G
|
Gunslinger - Boardwalk, Sheffield, Saturday, 7th June 2008 I haven't been to this prestigious Sheffield venue for a few months and what a surprise I had on the way there - Sheffield f*ck*ng council had f*ck*d up the road system and blocked off my usual way to the venue and I certainly werent going down the Wicker as the b*st*rds fined me for ending up in a bus lane - call it city progress - yeah right!
Anyways since the Sheffield road system is a complete dissary I ended up parking the other end of town and walking up - causing me to miss the 1st 5 minutes of the set - dammit! Well I finally rambled up there on foot with Gunslinger blasting out 'If the bombs don't get you, the bullets will' and I'm sure no-one was joking either.
The venue was a good half full as the live 'n' tight threesome comprising of Alan Davey (Lead Vocals/Rickenbacker Bass); James Tait (Guitar/Vocals) & Sunil Jolly (Drums/Percussion) blasted out the Boardwalk with a wholesome handful of songs that sounded like a mix of Heavy Hawkwind & Mighty Motorhead.
Since Alan Davey was the bassist in Hawkwind, not to mention his main predecessor Lemmy Kilminster it's hardly surprising - with both guys basswork being uncannily similar - they even play the same makes as well! Hey, ironically enough I actually found out about the gig as I was handed a flyer for it outside a venue after one of the said bands gigs of recent - can't thank you enough fella.
To say that Gunsliger are loud tonight would be a complete understatement - in fact anyone who stands directly in front of those speakers must have a deathwish - there's always a few of those crazy peeps though - oh well, their ears - haha.
Davey's six armed deal entertained us or should I say deafended us for a good healthy 50+ mins or so with numbers from the current album 'Earthquake In E-Minor' - you're not kidding there are you buddy with highlights being the womans orgasm tune he wrote that he claimed to know a lot about called 'Night Song' because after they have reached it, they sing a little tune.
Alan even asked if anyone knew anything about the woman's orgasm - lol - with one old crusty hippy asking him to repeat the question again that was rather funny to say the least. Other highlights in the set included the 6 minute+ epic 'Warhorse' in that saw a dancer get up on stage and strut her stuff around Mr. D then were other notable numbers like 'Cyanide'; 'Savage Love', 'Blitzkrieg Baby' & 'Going For The Kill' that were all very much in true H & M stylings.
"Thankyou very crutch" or Thankyou very crutchly", Alan says to us after many of the songs had been performed as Gunslinger recieve a well-deserved applause - they totally seem to have won over many of the crowd who were there to see a well known tribute act that these 3 lads were supporting. In fact a couple of my mates actually said they came down specifically to see 'Gunslinger' and preferred them as well - think they got their flyer after the same gig as me as well - haha.
No doubt like many I am really looking forward to seeing this powerful trio return to Sheffield - I reckon they made some new fans and friends too. 9/10 By Glenn Milligan
|
| Gallhammer/The
Sontaran Experiment/We Are Colossus – A very wet Saturday night saw Gallhammer’s first Birmingham show – sadly only about 150 could be bothered to turn out to see an absolutely extraordinary performance. Birmingham’s We Are Colossus kicked off with a fine thirty minute set of straightforward death metal. Great to see Viv Slaughter, Mika Penetrator and Risa Reaper watching the set from the middle of the crowd – Gallhammer have thankfully yet to cultivate any kind of star trip. 6/10 Named after a 1975 Dr Who episode, The Sontaran Experiment provided thirty minutes of cacophonous doom interspersed with death blast beats and vicious electronica. Somewhat hard to listen to, but occasionally impressive nonetheless. 6/10
Gallhammer 9:20 -10:15 Joy Division never really escaped from having to set their own instruments up, and it was that band that most readily came to mind when Gallhammer busily re-arranged the stage following the experiment. Launching into a fifty minute set to the accompaniment of the flashes of four photographers from national rock mags, Gallhammer powered through some of the most brutal songs from new release ‘Ill Innocence’ as well as treating us to two or three of the particularly malevolent tunes from ‘Gloomy Lights’. The novelty of three apparent extras from a Japanese horror movie playing black doom crust lasts about thirty seconds – then you realise that the band are absolutely outstanding. Reaching what us Grateful Dead fans like to (incredibly pretentiously) refer to as ‘The Zone’ (where the music takes on a life of its own) once in a show is memorable. It has been about four years seen I last saw it happen, during ‘Ritual’ at a Yes show. Suffice to say that Gallhammer entered the zone three times tonight. Probably even more atmospheric than their heroes Celtic Frost, Gallhammer created a brutal vision of a world gone hideously wrong. No encore was performed; any more would have been just too much. Try to see this amazing band. 10/10 By Roy Evans |
| GOTTHARD + Crimes Of Passion – Corporation, Sheffield,17th November 2007 The signs that AOR’s appeal is on the uphill slant again are alarmingly clear tonight as the thick end of 500 punters fill out the Corp’s ‘big’ room for Swiss veterans Gotthard. Which of course guarantees local goliaths Crimes Of Passion a great crowd, and this they are too, to a great band whose debut album currently awaits release. Taste of what’s to come is brought to us with three interesting tracks, mostly showing an even harder edge (a la ‘Pride’ – era White Lion) to the sound established on last year’s three-track EP, aired here in its entirety itself, and a blinding cover of Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’ makes up the remainder of their slot-space, though early in the set as supposed to acting as closing number.
Without wishing to offend any Gotthard-ites reading, I am actually a recent convert to these guys myself although one or two of their numbers did sound familiar when I played their live disc recently. The two opening cuts are not amongst the seventeen on said record but are both belters and the Swiss sextet sound like they are loving it as much as we are.
Their first ever visit to Sheffield may be the reason for such a well-sold show this evening if not the reason relating to the promising future for melodic hard rock as mentioned earlier herein and when ‘Top Of The World’, the first song of the night I happen to recognise from record sets in, one gets the sensation of being in an arena given the volume of cheering.
Most of the remainder of the show comprises of classics with which I am thankfully as familiar as the rest, with Harem Scarem - meets –Whitesnake like numbers such as ‘I Wonder’, ‘Let It Be’, ‘One Life One Soul’ and bluesy rockers ‘Sister Moon’ and ‘Mountain Mama’, all firm faves of mine from the start.
Their stage presence leaves nothing to desire with their frontman the archetypal hair-rocker with some truly Danny Vaughn/Seb Bach body postures throughout and it goes well with nearly all of the mid-tempo tunes.
‘Heaven’ however is one of the most stunning AOR ballads I have encountered, even if its chorus borrows scandalously from Savage Garden’s ‘Truly Madly Deeply’.
Gotthard are also strong with the handling of covers, which provide,
along with their resident self-penned groover ‘Lift U up’
the central sing-along stints of the night. Deep Purple’s ‘Hush’ is good to hear, with our without one but one of the highlights of the evening – and also a SECOND encore - is their run at Manfred Mann classic Mighty Quinn’.
At over an hour and fifty, this is the longest show I have ever seen at this venue, even longer than Tyla’s surprisingly record-length gig the previous week but these lads have a lot to owe the folks of South Yorkshire with their live debut on these particular soils, and what a mighty way to start, this has been for them.
Only a recently turned fan myself, as I said, I still savoured every minute from a great European act who put on just as good a show as most half-decent Brit and Stateside outfits on the graft at the moment, with not a so-so or sub-standard number anywhere on their set. Swiss produce that comes even sweeter than their chocolate.
Lovely stuff. 10/10
By Dave Attrill |
| GMT – The Boardwalk, Sheffield, 2nd November, 2007 Set List: Wild West/Star/Ball & Chain/Cannonball/Down To Here/Can’t Beat Rock ‘N’ Roll/Rocky Road/Longer Than Tomorrow/Bitter & Twisted/Bass Solo/Summerland/ Drum Solo/New Orleans/Smoke On The Water. Encore: Fire. It’s Friday night and it just ain’t right without a big slab of rock ‘n’ roll which is exactly what is on the menu in The Boardwalk tonight – a venue that’s one of my favourite haunts to say the least.GMT are the band in question tonight – an outfit that you can call a ‘supergroup’ without a chance of anyone’s ego imploding, dissolving or blowing up the band at all.
So what do the G, M and T stand for then – well G is the first letter of the surname of the Drummer, Robin Guy who used to play in a wacky whatever music they fancied doing for that few seconds outfit called Sack Trip with Yngwie Malmsteen and ex-Rainbow frontman, Doogie White.
Man, what a drummer – reminds me of Patrick Johansson in looks and style (hey, funnily enough that’s Yngwies drummer) and elements of Eric Singer, Booby Arechiga and Stet Howland – especially in during his solo – in which he stopped and gota guy at the front of the stage who was shouting to be quiet – and followed up with a very rock jazz solo – one of the best I have ever seen.
The M part of the band is no other than larger than life Bassist and well-famous beard and shades wearer John McCoy who the proper hardcore Rock & Metal fans will immediately recognise from Gillan, Mammoth, Samson & his own band, McCoy. He’s got a wacky laid back dry sense of humour onstage and often takes the p*ss out of the T member of the band – well they’ve each other for years so why not!
A brilliant player who puts them low notes exactly where they are need – with plenty some distortive Lemmy-like fuzz at times too. He played 2 basses tonight – the most interesting of which was the one that was shaped like a elephant, well Mammath actually that came complete with tusks and a neck shaped like a trunk that breathed smoke. That was f*ck*n’ cool – now there ain’t many of them knockin’ about – on a stage or in the electric jungle.
The T man is none other than guitarist and vocalist, Bernie Torme who was a one-time member of Ozzy Osbourne bamd who replaced Randy Rhoads and also played in Gillan with John McCoy, not to mention being a solo artist and part of Desperadoes with Dee Snider a supergroup that never took off due to Record Company hassles.
Man, he must have had that light blue Fender guitar since way back when judging by the amount of paint that’s come off it and still wearing off bit by bit. Nice job on the vocals as well my friend – that really does take some doing when all the instruments are piped up to 11 or maybe 12!!
This was a set of ravaging Virtuoso Rock N Roll all the way through with a slight bit of quietness in between the songs – highlights of the set included the highly charged ‘Cannonball’; the Celtic riffing ‘Rocky Road (from Dublin)’; the foot-stompin’, raise your fist in the air ‘Can’t beat Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and the atmospheric, touching ballad ‘Summerland'.
They even 2 covers performed by Gillan in their heyday – these being ‘New Orleans’ and Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’ – someone even shouted for this one – I wonder if they had been reading the set list. Of course, no gig is properly complete without an encore, no they sadly didn’t play Mammoth’s ‘Fatman’ but instead opted for a killer rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Fire’ that really gave Bernie the opportunity to burn it up in front of our very eyes.
Throughout the gig, each and every one of the members appeared to be having a good time – just wish that there was more excitement and enthusiasm amongst the crowd – it was Friday and your at The Boardwalk – not a f*ck*n’ funeral or seeing the Bank Manager about your mortgage repayments – liven up Sheffield and get with it becuse as Bernie rightfully put it – ‘You can’t beat Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
You should have been there! – shame on you for not coming. 8.5/10 By Glenn Milligan |
| Genesis – Olympic Park, Munchen, Tuesday 10th July, 2007 Set List
– Encores - I Can’t Dance/Carpet Crawl
Windy as
hell in the stadium, and it began to pour with serious rain at 7. For
an hour. Whoever designed the Olympic Stadium was a fool, as he forgot
the roof. Collins’ first word to the crowd was ‘Scheieregen’, proving that he still knows how to work them. The highlight of the early set was the keyboard solo from ‘The Cinema Show’, which was still breath-taking after 30 years. ‘Afterglow’ was fantastic, and the playing on ‘Home by the Sea’ was worth the admission price. Stuermer’s solo on ‘Firth of Fifth’ was brilliant, and ‘Mama’ and ‘Ripples’ sat together well. ‘Domino’ kept us warm and dancing, or at least as warm as you can be when you are soaked to the skin. ‘Invisible Touch’ closed the main set with several salvoes of fireworks. Encores were ‘I Can’t Dance’ and ‘Carpet Crawl’, a slightly odd way to end a superb show. It only took 35 minutes to get back to the warmth of the hotel which was something of a relief from the rain.
By Roy Evans |
| Guns ‘N’ Roses/Sebastian Bach/Rose Tattoo – Acer Arena, Sydney, NSW, Australia, June 23rd, 2007 First
of all I want to thank Glenn to give me opportunity for writing review
on his site. The ‘GN'R Chinese Democracy World Tour’ show have should started at 8:00pm but there was a half an hour delay - It started at 8:30 with opening act, Rose Tattoo. At around 9:45 Sebastian Bach started to sing with his band. Cameras ware not allowed on that concert but Sebastian announced that every one could capture videos for ‘You Tube’ and almost all the stadium was lighting from camera flash. Guns N' Roses did delay a bit before their performance, they ware suppose to start around 10:30pm but they started around 12am. There was voice coming from the background- ' 1 2 3 4'.... which make the environment so crazy. All the people ware waiting for Axl and his band. As I noticed majority of audiences were old, I mean they ware of 35-40 year old and that was their second GUNS N' ROSES world tour after 14 years. Just around 12am lights went down and a strong intro of welcome to the jungle began...then AXL ROSE and his performance was mind blowing... Axl was looking nice, he appeared with black goggles, which was strange at night, but he is different. He performed almost all the old hits. 14,000 tickets ware sold for that night only and all the people ware getting paid for their money. Some of the crazy fans ware thrown out of the hall because they ware really crazy. I think they should be crazy after all that was rock concert from a crazy front man. I was also dressed crazily, I was wearing a GN’R hoodie and over that a white t-shirt on which I wrote all the GN’R song title. 'Knocking on haven's door' has been changed, I mean musically - now it sound like 'Avrill's version'. Axl played piano solo and started 'November Rain' and the suddenly environment became quite. Axl perform this song so nicely, and I noticed he was full of emotion. 'Sweet child o' mine', 'Mr. Brownstone', 'Live And Let Die’, ‘You could be mine' and 'Patience’ were other hits performed that night as well. 'Don't Cry' began with another guitar solo by Ron where Dizzy ‘n’ Robin also played solos. After 'Nightrain' Axl said ‘good-night’ and he was gone. I didn’t expect them to play anymore and started to south 'GUNS N' ROSES'. After a while Axl appeared back and continued the train. ‘My Mitchell’ was then performed with Sebastian Bach. And another song was performed with 'Rose Tattoo'. As I remember, 3 new songs were aired but I can’t remember the names off-hand! The concert was over with a mind-blowing 'Paradise City' performance. There were lots of firework effects and the entire environment was like a paradise. After that song they finished but again Axl came back with a cup of coffee and began to say: ‘Aussi aussi aussi...’ and the masses were replying: ‘Oi.Oi.Oi’... I saw his face clearly that time and I can say he was so happy. Altogether the night was fabulous for all and he was like a different man since G’N'R broke-up all those many moons ago. The lead guitar solos were a little-bit different on the songs than they were in the Appetite & Illusion days of the band - maybe Axl wanted to make a change on them or maybe the new guitarists can't play like the previous members. As I remember he had 4 costume changes during whole concert... I saw 3 white limos heading out of the arena whicvh I presume was the band.
Live and Let Live By Pukar
Axl Rose (from Nepal, via Australia) |
|
GUNS 'n' ROSES + Bullet
For My Valentine + Sebastian Bach -
Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, Tuesday July 18th 2006 OK, for the last time, yes it is only Axl left, but as the words ‘Guns n’ Roses’ were a darn sight likely to shift a much larger portion of the 12000 available tickets, so effin’ well be it. A couple of little things ruined the evening at the start, as I turned up to find that ex-Skid Row shrieker Sebastian Bach had also been added to the bill and this, as I find out from a helpful member for staff has resulted in the Gunners set being now due to start at about ten o’clock. Trying to enjoy the two songs I manage not to miss, ‘Monkey Business’ and immortal anarchy anthem ‘Youth Gone Wild’ proves hard whilst worrying about my transport plans home for later, so bumping into a few mates in the concourse helps keep my mind on the reason I’ve travelled down to Broughton Lane this night. Present day metal screamers Bullet For My Valentine do a decent job –of driving about half those on the floor towards the bar – but fro those who stay, it’s a worthy 40 minutes, their stuff coming over as some sort of trad metal rehash albeit with vocals not unlike those of Swedish metal kings In Flames. And so they finish and the purists pour back in. And then, yes, boys and girls…. The time has come. The lights drop and after a teaser stop-start with the intro riff, a deafening barrage of fireworks heralds a pounding rendition of ‘Welcome To the Jungle’, the first of an opening brace off ‘Appetite For Destruction’ and the whole floor becomes a giant trampoline, the major line-up fluctuations that have troubled Guns ‘n Roses over the last 12 years swiftly become of no concern from this moment on. Following with ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘Mr Brownstone’, Axl Rose who I’m not alone in thinking now looks like Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall gyrates along to the tunes the same way he did over a decade back, obviously a chap in a rare good mood on stage for once. Finally changing album we get ‘Live And Let Die’ the first of a very measly quantity of ‘Use Your Illusion’ material on the menu today then much to everyone’s disbelief he walks off for five minutes and the lights on the stage darken. Thankfully, as the booing loudens over the cheers for them to return, the first of (too) many solos by their various new guitarists takes place before the rest of the lads return and rip into ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ and of course another tune no GNR set is complete without, ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’, something this band have been doing for a fair ol’ while now. A solo from the other surviving mainstay, Dizzy Reed ensues, much more digestible than the solos by the three various unknowns now accounting for their guitarists as does a new song from the mythical ‘Chinese Democracy’ album which will hopefully see the light of day this year. Terminator 2 credit theme ‘You Could Be Mine’ follows, giving me little time to hear the overall reactions then another solo drowns the applause to that too but smiles on almost every face in sight sum up things so far. After hitting back hard with ‘Outta Get Me’, it’s time for Axl to man the piano stool for that unforgettable ivory-bashing epic ‘November Rain - in its full nine-minute entirety. By this time there seems to me that there is a timetable of two songs- then a solo running throughout the set as another of the new recruits is left to his own devices for a couple of minutes - if I remember rightly, this fella performs a Christine Aguilera song on his strings, which is the only time one of her tunes has been rendered listenable. A guest appearance by Seb Bach for ‘My Michelle’ as he had done at Download a month earlier cheers up those who’d missed his unadvertised set tonight and then ‘Think About You’ keeps everyone on their toes. Then as we are about to expect to endure another solo, we don’t…. but a fourth guitarist and a very familiar one - Mr I. Stradlin - arrives and joins them for an emotional trip down the years with ‘Patience’ before they finish off with ‘Night Train’ and remaining GNR cornerstone ‘Paradise City’. Seemingly quite less than cream-crackered, the crowd duly roar for more with no hesitation but as all seven men unite stage front and bow out to Axl’s immortal sign-off of ‘Good f***in’ Night!” some get the impression that they will not be coming back out again shortly. And sadly right we are, but let’s not be ungrateful, I mean they’ve given us two hours as it is - I mean he did (right Axl?). I’ve been a fan of the Gunners for nearly fifteen years, during which time this has been their only visit to Steel City. Let’s hope that with Axl’s surprisingly cool headed manner tonight, it won’t be the last. Everyone misses the original line-up obviously but never fails to appreciate the definitive material, no matter who’s standing up there strumming merrily away behind him. If you’d cared to count them, no fewer than nine songs from ‘Appetite…’ were aired this evening compared with only four off the ‘U.Y.I.’ platters with demonstrates the effect the devotion from their older fans has on the choice of tunes for the tour. A magic night many have waited a life time for, the most dangerous band in the world have still proven a fighting force in here 2006 as largely testified by a sell-out Sheffield crowd all having prepared to shell out the astronomical ticket price (about 40 quid) for the privilege. Finishing this late at night as I said earlier wasn’t likely to have gone down too well with those who hadn’t had the use of a car today but most, including me, thought it well worth this particular one-off. Hopefully next time they’ll bring Velvet Revolver with them too. (Now that would be interesting!!! – Ed.) 9.5/10 By Dave Attrill |
GIRLSCHOOL + Motorheadache - Sheffield Corporation, Saturday 3rd July 2004 Brit metal veterans Girlschool have their surviving followers dusting down the leathers once more. Sporting a newer guitarist called Jackie (who in '04 celebrates 5 years in the band), the girls get on stage and get down to it, shredding out their timeless Motorhead influenced-noise for seventy minutes without flinching. Diminutive frontwoman Kim McAuliffe looks and sounds healthy and energetic for her age, still delivering her full vocal aggression and the tiny 70-strong gathering keep up the momentum as every classic comes out with a couple or so new tunes also gelling. With a new album imminent, it appears crystal clear that as with a lot of other recently returned heroes, life today is not just confined to appearances on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' and a strong display from the ladies of loudness tonight mends any damage time may have done. Support appropriately comes from Sheffield's Motorheadache, the country's only homage act to Lemmy and boys and their equally relentless set even sees McAuliffe, albeit sans guitar, popping up for a tune ('Please don't touch' done live for the first time ever on-stage by Kim). A pristine evening for fans of classic British metal and an impressive number of younger fans in attendance too. Obviously some were willing to pay to be educated tonight. 8/10 By Dave Attrill |
| GODFLESH - NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY, November 5th, 2001 |
