‘Battleship Chains’ – Dan, how could you do such a thing !! Apart from that moan, this was a thoroughly enjoyable escapade.
It proved to be pure comedy too especially when Mr. Baird did wacky impression of some crap dancing from Mick Jagger, after seeing The Rolling Stone a few days previous – and oh yeah – he even announced the football score as well - England 2, Poland 0 or whatever it was – yeah, you can tell I ain’t a soccer fan can’t ya?
Come back soon Dan and bring those Sinful Men with ya as well. Let’s hope we aint wating another 2 or three years tho. 7.5/10 By
Glenn Milligan |
SEBASTIAN BACH + Deadline - Corporation, Sheffield, Saturday, December 4th 2004 Boycotting the Darkness gig this same evening, and binning my ticket for said event was probably the boldest and best advised move one could make in the face of a rare return from this legend. Sebastian Bach's return to the UK for the first time without his ex-New Jersey cohorts came at annoyingly short notice but I know who I'd rather spend my Saturday night listening to, so take a hike, Justin. An unexpected treat comes by way of openers, the seemingly unavoidable Deadline who benefit - especially Andy - from a strong mix tonight, so it's all the more pity when they get pulled after only five numbers!!! (this will not do, Corp people). Seb's set ain't exactly of epic proportions either though the 73 minutes seems to last a lifetime for the many loyal followers of the New Jersey act that carried him in their prime regime. As predicted, our man opens with 'Slave To The Grind', the first of a lorryfull of Skids faves on the list tonight, and sends those there in the room apesh*t from the start. Yes, there were always to be a few of his solo workings expected too and I'm lying to say I wasn't impressed with most of these newer offerings because against 'Big Guns', 'Here I Am', 'Monkey Business', '18 And Life', 'Threat To Society', I Remember You', 'Piece Of Me' and 'In A Darknened Room', they were small fry indeed. Ever the showman, Seb mingles regularly with us, inviting one lucky lady onto the boards and treating her to an impromptu ride on his shoulders into the bargain, much to the envy of most of the other females on my side of the railing. Onto the last song of the night and we all know what that is, don't we, kids? - of course, it's S.R.'s immortal rebel anthem 'Youth Gone Wild' that gets the best deserved new lease of life it could wish for along with reaction from the punters to match. The roar when the first notes are struck sounds almost as loud as the applause afterwards as the set finally comes to its abrupt finish and with no encore to follow, a rather exhausted looking Sebastian Bach blows a kiss to this gathering of those who've stayed faithful to this day, before disappearing with his new cohorts behind the curtains, never to return. A man who has defied thick or thin to bring us this show tonight, Seb knows as we do that true music will always prevail whilst fashions come and disappear up their own back end, alongside. The 300 in this room tonight know that for a fact that The Darkness may be entertaining a packed out house of 12000, along the road, tonight but in two years time they'll be gone. Before you get me wrong, I'm not a particular loather of the Lowestoft lads but face it, Sebastian Bach will be still around in 15 years time, they won't. 9/10 By Dave Attrill STOP PRESS |
- The Corporation, Sheffield, Monday August 16th, 2004 Having missed this Detroit all-girl trio on the Skid Row Tour a few months ago, I made sure it wasn't going to happen tonight. For some strange reason, they played second on the bill to some young upstarts called 'Seed' who were kinda rocky idie who were relly no match for Broadzilla and neither were the noisy 'Fights'. In 'Room 3' was where it all took place and to be honest they didn't sound at all bad on that stage - many artists seem to suffer in here due its bad acoustics, low lighting conditions and not to mention hardly any room to spin a kitten.
Kim and Rachel Coming across like a young USA equivalent of the legendary UK Metallers 'Girlschool', they have the touch that's about as soft as a nuclear bomb ready to explode and engulf the audience in their mass of electric bashery and screamerings with cuts from the 'Lady Luck' album and beyond. These songs stand up real well live - in fact just as good as the album. Performing in front of a somewhat gob-struck lappin' it up crowd that aged between 16 and 50 who took a liking to their set list that included 'Ecstasy (Bombs Away)'; 'On the Run'; my personal favourite 'Y did you have 2B Psycho?' (about being constantly hassled by blokes at gigs - and before you ask - no it didn't happen tonight - no-one would think once about of irriting these cats 'round these parts); 'Liquor Snatch'; the tile-track 'Lady Luck' itself and a heavy as hell cover of Blondie's 'Call On Me' in the style of Black Sabbath as Lead Vocalist/Guitarist, Rachel 'Zilla' May put it that I'm sure Debbie Harry would approve of - nice bit of backing vocals coming from bassist Kim 'Zilla' Essiambre and Drummer, Angie 'Zilla' Manly.
Rachel, Angie & Kim Newer material was previewed tonight that would most likely be featured "on the next album that is long overdue", Angie told me later that stood up and well -matched the strength of the 'Lady Luck' blasters. To sum it up,Broadzilla are a full-on 'tight as their outfits' trio who should go far. They refuse to relax for a second and have more balls than many male bands that I've seen grace this small Sheffield stage. As soon as they finished their high-powered set, they spent as long if not longer than their time on stage signing and selling albums and merch, having photos taken with fans gave away stickers and pix.
Rachel, Angie & Kim Broadzilla were the most friendliest of females that you ever could meet. The 'Real Detriot Rock 'N' Roll Deal'. 10/10 By Glenn Milligan |
Big Brother and The Holding Company - Hard Rock Vault, Orlando, Fl. USA Thursday 13th May, 2004 Set: Combination of the Two/Down on Me/I Need a Man To Love/Save Your Love/Call On me/Blindman/Summertime/Do What You Love/All Is Loneliness/Bobby McGee/Hold Me/It's cool/Women Is Losers/Piece of my heart/Ball and Chain I've been a big Janis Joplin fan for a number of years and bought most of her albums. Having missed 'Big Brother' when they played The Boardwalk a couple of years ago in Sheffield because of nasty winter weather threats I wasn't goin' to miss out when they hit this Floridian highlight of a musical museum. It was a hot summers night in you know where and a few people were in on what was going to take place very soon. There should have been miles more fans here but I can't understand what happened there. Anyways, the older original guys hit the stage - Sam Andrew (Guitar and Vocals) ; David Getz (Drums and Vocals) and Peter Albin (Bass and Vocals) alongside newer lead guitarist Chad Quist and St. Petersburg, Fl. Wendy Rich on powerful Joplin-like vocals.
Left to Right - Sam Andrew, David Getz and Peter Albin All alike gave a thoroughly solid performance of psychedelic rock and funk for those present of both Janis and post-Janis material with highlights being numbers like 'Down On Me'; a fantastic rendition of Gershwin's 'Summertime' (Wendy has Janis's soul, passion and heartfelt warmth - that's for certain) and of course impressive renditions of 'Piece of my heart' and 'Ball and Chain' to round things off.
Nice solos all round from each band member (especially were also included in the set - not to mention the flashy stage costumes worn by some of our fave original Woodstock Gentry. One of Sam's original 60's guitars, an exhibit at The Hard Rock Vault (that white Gibson SG as shown in the above photo) was picked up by him early on in the set and he told us that it brought back a lot of memories as Jimi Hendrix once played it. He also went on to say that it can't be played now because a bar had been put between the bottom of the neck and body of the guitar - such a pity as it would have bee great to see it in action.
Two pictures of Wendy eitherside a shot of Chad soloing his heart out!! The whole band went well out of there way to talk to the fans, signing cd's and photos plus posing for piccies - nice guys and an exceptional singer in Wendy Rich was enjoyed by all on this truly magical night. 9/10 By Glenn Milligan (with help from Sunni McKay) |
| Blue
Cheer/Pon Yang - The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Dec. 2003
When walking into the Boardwalk you don't usually receive warnings about excessive volume, then again it's not everyday that the late 60's US Noisters - Blue Cheer are in town who comprise of original members Dickie Peterson (Vocals/Bass); Paul Whaley (Drums) and Andrew 'Duck' McDonald (ex Playground - see reviews of their albums in the P section of CD review) on Guitar. Blue Cheer get up and tear out the earlobes with a load of blues (too much at times in the same key). That said, some stuff is really good - a lot of which was on their 'Live In Japan' such as the screechy booming great riffin' blues-rock of 'Big Trouble in Paradise'; covers like 'The Hunter'; 'Parchment Farm' and their version of the Eddie Cochran classic 'Summertime Blues' plus a mass their early own material such as the awkward 'Doctor Please' and 'Out of Focus'. Unfortunately, the 'Cheer don't seem to be cookin' with the audience brilliantly and receive a rather luke-warm response by many of those who turned up - maybe it was the sameness of a lot of the material or they'd seen much of the material done times-many previously. Supported by local band called 'Pon Yang' if I've got that right who entertain and bewilder the audience of old guys with a mad musical combination of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle (yes you heard that correctly) - kinda quirky Metal crossed with Jazz and a bit of Queen (covering 'Mustapha' from their 'Jazz' album) featuring The Point's Landlord, Johnny on Keyboards/Guitar and Vocals and on Bass Guitar and vocal back-up, Mac (ex-Bal-Sagoth). 6.5/10 By Glenn Milligan |
| BAILEY'S COMET/Psi Phi - The
Boardwalk, Sheffield, Saturday 30th March, 2002 Psi Phi are tonight's support act - a well-favoured local lot, that I've raved about quite frequently in the past and although tonight's set only accommodated six songs, I think that if they haven't landed a deal within the next couple of years, then people are going to talk. Next up are the headliners, another excellent Melodic rock act of today, Sheffield's very own Bailey's Comet. They may already only have half of last year's line-up from the 'Judgement Day' disc still with them but making up the numbers is the talented Tony Martin, formerly of Black Sabbath and a good friend of the Baileys for many years past. Tony makes his presence more than felt, if not only with his new Navy Seals-style shaven bonce and beret image. Not content with being just the singer, he also whips his guitar out for a lot of the set, and even produces an electric fiddle for a couple of numbers which he proceeds to play very impressively, it has to be stated. But don't forget Des Bailey himself, the main cog making the machine go round who as well as churning out some family-sized frettage throughout the show, and also does the in-between tune talking. Surprisingly, I only counted about seven tunes from the album, with the rest of the set being occupied with selections from Sabbath and Blue Murder, who Martin's also been involved with in the past. The Bailey material still slays as brutally on stage as it does on disc if not more so. The brothers were mates of the late Phil Lynott and if he was looking - and listening - down from the clouds on Des and the boys now, he'd be one very happy and indeed proud chappie as his Celtic rock influence has touched these lads lives to deep and meaningful degrees, ensuring the Thin Lizzy singer's legacy lives for many a generation more. A great night from two of Sheffield's greatest bands. 9/10 By Dave Attrill |
| BLAZE BAYLEY - Rio's, Bradford, Friday, 8th March 2002 A year zooms past and we're back here again. And so is he. I'd actually seen Blaze Bayley an additional time since last year's Bradford Bash on his subsequent support act stint with Helloween. A second album on the streets, in the shape of the incredible 'Tenth Dimension' signals the start of another potentially prosperous global trek for the respected British singer, backed by the same strong soldiers as before. Accompanying Blaze again are guitarists Jon Slater and Steve Wray, bassist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer, plus an hour-and-half-plus of mind numbing metal tunes drawn from all of the Double-B's musical involvements. Obviously it's his solo material from 'Tenth…' and 'Silicon Messiah' on the cards, riotously received as ever it is, but would a set of his be complete without at least the odd bit bit of Iron Maiden or Wolfsbane thrown. We get the routine rampage through 'Man On The Edge' - the song Blaze prides as earning him his first (and only) appearance on 'Top Of The Pops', and there's Wolvie's classic 'Tough As Steel', another stricty mainstay on a Blaze Bayley live show. Blaze leaves out almost NONE of his essentials tonight and his by now customary sermon against the fashion-fixated music industry still hits home harder than an out-of-control fighter jet as he pours his heart out in reminding us of our loyalty to the band and this scene as a whole. Yes, we know, Blaze, we know. And with the loyalty of a few more, we could expect to see you in somewhat larger venues next time you tour beloved Blighty. Time will tell. 10/10 By Dave Attrill |
