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Electric Boys - O2 Academy 2, Sheffield, Tuesday, 11th October, 2011 Set List: March Of The Spirits Intro/Psychedelic Eyes/Groovus Maximus/Father Popcorn/Zappa/Electrified/Mary In The Mystery World/The House Is Rockin'/Knee Deep In You/Rags To Riches/Angel In An Armoured Suit/Captain Of My Soul/All Lips 'N Hips. A band who mates of mine used to go on about in the late 80's that I discovered by hearing in rock clubs and on MTV when actually played reputable music - them were the days - unlike now!!! The nearest I ever got to seeing these guys was seeing their Frontman/Guitarist Conny Bloom and Bassist, Andy Christell in the last lineup of Hanoi Rocks in 2008 but now they've reformed with 1 other original member, Slim Martin on Guitar and new drummer Niclas Sigevall completing the line-up.
So at last I get to see the real thing along with a small handful of about 40 people who could be bothered to drag themselves out of the house on a Tuesday night. The fired up quartet treat it like it's an arena support slot or festival gig. Starting off with the exceptional funky rockness of 'Psychedelic Eyes' they impress immediately and even kick butt with some Zappa tributing - proving how good these guys still are.
There was plenty of funky bluesy and dare I say it, hair metal from the get go with the delightful small but lively crowd loving the entire set that included monumental tracks from their debut album, "Funkonmetalcarpet Ride' to cuts from their latest release, 'And Them Boys Done Swang'. The stand-out 'Rags To Riches' saw Conny having us singing with him and on our own in killer accapella with peeps being so enthusiastic they carry on without being enticed or asked at all.
Conny is mighty impressed and says, "I love you guys", to us all and we love the band too. There is indeed such warmth in the room tonight despite the small amount of fans in here who go wild to songs like the funkified classic 'Electrifed' and that obligatory anthem of theirs that is 'All Lips N' Hips' that closes the nights proceedings that gets everyone singing accapella for a mighty fine long time - man this was a joyous occasion.
Next time bring your friends as everyone went home fully overjoyed with a smile on their face. 10/10 By Glenn Milligan |
| Ade Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds - The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Friday 8th October, 2010 Well this is one of them gigs that I was really looking forward to and excited about - it's not everyday that you see a member of The Young Ones or Bottom at one of your favourite venues is it? Anyways, that's just what happened tonight. Ade's trio play punk songs acoustically in a folk style and at times they are so re-arranged that you don't even recognise what they are unless you really study the lyrics.
When Ade hits the stage it's mass applause when he addresses the sold out 400 capacity crowd and makes a joke about Sheffield being the City that was used as a film for the holocaust - wrong - it was 'Threads' and that was about Nuclear War Pre, Post and Aftermath - oh well -let him off for that. They open up with 'Anarchy In The UK' that is so gently done that even granny wouldn't take offence to - lol and go inot an array of other numbers by the likes of The Clash ('Heroes' & 'London Calling'); 'Up The Junction' (Squeeze); 'Once In A Lifetime' (Talking Heads) & 'The Model' (Kraftwerk).
After 3 or 4 songs though, the novelty wears off and it just appears that it's simply a going through the motions, no emotion, soulless cash-in gig as there's not of that great humour at all from the man who laughed us to tears with Vivian B*st*rd & Eddie which was extremely dissapointing to say the least. I heard their previous Sheffield visit was an absolute party and had people in hysterics with the banter in between the numbers - pity I wasn't at that one.
Ade ain't got the greatest voice and appears to talk through some of the songs just about whereas the other two guys are the true musicians of the band who give us some utterly incredible cittern, pipe, whistle (Troy Donockley) and fiddle playing (Andy Dinan), while Ade strums away on a mandolin and has a completely uninterested bland expression through the majority of the gig. In fact, some people are so disappointed with the show that they leave before it's finished - in their eyes it was. If he had given people their £15 or £18 worth then it would been a different story but it sadly wasn't to be.
That aside, they nearly saved the show with excellent arrangements of 'I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/Blitzkrieg Bop' by The Ramones and some amazing traditional reel jig stuff that they piped out in the encore. Some people loved it but I think it was due to to the fact that they were seeing Ade up there and simply ignored the fact that he wasn't giving them much back in return - he could have sang nursery rhymes and they'd still have cheered for more.
 
The show needed to have more personality and a big helping of humour as I have had a better night watching cover bands in a local pub. Bring something like Vivian and Eddie to the stage as a cricket bat or saucepan flying over the stage would have been great (ok - maybe I am going a bit ott there - lol) because this was really an unfortunate anti-climax of a show. I really wanted to be blown away by the gig but would have rather blown it up to be honest and I really hate to have to say that as well.
Quite simply, put the humour back into the show or better still ressurrect the brilliant 'Bad News' and bring them to the Boardwalk. 5/10 Review By Glenn Milligan Pix
By Bernard Froggatt |
| Elliot Minor/Hitomi/Volume Zero - Corporation, Sheffield 14th July 2010 It was a packed crowd in the small room for the 4 band members of Volume Zero who came on at quarter to eight. As they played their first song I knew it wasn’t going to be great since the frontgirls microphone was screeching when she sang which put me off a lot. The drumming was louder than everything else, the guitars were too quiet and the vocals were not to be heard, which put a downer on the band. They played songs from old e.p’s and forthcoming numbers as well. They tried getting the crowd moving ready for Hitomi and Elliot Minor but failed, except for these three guys from Birmingham that wouldn’t shut up whistling and cheering all the way through Volume Zero, that at the end I really wasn’t sure what I had just heard from the stage. During the set list I’m sure the singer just looked lost as she just pasted up and down the stage while the guitarist and bassist stood still jamming. The audio was terrible that made it difficult to tell whether I enjoyed them or not. Tonight, I was mostly looking forward to seeing Hitomi, as I saw them last whilst supporting Glamour Of The Kill. I didn’t have to wait long for them, who yet again put on an excellent performance. They played songs which were recognised from they’re last performance at Corporation, but what was a hit that night was cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Just Dance’, which had everyone and I mean everyone going, not to mention moving and singing. The audio was much better and loud, which was my kind of liking. The crowd seemed to have got into them and more excited about Hitomi who seemed to know how to get the crowd going, which was great as everyone was having a good time. They ended up playing for forty minutes and to be honest it was just pure amazing as they were enthusiastic and getting into it so much and looking back on it was the best band performance of the night Elliot Minor came on at ten past nine where everyone screamed so loud with a bigger crowed. They put on an ok performance, managed to get the crowd going mental, like there was no tomorrow. Personally, I was getting quite bored though as they sounded the same all through the show. The audio was ok the drums were loud but everything else was good, after a while we’d just had enough leaving before the end of the set – although other people seemed to enjoy it. 6/10
By Kayleigh Watson |
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David ‘Honeyboy’
Edwards – The Boardwalk, Wednesday 30th September, 2009
It’s not often you come head to head with an absolute legend of legends but tonight just happened to be one of those occasions. The 95 year old bluesman who has played with and hung out with many that include Robert Johnson, Pinetop Perkins, Muddy Waters, Sonnyboy Williamson and Keith Richards amongst many others played one of my favourite venues in Sheffield for the 2nd time running.
Alongside two guys who accompanied him on harmonica (Michael Frank, president of Earwig Music) and guitar (if only I could remember his name) for well over an hour and twenty minutes totally mesmerising the near on ¾ full house. The appreciation for his performances and his presence were so warm as well from the ecstatic audience who got a variety of his songs.
The set list included the classic ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ early on in the set – yes he wrote it!! Other highlights include a song dedicated to his old late buddy, Magic Slim and a number that reminded me of ‘Little Red Rooster’ with Honeyboy’s name in it.
Polishing the gig off with an old rock ‘n’ roll number, the peeps tonight were overjoyed by what they had seen and heard and even got the chance to meet him, have a photo and an autograph and buy a cd or 2. Hope he manages to get over to the UK again in the not too distant future.
A night that I’ll remember for years to come – what a great guy. Long Live David 'Honeyboy' Edwards - one of the last true great masters of the blues. 10/10 Review By Glenn Milligan Photos by Bernard Froggatt |
Electric
Six - O2 Academy Sheffield, Monday, 9th March, 2009
Remember Electric Six? The stars of “Gay Bar”, “High Voltage” and other such great hits??? Well, it turns out they’re promoting a new album ‘Flashy, which actually quite good. Calling the tour “Hittin’ The Walls and Workin’ The Middle”, with support on all dates from Tragedy, a Bee Gees metal tribute band. Yes, you read that right. Sounds like a good night out to me, NOT! If you are familiar with Electric Six, you know exactly what you are going to get, and I don’t mean any of that Gay sh*t on stage. Electric Six played in a small back room of the O2 Academy with around 300 people; well shall I say school and college kids, who dressed up in fluorescent gear that was more dazzling than the band themselves. It was obvious that the kids there were only there for ‘Gay Bar’ and ‘High Voltage’, these kids didn’t know anything else. Although the band played reasonably well, they became very boring to watch, I think this may have been down to the lack of movement on the stage (if you could call it a stage), which I believe restricted the whole bands performance. The new tracks and old tracks came across well but did lack enthusiasm and passion. A bigger stage may produce a better show? 5/10 By
Tony Watson |
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Electric Six/Tragedy
– O2 Academy, Sheffield, 9th March, 2009
It’s the 2nd time out this week for me at this venue, as was previously here last night for Hot Leg. The room is as packed as that was as well – spilling out over the sticky dance floor area on to sticky carpet on the outside of it. It’s rather a different audience tonight though – mainly male aged about 18-25 with a handful of girls as well – hardly a Rocker or Metal-Head in sight – much to our dismay and seemed more like a young students get-together than a concert. Up first were some local act from Doncaster that I didn't catch the nam of who played really annoying droning emo-ish indie stuff with irritating keyboard sounds that was like Rick Wakeman on bad acid or something– some liked ‘em. They seemed to have one main fan who appeared to be one of their mates anyway. I was completely baffled why the headliners were touring with a tribute as their main support but it turned out that they were label mates of Electric Six. Tragedy are a Heavy Metal Bee Gees Tribute who play the main disco songs from the band and warm up the audience into a crazy frenzy.
This is as camp as it gets and in no way shape or form could be taken one bit serious – not that it’s meant to be of course. They performed numbers like ‘Dancing’; ‘Night Fever’; ‘Midnight in Broadway’ that featured Quiot Riot’s ‘Bang Your Head’ much to my personal delight.
All the band handled vocal duties – well you need to – as the Bee Gees had so much going on. Excellent playing as well but I’d like to see what these guys and girls could do with regard original material – until then, thrash out to the Gibbs of Metal! Very cringey for the Metal lovers but it worked for the audience in here tonight who thrashed around like maniacs – like to see how long they’d last in a Slayer mosh-pit!
After checking out the new album ‘Flashy’ I kind of had an idea of what to expect from ‘Electric Six’ – a sorta debauched indie-pop-rock-electro phenomenon – if that makes any sense to you – hopefully it might. Since their incarnation, only frontman, Dicky Valentine remains not that it bothers him one bit who comes onstage with Red Capey outfit with the title of the new album on it – good promo man!
They received an immense reception from their fans when they came on stage and they were entertained in the wacky musical way that only the ‘Six know how to do. Dick had a few jackets on that he took off bit by bit – man, he must have been roasted. The set included old faves such as ‘Lenny Kravitz’ and of course ‘Danger Danger High Voltage’ that set the place on fire – sadly no woman on stage with flashing boobs or lighting up codpieces and hamsters – lol.
Best song of all in the set was ‘Gay Bar’ that myself and Tony got the impression was the one that most came to hear that closely followed by the sequel from the new album, simply entitled ‘Gay Bar Part 2’ – the former number getting the most reception from the fans here tonight.
Dick claimed that their drummer came from Sheffield and it was a homecoming for him who went by the name of Michael Alonso, if me old noggin serves me correctly and him take over the show at times with a drum solo or two.
Dick also informed us he wanted to set up his own college here because it was his fave town in the UK – it’s a City mate !! As well as mentioning Sheffield numerous times to get big cheers from the crowd, saying that he loved Def Leppard, Pulp, ABC and Hogg Boy but he wasn’t fussed about Artic Monkeys – well I can’t stand them either funnily enough – haha – so Dick got my vote on that.
Ok, so musically they weren’t exactly my cuppa tea but they definitely appeared to be for the crazy kids in here tonight. I reckon that the fans would have given them a good 8 but we give them around 6/10 tops as we’ve seen a lot better performances in general with regard to song quality and interest attention span.
So on this rare occasion it’s very much a split vote between us and their fans. By
Glenn Milligan |
| EXODUS/Evile/Gamma
Bomb – To say that I was heartbroken when I had to sacrifice Exodus’s headlining slot at the Bonded By Metal fest here four and half years back in order to catch the last bus is a mere understatement. So my reaction to seeing adverts for this miracle reappearance by the Bay area legends pinned up round my favourite rock n’ roll nightclub could be left to the imagination. Bringing two promising new British acts on tour hasn’t exactly transpired that bad an idea itself even if Evile and Gamma Bomb look at some stages during their sets like winning more attention than their American chums. Northern Ireland’s Gamma Bomb have a name that will get a certain German power metal act I might mention coming over for a ‘vord vith ze boys’ but that said, don’t sound far removed from Kai Hansen et al’s twin guitar assault, and of the punters making noise only a mere fraction are actually their family and friends. Evile are, bless ‘em from t’county o’Yorkshire and hell do they go down a storm. Their debut album has been whipped up like the proverbial bakery product cooked at very high temperature, and for once we have a support band whose songs I already know the words to. Sadly only allowing for five numbers, ‘First Blood’, ‘Thrasher’, the pulverising epic ‘We Who Are About To Die’ and ‘Bathe in Blood’ all fall amongst the favourites. Closer ‘Enter The Grave’ goes down a treat in particular as do the performances by some lad aged about fourteen who guests on rhythm guitar, allowing frontman Mat to detatch his mike from its stand and indulge in some good ol’ eighties thrash vocalist stage poses for a few minutes. A decent Tom Araya-esque range emanating from this geezer’s pipes pushes this band’s future potential even further up the slope and given the ferocity and by-the-book bludgeon this well touted young act deal in, we’ll be hearing a second album pretty soon. Time for the ‘E’-men themselves to stake centre stage, the speculation as to who is in the line-up - for those with access to the internet - is duly revealed although most are aware that they have a new singer on board. Looking like an overweight Ripper Owens or some bloke who just got kicked out of Crowbar, their current vocalist obviously has had a ball so far with these boys but that says less than it does for the three hundred with the confines of the Corp this evening. With a new album –yes, they’re still banging them out – to promote, these lads are still no idiots in registering the preferred choice of catalogue to dominate their live set list, hence nearly three quarters of ‘Bonded By Blood’ being included. Moshpits are still a hardy machine, that said, so later tunes like ‘Death Amphetamine’ and newie ‘Shovel Headed Killing Machine’ and a good two or three classics off ‘Fabulous Disaster’ still seem akin to that ordered by the doctor. I couldn’t think of a better way to warm people up for the vintage onslaught of ‘Lesson In Violence’, ‘Piranha’, ‘Metal Command’, ‘And Then There Were one’, and ‘Strike Of the Beast’. The new chap’s throat is as far removed from messrs Balloff (RIP) and Souza as it gets but our admiration of the latter’s likeness to a young James Hetfield is recognised by a brief cover of ‘Motorbreath’ (remember someone ELSE who was once in the Exodus ranks, folks?) . Sandwiching said classic come the other two that no Exodus set list can ever (almost legally speaking) be played without but this time of night, a room full of sweat-drenched metalheads, be their age 19 or 36, only see the title track from the their classic debut as a generous appetite wetter for the inevitable finale. The immortal anthem of many a metal club dancefloor worldwide, ‘Toxic Waltz’’s opening chords are attack and anyone who’d rather watch a gig standing still with arms folded and beer in hand is provided with a strong incentive to retire swiftly to the back of the room for the following five minutes. Quite why they don’t have the chorus again at the end of the song is still something I’ve never got around but it’s just as well - we are all a little bit cream-cracked after the preceding hour-and-half. A show worth waiting nearly another half-decade for, Exodus obviously were aware someone had missed out last time they’d visited Blighty but those to didn’t show up this time missed out six-fold with the blinding support sets that Evile and Gamma Bomb treated us to (hope to see you guys back as headliners before long) . A beautiful night for metal. 9.5/10 By Dave Attrill |
| Curtis Eller - The Washington, Sheffield, Wednesday April 5th, 2006 A small pub for a small guy and his lonesome bango but what a packed audience it was here tonight - like it was last October - the 20th, to be exact. Curtis Eller is an essential piece of Vaudevillian, original & authentic entertainment who is around in this painfully negative world today. He has the old fashioned elements of the silent movies in both looks and style (even having a song dedicated to one of his heroes 'Buster Keaton'). The humour is kinda unique as well - imagine quirky Woody Allen silliness with words and songs vibed up in a musical mesh that has elements of Ronnie Lane, John D. Loudermilk, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Loudon Wainwright III. I have never seen anyone command a crowd quite like Curtis - he enlightens all present in the pub with his dearful & tearful ditties such as 'Sugar in my coffin'; the 12-bar Cajun/Lane like 'Hide that Scar' and other songs about such subjects as Abraham Lincoln, Cocaine, Charlie the Chimp, Coney Island (which as he explained is fast dissappearing - so see it while you can - before they put a shopping mall on it), Pigeon Racing (complete with coo's that he invites us to do), Serpents & Performing Elephants. He plays and sings away throughout his set not to mention, performing high kicks without missing a note or beat, jumping around on his stool, wandering around the audience and asking us if he want a sad song or a happy song or if we wants him to swear during his songs - now not many would do that would they? He has built a decent cult fanbase in the UK over the last half a decade or so and comes back to see us at least twice a year. Curtis is such a friendly guy with an honest approach and I urge you to go see him wherever he happens to be playing, buy his cd's and one of his homemade pressed t-shirts too. He's a living legend, a New York City hero who is loved wherever he plugs in that bango and gives us a good old tune and a few yodels too - he will even get you singing along with him to that old standard 'The Red, Red Robin' and not many would manage that in this day and age. Curtis Eller is quite simply brilliant. 10/10 By Glenn Milligan |
| ENUFF
Z'NUFF + Crash Kelly + Drugdealer Cheerleader + Deadline -
Sheffield Corporation, Saturday November 22nd Not the first time I've seen Enuff Z'nuff twice in the same year though this time the two occasions are six months separated rather than six days. And as at the LA Guns show in April, Donnie Vie is again absent - has he actually left the band or what? - leaving lead guitarist Monaco as their new frontman. Having three support acts does its bit to compensate for the brevity of their set but even then Rotherham AOR sensations Deadline should have qualified for more than 20 minutes of set space. With singer Steve also now wielding a guitar on one of the numbers and the new material aired tonight impressing like the older material, from the off, the only let-down tonight is the non-inclusion of 'Love's a Battle' and that their talent seems wasted on the 10-15 so far inside the building at this time. Following Deadline onstage is another British act. Londoners, Drugdealer Cheerleader certainly make an impression for a band no one has heard of before and their formulaic but likeable sleaze metal makes them some friends tonight, their Keith Chegwin look-a-like frontman inviting an interesting bit of crowd participation along the way. Canadians Crash Kelly were only here two months earlier with the Quireboys and I can't help but wonder if their return is a tad demand-related. Though a four-man act tonight - the missing one of their three guitarists plays in Honeymoon Suite singer Johnny Dee's solo backing band, so that's a possible reason - they pull off a short but sweet set of cock n' roll proportions. If you still think you recognised that bassist of theirs but couldn't quite put a finger on whence from he came, he's the guitarist from fellow Canuck newcomers Robin Black & The Intergalactic Rockstars, who also came over in a with Zodiac Mindwarp (review on that gig soon). A busy time for all things Canadian and glammy. Finally after two an a half hours, Enuff Z-Nuff arrive and simply pick up [their instruments and get on with it, delivering a set of classics culled from their whole catalogue, including new, and all of the ninety-odd crammed inside the matchbox-sized Room 1 lap it up with glee, singing along all the way. Owning only two of their albums myself doesn't help matters too much but I still manage to enjoy those less familiar selections, if not only to fit in. After fifty-five minutes, the Chicago boys are gone, an encore is yearned but never happens and everyone leaves, disappointed but at least they still played. One of Americas' best rock n'roll bands, Enuff Z'Nuff have made a lot of friends in the UK in their eighteen year existence but with sets lasting only this long I'm wondering how long they'll keep all of them. 8/10 By Dave Attrill |
| ENTOMBED
& CATHEDRAL
- BRADFORD RIO'S, September 2001 As we arrived
in Bradford Rio's car park at 6pm, we were greeted with one tour bus
and a sound check that was blasting out of the side entrance, then a
little man by the name of Bobo shook our hands and said 'I'll see you
in a minute' to return and lead us onto the tour bus of Entombed. As
we entered the bus we were kindly greeted by the members of Entombed
as Bobo sorted out our passes for the gig, we sat talking to Jorgen
and Peter who made us very welcomed.
As we entered the dark dingy realms of the Rio's club, we stood back to watch an unknown band who played to about 50 people, I thought then either the people in Bradford aren't interested in watching backing bands or it's going to be a very quiet gig. As they left and Cathedral came on, there were still a lack of supporters - this was strange, it's Saturday night and where is everybody? The loyal supporters of Cathedral were shacking their heads and playing their air guitars in the middle of the hall to the slow hard hitting beat of this legendary band who churned out their favorite tracks to these select few supporters. The members of Entombed were also at the back of the hall watching, as Peter had told us earlier, 'I love watching Cathedral, they are one of my favourite bands'. Cathedral played for about 45 minutes and played really well as they tried so hard to get through to the brick wall, the problem was the crowed; they may as well have been manikins. Then came on the infamous Entombed, with seeing them earlier and talking to them, I wondered if I had wasted my time, the energy in the tour bus wasn't their, but hold on what was this, Entombed exploded into action waking the dead with 'Chief Rebel Angel'. Had someone pumped them up with a bit of whiz, was these the same guys who hadn't got an ounce of energy between them? It sure was.
They ripped through tracks as if they were going out of fashion, with a selection of old classics and new material that got the avid fans kicking the sh*t out of each other. What started off being a slow boring start to a show, finished off with one of the best thrash metal acts showing Bradford why they are still going strong. If it wasn't for such a small sh*t crowd who don't know how to enjoy themselves and an even poorer venue with the sound quality of a tin can this would have been an excellent gig. Entombed and Cathedral both put on a good show for what seemed to be a hand full of people, what a shame. 7/10 By Tony Watson |
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