Blaze Bayley - The Key Club, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, California, Thursday, 10th November 2011

Set List - Intro/The Brave/Futureal/Lord Of The Flies/Voices From The Past/The Launch/Steel/Killing Machine/Look For The Truth/Blood & Belief/Kill & Destroy/Guitar Solo/Man On The Edge/Man Hunt/Robot/The Clansman/I Like It Hot/Virus.

I've not witnessed this man for a couple of years - the last time was when he supported Quireboys at O2 Academy 2, Sheffield with former band Wolfsbane who get together now and again for the UK odd tour in their original form. The last time I saw him i his own right was when my buddy John Slater was on guitar in the Blaze band supporting Helloween in about 2001 at Rock City, Nottingham so was good to see he still had it.

Ok, some of his hair, well all of it was missing apart from the sideboards - well I suppose the receeding thing had caught up with the Wolverhampton Legend and Blaze had gone for a complete shave which I was really surprised to see. The change in image did not deter the fans though as it's the music and that do the talking with this killer concert being no exception to the rule.

I noticed that he had a different band line-up, with the lead guitarist being from Mandy Lion's outfit (as my mate Cali-buddy, Kruzin Kenny pointed out), whose solo's were played like his life totally depended on it. It saves on flight costs I guess and the musical outfit was utterly perfect and shined visually and of course soundwise proving that Mr. B must have spent a good while putting the US version together.

Ok, the room wasn't exactly full but credit to those who showed up and gave the club a mighty amount of atmosphere. Blaze and the band powered through some real gritty and old school riffy material from his last couple of albums in the 90 minute or so set of songs with a beastly amount of confidence to this Californian crowd which saw the frontman rialling and revving them up to their fullest excitedness, proving they could match the craziness of the British and European crowds.

Blaze bounded from one end of the stage to the other raising his hands for us to roar in delight for him like he did during his time in that band that stole its name from a medieval torture device - no prizes for guessing that one - hahaha, screaming at us that we could do better and we did, not mention having us sing on many of the hook lines of many of the numbers which didn't take much persuasion at all.

It's worth noting that several members of the crowd had actually travelled over to North America to see him - now that's dedication for you and they weren't dissapointed either by what was on offer with well known older diamond blasters that included solo numbers of his like 'Look For The Truth' & 'Lord Of The Flies'' as well as Man On The Edge' and 'The Clansman' from the Iron Maiden days or the wonderful Wolsbane favourite 'I Like It Hot' not to mention more recent cuts such as 'Blood & Belief'; 'Voices From The Past' and 'Kill and Destroy'.

He appeared to be overjoyed by the overall reception that he and the band recieved and came out straight after the set was over joking that he'd sooner be out here with us than backstage with strippers and pole dancers and a whole array of stuff - lol. He confessed to us, "I'm am not a rockstar, I'm just like you" and hung out after, chatting with fans, signing autographs and had pictures with us. What a superb, honest and down to earth, humble nice guy - the way everyone should be.

One of the best British Heavy Metal frontmen you're ever likely to meet and witness on stage. Mr. Bayley, you did your country proud mate and us at Metalliville salute you.

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

9/10

The MERCY HOUSE are a 5 piece band from London who rolled into Sheffield on a high as they hit the stage with no sound check. So it took a couple of songs before the bugs got worked out and the mix levels correct. Duo guitar riffs throwing a classic blend of rock-metal by Dany & Dan soon had the crowd back on their side.. Lead singer Drew has a great vocal range and definitely proved that when ‘Lead the Way’ starts....for a band that drove 4 hours to get to the gig they didn't let that get in the way though I don't believe they were in top form.... however, I will be seeing them again cus I know they will be back......

7/10

BLAZE BAYLEY is in fun mode and even with all of his theatrics is one of the most gracious performers when it comes to interaction with his fans as he was out signing photos and cd's before and after the show.

Much has been written about BLAZE's voice but tonight he dispelled any misgivings anybody has. The evening was filled with a mix of track from previous releases but the majority was from the release ‘The Man Who Wouldn't Die’ which was also the closing song. BLAZE has surrounded himself with a great bunch of players so when tracks like ‘Lord of the Flies’ or ‘Futureal’ are played they take on a new identity and BLAZE flows flawlessly through them. High energy, passion and a never quit attitude is what makes BLAZE so approachable and you can't help but admire and respect the guy. ‘The Man Who Wouldn't Die’ is a strong album and BLAZE's commitment to it will keep him busy well into 2011........

10/10

Overall the evening was a success a nice mix of bands and a great head-liner and proving yet again that rock ain't dead …..

8/10

By Geno D

The Sleeping Dogz is Wild Willy Barrett plus Mary & John - so it's a good ole trio outing this time - it's just a pity about the pitiful attendance in tonight as this was as comedious (is that a word - it is now) and musically brilliant as I was expecting. Willy tells us he’s not wild anymore just livid and informed us what kinda thing we were to receive that we’d be truly thankful for. The opening number was a countryesque ditty with Willy on the fiddle (that had a bow with plenty of snapped strings) and he asked if Kevin was in the audience who he saw at previous gig or two ago and joked that it was a rare name in these parts.

They aren’t into many songs that have choruses in them and in fact only about 3 to 4 of their numbers possess one – the 1st of which has a chorus that’s simply ‘Oy!’ or is that ‘Oi!’ and turns out to be reworking of the old classic ‘Out On The Western Plains’ that Rory Gallagher recorded in the early 70’s but done with a kinda Mexican/Spanish sorta style. Turns out that Mary too writes some damn fine tunes such as ‘Don’t Throw Me To The Chrisitians’ that featured her on the guitar as opposed to the Cello. A song written when she learnt how to play and now has the confidence to do it in front of an audience that had some slightly controversial lyrics in that – hahaha – they may not understand me, Willy sings without a bolt of lightning in sight.

When it comes to improvising, it seems that Willy is definitely a man whose good at this – Eggs just for food – not likely – Willy plays slide guitar, sorry I mean Eggneck guitar in this case as the man himself puts on a cool tune about being born in Notting Hill. It gets a good laugh and its intact by end of the song too. John plays an array of things including flute clarinet, drum and a snake charmer thing – I must find out the name of that They seem to like gypsy like music – well old style Spanish and Irish etc, I guess and this comes into fruition on a number called something like ‘Anyway’ – a miserable number but a cracker all the same. It’s followed up with the jokey old ‘What A Rotten Song’ for a laugh with Willy back on banjo again and then a real funny number called ‘The Judge & The Bailiffs’ with the slide guitar coming out again.

There’s a real highlight in ‘The Girl With Sad Eyes’ I think it’s called where Mary does some real strong echoey backing vocals and they have a sinister almost Grace Slick touch to them that come before Willy has finished singing the song lines and after well. It’s very effective stuff, not to mention the sounds of the Irish Pipes that John plays that fills the room with incredibly strong ambience.

We get a short break giving them chance to sell a cd or 5 with the second half opening with a country number that has plenty of mentions of the bookies ‘William Hill’ and then a sad song about ‘Milton Keynes’ – funnily enough called ‘Milton Keynes’ where you’ll never get out alive where Willy taps the guitar as an effective substitute for a drum break. It also has a chorus in this one too – a nice easy one to remember ‘Chicken’ – hahaha.

Other songs included ‘Emperor’s Head’ is one hell of a great number and features plenty of Mary’s Cello and it was due to her amazing playing that Willy wanted her in the band – she creates the sound of a police siren on it as well that has an ucanny likeness that it’s scary – especially since there are two Police Stations within throwing distance of the venue. The last song of the set was a rendition of ‘Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women’ that is actually one of my favourite songs of all time – I have it on the 78rpm by Red Ingle & The Unnatuaral Seven. It was great to hear it live and the chorus is killer which Willy gets us all singing on.

One hell of a wild night – I just wish more people would have come out for this as most people in Sheffield dropped a real clanger by not attending. Let’s hope that more attend next time he brings his Canine friendz to Steel City.

10/10

By Glenn Milligan

Now this was a great way to spend Easter Sunday night – not an egg in sight but plenty of good ole rock music. It’s a packed hall for the gig and its hardly surprising when these Rock Gods are in the house. From Aerosmith, we get the Axe legend who is Joe Perry with his own project, aptly titled ‘The Joe Perry Project’ who crank it up with the old Aerosmith classic ‘Let The Music Do The Talking’ and it certainly does that, with Hagen from Germany fronting the band in place of you kinow who singing the song. They then take it back a bit further with the old Rufus Thomas hit, ‘Walkin’ The Dog’ that that said band that starts with an ‘A’ recorded way back when and Mr. Perry is in full-on slide wailing out some killer blues for us on both numbers that sets the trend for much of the set.

After being warmed up by those 2 hits Joe informs us, “We’re stepping off one train and onto another as I got a new album out called, ‘Have Guitar, will Travel’ and this is the guitar” (a white and black strat) and announced a great song from the album that I like called ‘Slingshot Baby’ – another cracking bluesy like number. One thing that became apparent is the fact that Mr. P likes to have a different guitar for just about every single song – and why? – because he can – simple as that! We even get to hear a number that he said was on the 2nd Joe Perry album, a fave Woody Guthrie song called ‘Vigilante Man’ that rocks out as much as the others and sees the man himself take the lead vocal and Hagen in stage centre playing a large green tom-tom drum with him posong quite a bit with the sticks held in the air – it looked way cool as well !! Joe ain’t a guy that believes in fakery at concerts so he brought out his guitsr tech to play the 2nd guitar part in the instrumental from the his previous album, a ditty going by the name of ‘Wooden Ships’ – he can’t see the point of having him hidden behind the stage and us out in the audience thinking they are faking it.

“With us, what you see is what you get and what you get is what you see”, he tells us – to be honest that’s the way it should be – this ain’t no Pussycat Dolls or Girls Aloud bullsh*t here – this is real deal rock ‘n’ roll. Joe’s poses are legenday and he does a great one during this epic instrumental alongside his bassist, David Hull with his gorgious gold and white sparkling Fender Stratocaster – love the short quiet bit in there that gives a lot of atmosphere to the bluesy like groover. Joe Perry is a big Fleetwood Mac song so one was included in the set tonight called ‘Somebody’s Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonight)’ that was perfectly placed as I heard later that some idiots in the crowd were heckling Hagen and saying something like, ‘Bring On Steven Tyler, where’s Steven Tyler’ that I think was totally out of order on their part! An old track was resurrected that he and Dave Hole recorded when Dave was 14. “There’s a lot of train numbers going around tonight but this one I like the best and it’s called ‘Rocket Train’” with Hagen back on the vocals.

In the middle of ‘Rocket Train’ we get a killer bass solo from Mr.Hull that amazes everyone in the hall while Joe Perry has a breather, a quick chat and a drink on the side of the stage with the on-stage soundman. David even throws in a few tunes including a snippet of The Rolling Stones ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ before Joe Perry joins him centre stage. The end of the solo features David slide the neck of the bass down his microphone stand in true rock ‘n’ roll form while they pick up the song with Hagen back up on the vocals. It’s a family thang next as Joe tells us that they are gonna play us a song that is by his Sons band who are called ‘Tap’ or something like that who are doing well on i-tunes and such like – they are gonna play it because he and all the band love the song. Wish I knew the name of it, but anyway Hagen f*cks it up and seems to forget the words or sing in the wrong key. Joe says something like, “If we’re gonna play it, we’re gonna play it right – it’s in the key of C”. It turns out to be a great kick-ass rocker and Joe is thoroughly enjoying doing back-up vocals and joins Hagen in the middle of the stage – this time it was perfect and Joe said, “My sons say. ‘Thank You”.

“Remember when I was on about those train songs, well here comes another one”, Joe says and we get a familiar Aerosmith intro and yes..... you guess it, ‘Train Kept A Rollin’ comes thundering at all at full steam ahead. Hagen sounds very similar to Tyler but he doesn’t move very much on stage throughout the gig – unless Joe didn’t want him to come across as a wanna-be Steven as this is his own band. “You might know the next one and if you do sing along”, and we get the well known riff of ‘Walk This Way’ and a perfect rendition of thew song both musically and vocally. Now this is what I call a major support and it don’t get better than this – see you at Donington in June Joe with the other band.

9/10

Review By Glenn Milligan

Pix by Glenn Ashley

Well Bad Company were certainly in good company tonight when they opened up with ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love that guaranteed them to have the whole whole of people loving them from the 1st note – not that they didn’t already or for the last 30+ years of the bands existence (give and take the odd quiet period). A raptuous applause ensued the Paul Rodgers fronted outfit and you could tell that the band were realy happy to be there.

Running Of The Pack was soon to come that saw Paul at the black grand piano and it sounded magnificiently great. Paul commended what beatiful people we were in Sheffield and said it was time to have some fun, seeing them pulled out the old 50’s rock and roller ‘Youngblood’ that he told us after that Bad Company had a hit with early on.

What’s happening now, they’ve ditched the electric guiars and there’s just Paul and Mick Ralphs stood there armed with gorgious acoustics with a sparkled lit backdrop of candles. Someone in the crowd or maybe it was several shouts out ‘Seagull’ a few times and guess what, that’s what got played ! Maybe they were at a gig the previous night or just had an inside inclin that it was time for a song about a winged bird. Paul pays tribute to Boz Borrell saying what a great guy and bassist he was with a song going by the name of ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’. Man it must be getting hot up there because Mr. Rodgers has just taken his shirt off to reveal a white sleeveless shirt and arms that are nicely toned up.

It’s time for another classic ‘Rocksteady’ kicks in much to everyones delight and then gets us all doing some loud vocal bits to warm us up. By all accounts I can be heard all over the room as my voice is so loud – I only sang the last 2 bits as well – lol. “We hit Las Vegas and got a Slice, this is ‘Electric Land’”, Paul informs us and we all get enjoy a nice helping of splendid American romantisms.

If you want more excellent ballads you’ve come to the right place as we get their ‘Simple Man’ – that makes 3 songs I know of with that title – the others coming from Lynyrd Skynyrd & Charlie Daniels. It’s a time-life rock compilation feature up next though that funnily enough goes down amazing that starts up with Heart man, Howard Leese on Mandolin before the song kicks in to that familiar opening riff that sees the crowd go mental when they recognise it – I am talking ‘Feel Like Making Love’ – a number that many have no doubt been waiting to hear and they weren’t disappointed either. Paul gets out his harmonica for the instrumental solo section of the song and no-one needs any encouragement to pipe up the vocals in the crowd.

“Now you’ve got your voices warmed up I want you on your feet – stand up for ‘Shooting Star’”, or words to that effect and not a second order is needed as the audience immediately rises for one of their greatest ever songs – my favourite of theirs actually and no doubt of many people in here tonight. There’s pix of legendary, late rock stars on the screen behind the band that include Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, George Harrison, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and of course Paul Kossoff of Free.

After such an epic they wound up the main set with the classics ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy’ & ‘Ready For Love’ before coming back for 2 encores – the 1st was the band name song of course ‘Bad Company’ that sees Paul return to his beloved black grand piano again while some real effective lights send spiral long beams over the band and audiece alike before coming onstage again for the last number of the night that was iroically ‘I’m Movin’ On’ that sees Mick Ralphs front centre for his solo with Paul getting everyone clapping and on their feet again – you really wouldn’t want to do anything else actually as they deserved it after such a movin’ (scuse the pun) show.

One of the best shows I have ever witness and I think it’ll be going in my top 10 or top 15 at the very least. I can’t think of a better way I would have liked to have spent a Sunday night than in the presence of these Rock Legends. Outstanding!

10/10

By Glenn Milligan

I wondered if these guys were ever going to finally make it to Sheffield as previous bookings by the corporation failed to materialise. Like I said something, here Bonfire are, for their first Steel City gig since a support tour with Judas Priest some 20 years back. years since I last saw Bonfire myself, on the Z-Rock fest at Manchester Ritz that lengthy enough of waits itself has given me chance to expand my ownership of their catalogue. It has also given Crimes Of Passion time to come into being, so what better excuse to have Rotherham’s hard rock pride and joy opening proceedings today.

Given a generous 45 minutes to paly with tonight, Dale, Andy and the lads treat us to one of their strongest ever performances and with strong enough songs SA ’The Me I Lost’, ’Fight You On My Own’ and ’God Made Me Your Angel’ they can’t stop the muscle. Dale even takes to mounting the stacks - the first time I’ve seen him risk it in the Corp’s small room - to tower that little higher enough to see who’s amongst those in for the night but the bounding of ‘Pretty In Blood’ and Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’ cant help those age old Trafalgar court boards remain stable that long. Andy Lindsay’s ever more Eddie-inspired shreds see more damage to the roof as usual and a sleek tapping stint always comes with a smile from this gent. Longer than the support slots we are used to, the 45 minutes still by way too quickly and leave us longing for that headliner in November to hurry up in arriving. Awesome stuff tonight boys.

Hoping Bonfire’s’ 90 minutes definitely don’t go by as quick, using more latterday material (well, post 1989) for their opening pair of numbers helps the punters take their time to welcome them in though the lyrics to ‘Bells Of Freedom’ and ‘But Still We Rock’ seem as fluent to most down the front as the golden oldies due later on this evening. Not far behind follow the favourites and one song I’ve been waiting all night to hear, ‘Tony’s Roulette’ immediately affirms the already established tone for the night. ‘Sword and Stone’,’ Under Blue Skies’ ,’Don’t Touch The Light’ and ‘..’ follow to much popularity.

Being from a foreign language-speaking land fails to harm their sense of humour with Klaus Leissmann delivering ongoing banter throughout the show, mostly centering around a ‘gun’ and a ‘coat’ and eventually roping in bemused guitarist Chris Limburg too. ‘Proud of My Country’ which Klaus quite ironically introduces by telling all and sundry its not actually a clever thing to admit to being when on his native Teutonic turf is an example of the more Nelson-like direction these guys have taken in more recent years but it is still one of their most powerful compositions.

Ideal to warm us up for what follows as they brace their top three numbers from ‘Fireworks’ together and hit us hard with them. Most of the people here tonight have probably played ‘Sweet Obsession’ ,’American Nights’ and ‘Ready for Reaction’ to death over the last two decades but the day they become sick of hearing them is delayed very much longer after that. Klaus makes it all the more fun with his constant pounding left and right across the stage despite keeping the mic on its stand for most of the time and offering singalongs to individual crowd personnel a la Metallica.

As with Hetfield et al, they encore with another pair of timeless classics themselves as ‘Hard On Me’ and ’Bang Down The Door’ come pounding at us before we’ve got a chance to turn yet alone run and both seem at least twice as fast as they do on record. A bow from all five and they are sadly gone but with a phenomenal performance like we’ve just witnessed it seems only right.

They may be down to only two originals, in the shape of messrs Leissman and Ziller, but with the current personna embodying the weight and throwing bit about with every inch of might, the purists have not quite been alienated today.

Worth the 7 years wait…or 20 - by the way Dale Radcliffe was at that Priest gig all those years ago as he (and Klaus) make clear during the night - to see Germany’s no1 melodic hard rock export on display again, the crowds may be smaller here in 2009 but the passion for the music buried within the souls of those who attend certainly is not.

Come back again ASAFP lads, we still love you and even more after this weekend.

10/10

By Dave Attrill

It’s the bank holiday weekend and what better way to spend it than a night in the Boardwalk, especially when someone as good as this is on the stage. And before you ask, yes Deborah is a relative of that certain late John, drummer of Led Zeppelin – his younger sister in fact. So how is it possible to upstage such an incredible performance here tonight – well actually if you are the Boardwalk Ghost it’s pretty easy, who decides to knick off with Guitarist, Pete Bullicks shirt and hide it somewhere. This is true – I kid you not as confirmed my the venues co-mainman, Chris Wilson.

What hits you immediately is what a strong voice Debbie has live as well as on record (I reviewed ‘The Old Hyde’ album a few years ago). The band are also great and sing some nice backing vocals as well that totally compliment Deb.An array of songs from that said album and current studio release ‘Duchess’ are perfomed tonight. ‘In My Soul’ being the 1st one. Was brilliant to hear ‘Black Coffee’ that Deborah said is a tribute to the late great Steve Marriott. In fact, Humble Pie’s Jerry Shirley was the bands drummer for a while but has since retired and the stool and sticks have since been taken by Bob Pridham (I think his name is).

It really was a joy for Deborah and the whole band to play the Boardwalk and praised it greatly as well as Chris Wilson and the fans here tonight and went onto do the song, ‘Hole In My Heart’ that was written by Steve Marriott & Jerry Shirley and finished off by Deborah to be included on ‘Duchess’. A killer song indeed as was ‘Waiting So Long’ that had some brilliant backing vocals.

‘Battle Of Everymore’ was simply amazing that featured Deb on acoustic guitar and 2nd vocal/backing vocals, Peter on mandolin and keyboard player, Gerard Louis on lead vocals – a knockout rendition indeed. It was lovely to find how incredibly down to earth and humble Deborah is, saying that she was nervous and laughed and joked about getting sweaty palms when she had to perform ‘Open Up Your Heart’ (from ‘The Old Hyde’) but she played it beautifully and I think I spotted her glance over to Peter on mandolin because he had played a wrong chord or 2.

The in-your-face lyriced ‘How Do you Feel’ was up next – great solo Pete towards the end of the number that blends in with the drums.. It was amazing to hear how her voice holds up really well and does not falter at all from beginning to end. ‘Whevever you’re ready fellas’ she says and they go in the rockin, southern bluesy ‘The Devil In New Orleans’ that sees her with the foot on the kit at times and getting really cool and real into the song, complete with tambourine.

The tear-jerker of the night was the title track of ‘The Old Hyde’ - a tribute to her late Brothers, John & Michael and her Father John as well. She told us the story of how ‘The Old Hyde’ was a place that brother John bought many years ago from the royalties of either Led Zeppelin 1 or 2 and renovated with their Father and that it was a sad number about losing people close and how it affected her. There wasn’t a sound from a soul in the house as the audience was competely captured and mesmerized by the performance and the topic of the song itself. It include a sombre but beautiful guitar solo from Mr. Bullick.

Two songs were performed as an encore, the 1st of which was her alltime favourite song, ‘Stay With Me Baby’ – a classic from the 1960’s (as featured on ‘The Old Hyde’) and then a full-on electrifying ‘Rock And Roll’ by of course, Led Zeppelin where she let the crowd sing the ‘Lonely Time’ line. “We’ll be back next year”, Debbie tells us. I for one can’t wait.

10/10

By Glenn Milligan

By Glenn Milligan

3rd and 4th Rows of Buckcherry Photos by Lady L

BACK TO THE SEA - West St. Live, Sheffield, Sunday 10th May, 2009

Calling in on my bike to see a gig at 6pm on a sunday evening feels a less than orthodox experience though it brings back memories of various matinee stints at Classic Rock Bar, back in its day. Sheffield metallers Back To The Sea are part of an all day indoor fest at West Street Live showing of countless local acts with something to promise.

This four piece reminisce many of the great contemp metal acts from about 1997 to present and Korn, Deftones and My Own Victim are three instant names. Pumped along by strong angsty vocal rants from Dan ‘Faru’ Farrow who carries the ol’ sing-a-bit-growl–a-bit-sing-a-bit.... routine off with respectable amplomb while a chap whom I instantly recognise as Daren the DJ from our beloved Corporation club impresses with his guitar work, B.T.T.S sail it without hitting any rocks.

I find myself relieved at the fact that today they are peddling an almost totally new set as the demo I had of their early stuff has gone sadly walkabouts so not knowing any of the numbers today will look acceptable. Attitude –laden throughout they keep their speeds assorted and throw in some quite tasty stoner metal grooves on many occasions too. My first encounter with them means having to taste them on further occasions but they’re a welcome fish on my hook with what I’ve had first time round.

Worth dashing right across in front of an oncoming Supertram for, at least.

7.5/10

By Dave Attrill

9/10

By Dave Attrill

Buckcherry/The Venus Gun/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

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

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
For those wishing to make up for the brevity of Deadline's supporting slot with Seb Bach, the Rotherham boys play a headlining show at the Classic Rock Bar on Eccelsall Rd this Friday (Dec 10th). For those yet to visit this venue, it's just 50yds from the roundabout by the Waitrose Supermarket, at the bottom of Ecclesall rd, (next to the Shell filling station).

- 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

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)

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

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

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