9/10

By Dave Attrill

By Roy Evans

Ian McLagan & The Bump Band -

Boardwalk, Sheffield, Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Well I happened to be at my buddies place in Orlando in '04 when Ian and the guys were here the 1st time around at this classic Sheffield venue but wasn't missing the opportunity this time around. It was a big pity that the turn-out wasn't too good though but this is happening all over the cities venues at this point in time.

Coming onstage with The Bump Band, Mac gets a big applause from those who made the spot on decision on coming out to venture out to see the Small Faces/Face ebony and ivory playing rock legend. Plenty of songs from the newly released album 'Never Say Never' including the title track itself, 'I'm hot, you're cool'; the bluesy 'I will follow' and the reggaeness of 'A little black number'.

Ian proves his passion for performing fresh material is as heartfelt for him as hammering out well known tunes such as 'Cindy Incidentally' that he explained to us was basically 'Memphis' played backwards.

He's insistent on using his old organ, synth and leslie speaker and it was rather irritating for Mac at times when the horns kept slowing down although he did joke about the fact.

Tonight the main man had a throat infection which hoarsed his voice more and drank hot water, honey and lemon throughout to keep him going, joking he would be hitting the whiskey later.

Mac said that Noel Gallagher told him that many people can only dream of playing in a classic band but this jammy f*cker played in two, well actually he played in three - the 3rd one being The Bump band.

It was good that The Bump Band members were introduced early on in the night and from the shortest to the tallest who are Don Harvey (Drums), a dude who Ronnie Lane introduced Mac to in 1990 who also played with or recorded with Joe Ely, Billy Bragg and Charlie Sexton and many more.

Then there's Mark Andes (Bass) who was a founding member of Canned Heat, Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, not to mention having a 10 year stint with Heart then Scrappy Jud Newcomb (of The Resentments) who releases albums in his own right with a new one out right now entitled 'Ride The High Country'.

Homage and tribute was paid to the late, great Ronnie Lane and the Faces days. It really was emotional when the 'Ooh La La' album track that Plonk sung on - this being the fine 'Glad & Sorry' with its gorgious, adorable organ riff. Then later on, 'Spiritual Man' - a song that was left unused that was going to be recorded to commemorate Ronnie's 60th Birthday but sadly died of MS before he reached his 60th decade.

They were warmly received - well apart from some drunk fan not being quiet through 'Spiritual Man' which p*ss*d Mac off and many others to say the least - and it's hardly surprising either - since Ronnie was one of his best friends. Ian is full of great stories and can talk for England and Austin, Texas where he has lived since 1994.

He's not a great fan of record companies and major labels these days as he says they are a bunch of greedy accountants who don't care about artists or their music - only the money they can make out of them, laughing that he went to see the one he was signed he found out they had moved office but had failed to tell him. F*ck 'em, he says.

Mac ain't a big fan of certain pop acts doing the rounds to say the least because he considers they have no real talent and simply go into the studio sing a few lines and do a silly little dance routine. Reality Music shows aren't at the top of his tv watching list either saying that the industry loves them because they are cheap to make.

It would be a crime not to mention Steve Marriott who Mac said had the most powerful voice, especially when he was about 15 or 16 and told us that Paul Weller said to him that 'Get Yourself Together' was his favourite Small Faces number. Fact is, is that Ian coudn't even remember the song at that particular moment in time and went on to explain that it was a B-side of one of their hits and was simply forgotten by them.

Then he and the Bumb Band played it for us much to our absolute joy. He said instrumentals were made up on the spot in those days to keep their infamous Manager, Don Arden happy abit like what they did tonight when strings needed adjusting on Scrappy and Mark's Axes.

Many highlights were played that included the humourous caught in the act nearly number that Ronnie Lane wrote in the Faces days - yep the outstanding 'You're So Rude' - wet your socks and pretend we got caught in the rain! - Brilliant! Or what about the awesome 'Little Girl - co-wrote with Ronnie Wood or 'Judy Judy Judy' - both from his 'Bump In The Night' album.

The night ended with one of Ronnie Lane's last ever songs, 'Kushty Rhye' (from Lane's 'See Me' album) with the encore song being 'Little Troublemaker' where Mr. Mac explaining he couldn't see the point in going off-stage and coming back on again and would sooner stop where they were and pleasure us with the 'Troublemaker' song.

An excellent gig which saw the band come out and meet the fans after with Mac having his picture with us and signing albums that had been specially brought in or bought on the night. A special happening that will be forever treasured in memory - I can't wait to see Ian and the Bump Band again - in Austin, Texas maybe?

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force –

Carling Academy, Sheffield, Sunday 13th July, 2008

Set List – Rising Force/Crown Of Thorns/Bandiniere/Rise Up/Pag/Adagio/Far Beyond The Sun/I Am A Viking/Dreaming/Gates Of Babylon/Baroque & Roll/Demon Driver/Trilogy-Guitar Solo/Cherokee Warrior/The Fugue/You Don't Remember (I'll Never Forget).

Encore – Black Star/I See The Light Tonight.

He's back – the Swedish Guitar God and he ain't played Sheffield for a numerous amount of years. It sure is a spot-on spectacle to witness the Neo-Classical Maestro with his Rising Force back in Steel City again.

I last saw him 5 years ago at Mean Fiddler, London and it's great to see him in a larger venue that once housed a legendary rock disco on a Monday night – a fitting place indeed.

It was as loud as hell in here and it ain't no surprise with a wall of Marshalls filling the back of the stage – giving just enough room for Patrick and his double bass drum kit.

In Rising Force with Mr. Malmsteen are mainstay Patrick Johnsson (Drums) and 3 new guys who complete the line-up comprising of Michael Troy (Keyboards); Tim 'Ripper' Owens (Vocals) and Bjorn Englen (Bass).

It's one hell of a powerful set-up, not that it wasn't last time – in fact this is the 3rd band I have seen Ripper in – the other two being Iced Earth & Beyond Fear.

Believe me, Tim's made the right choice joing Yngwie as the two of them totally complement each other without an ego-clash in site and there are beaming smiles throughout a lot of the gig from Malmsteen and Owens throughout a lot of the gig and seem in awe of each others talent.

He's a really great singer as well as many were no doubt afraid that it would be a lot of Screaming from the ex-Priest fronter – but no, Ripper proved us wrong which became totally apparent in highlights such as 'Rising Force'; 'I See The Light Tonight' and 'You Don't Remember (I'll Never Forget) where his voice was soaring high in full power, filling the room with pure vocal glory. He has a great sense of humour too – taunting us with a follow Ripper routine and working out which sides of the hall have the best voices.

As ever Yngwie was a complete showman, sweetpicking, soloing a waling away, posing in a variety of postions, ginning away, tossing and throwing us plectrums after around 20 seconds of plucking with each one – I caught a few myself – cool white ones with his signature in black – in fact one of them bounced off my head while I was taking photos – nice one.

I think YJH made a great choice with the set list as it featured plenty of older songs such as 'Demon Driver' & 'Far Beyond The Sun' newer material like 'Rise Up'; a brilliant cover of Yngwie's favourite Rainbow number, 'Gates of Babylon' and some absolutely stand-out classical playing in the form of some Paginini – total virtuoso brilliance and excellence for the full 90 minute set.

Love the acoustic solo's that Yngwie was playing with 'Black Star' being on of the major highlights that was featured in the encore. Tell you what, he kept his tech busy as he was forever getting sets of pleccies ready for him and catching his signature strats guitars after some of the songs.Patrick & Michael got the chance to perform some exceeding great solos too – giving the rest of the band a well deserved chill for a moment.

Yngwie absolutely mesmerized everyone and he makes it look so easy – his guitar playing is as intricate as hell – well let's be completely honest – he is most definitely the worlds best guitarist.

His fingers simply go anywhere on the fretboard in split-seconds and everything musical interlude is absolutely note-perfect and even plays the six string on the back of his shoulders not to mention runbbing the body with his ass – much to the amusement of everyone including the Supreme Swede himself.

How he manages to put on such an out-of-this world performance defies anything and even sings 'Cherokee Warrior' for us as well – he always sticks a number in to wrap his bellowing baritone vocals around and it's cool to see which one he's gonna pick for the show.

It was nice to see Michael and Yngwie solo together on some classical foray, showing that it don't have to be heavy rock or metal to be visually and audibly impressive.

It was immense to hear all the screams for both Ripper and Yngwie and the two artists relished in the sheer warmth from the fans throughout the gig. The only way of really getting it was simply by being there as it really was a concert that no-one should have missed. Most definately an outstanding show that all artists should aim to match.

I can't wait to hear what the new 'Rising Force' album is going to be like if this powerful performance is anything to go by. A concert that easily deserves full marks.

10/10

By Glenn Milligan

MAGNUM/Awake -

Carling Academy, Sheffield, Monday, 14th May

Is it really over ten years since I last walked into the doorway of this decrepit looking white square building on the a**e end of Arundel Gate one fine Monday evening? Doesn’t seem it, though ironically my first visit to the then newly opened Corporation down the road was on the pretence of seeing Hard Rain, an act formed by the two key members of tonight’s headlining act during their five-year sabbatical.

Bob Catley hasn’t exactly been a stranger to Sheffield floors since, with five solo visits but this is the first time in about fifteen years that he has brought Tony Clarkin and the other other three fifths of the ten legged melodic rock monster that is Magnum with him. Getting us excited for the night’s proceedings are prog metal newcomers Awake, whose Dream Theater-meets-Enchant inspired sound wins us over from the off. Their debut CD sees a few copies sold before the Cambridge quintet’s slot has even finished, me being one of such kind people, and when you who missed out tonight, find chance to listen to their material elsewhere , you might also be likely to have your first available tenner out ready.

The clock strikes nine and the headliners arrive. ‘Back To Earth’ is a coincidentally appropriate opening number for this tour as it was very same cut they kicked off with the last time they toured in promotion of the ‘Wings Of Heaven’ album, celebrating its 20 anniversary at present. No songs from ‘W.O.H.’ itself coming just yet tonight, we’re next into ‘When We Were Younger’ from last year’s blinding ‘Princess Alice....’ LP and then an unlikely inclusion in the shape of ‘We All Need To Be Loved’, though it was the ‘Rock Art Tour’ that had last brought the boys to Steel City.

Old gems can’t be left in the chest all night obviously so the double assault of ‘Midnight’ and ‘Vigilante’ makes up for the wait the older followers have had to endure. Having taken the liberty of playing another newie, the excellent ‘Dragons Are Real’, the balancing is returned with ‘The Spirit’ and the obligatory sing-a-long. Amusingly, as usual when the tune stops for dead air for about five seconds following the second chorus, everyone claps only for the rest of the lads to return centre stage and kick into the electric bit that most thought they had now dispensed with for good.

A choice fave or two later and then one of the tunes I have been waiting to hear all night, ‘Days Of No Trust’ finally kicks in’. The slightly restyled favourite which now goes quiet from the break halfway along the second verse to align with the guitarless part of the chorus pays dividends in allowing the crowd their part and this tune is set to become Magnum’s answer to ‘Seek And Destroy’ in the live arena. Waiting with bated breath to see if ‘Wild Swan’ will follow, it surely does, the other live mainstay from ‘Wings’ an ever powerful epic number and one of mr Clarkin’s most ingenious compositions, bar few. The question of wether the entire of their legendary 88 long player will feature again tonight becomes closer to being answered as ‘Start Talking Love’ follows and then hearing ‘One Step Away’ straight seals the answer.

‘Must have Been Love’, another one-time chart entry for the boys hasn’t been heard live for sometime prior to this tour and is welcomed as loudly as the preceding four tunes. ‘Different World’ is one song from the album I am tonight to have heard live for the first time, apart from the recent live CD of course and the immense wave of lipsynching amongst the gatherings forecast that it won’t be a one-off for this tour only. ‘Pray-For The Day’ is that other good ol’ sing-a-long-Catley chestnut even if the public’s main vocal part comes before the song itself starts, remember. A song we’ve all been praying for the day they’d finally pick up the muscle to perform onstage again is the masterwork that is album closer ‘Don’t Wake The Lion’. The ten-and-a-half minute monstrosity is obviously seen as a challenge for Al Barrow and particularly for Thunder man Harry James who has suddenly reappeared on the stool in place of Jimmy Copley (on the tour that is, not mid set) but with the firm guidance of the three mainstays every note of the way, this more than more-than welcome inclusion to the set list is kept as every one wishes to hear it.

That chilling keys/bass build up to the cunningly incorporated ‘sub-song’ ‘Too Old To Die Young’ still succeeds in doing its effective thing and indeed the impression that a large toothsome feline is about to be aroused from slumber doesn’t go unfelt by everyone. Excusing the pun.if you can but the roar from across the room as the closing notes fade out to Harry’s thundering drum ripple (two of them in one line, Dave, you’re spoiling us here - Ed) says less than it all if the smile plastered over the face of Mr Catley is anything to go by. Obviously convinced we’ve got the strength for a couple more, they return to strain it out of us with a closing double assault of ‘Kingdom of Madness’ and ‘All Englands Eyes’ but not out of themselves.

For once the crowd can rightly forgive their non-inclusion of ‘Storyteller’s Night’, ‘How Far Jerusalem’ and ‘Just Like An Arrow’ tonight as the wear might have just about shown coming straight after what’s just gone this evening. And we can all furtherly so forgive Bob Catley and Tony Clarkin for carrying on plying their illustrious trade past the age of 60 - more than we would have forgiven them for calling it a day - and with kiddy pleasing rags like Kerrang putting their ageist attitudes aside as recent four and five-K reviews testify who knows what these guys will be doing in ten years.

For now, grab yourselves a copy of that phenomenal live CD* and commemorate this evening as when Magnum have finally gone, sadly never to return, this is how they would like to have been best known.

A special rating for this one - 11/10

By Dave Attrill

*RECOMMENDED ALBUM
MAGNUM Live - On The Wings Of Heaven 2007 (SPV)

Mother Tongue/Subrosa Falcon Association –

The Backstage Club, Neuhausen, Wednesday 11th July, '07

Neuhausen is a very odd place to open a rock club, as it is mostly residential and impossible to find your way round. I managed to find the Backstage club in time for support band Subrosa Falcon Association’s 30 minute set of pretty good Clash-style punk rock.

Los Angele’s finest Mother Tongue came on at 9:30, and rocked the huge crowd with a 90 minute set that was even better when I saw them in Amsterdam 3 years ago.

Highlights included an excellent ‘Casper’, a brutal ‘Storm Rages On’, ‘Trouble’, and a fine version of ‘Burn Baby Burn’. I’d forgotten that Sasha Popovic is an incredible drummer, and his interplay with singer/bassist David Gould was inspiring. It beggars belief that Red Hot Chilli Peppers play stadiums, while this band still have to plug their own guitars in. But if the Chillies had continued their punk/funk/metal thing they wouldn’t have attracted the chick vote I suppose.

Just for a change it was raining when I came out the unfortunate recurring theme of an otherwise terrific trip.

By Roy Evans

The weather gets rather shitty and cold in November so thank god for this night to liven it up a lot – well to furnace melting point actually. The City Hall is again shaken for a night of pure rock n roll and metal – well you gotta do a structural test at least once a year haven’t you – so why not do it properly with the ‘head and add a couple of other loud bands on the bill as well.

When I first saw the tour dates advertised I was real chuffed to see that the Swedish Metal Goddesses ‘Crucified Barbara’ were playing on the UK leg – who are kinda like an up-to-date European equivalent of Girlschool. I saw them @ Download @ Donington Park in 2005 and was mightily impressed there and was on this occasion too.

They whipped us up with cuts from their ‘In Distortion We Trust’ debut album and I tell ya man, these women turned a few hundred hard-rockin’ Lemmy listeners into definite fans of theirs too. I reckon they will sell quite a few units after this very performance tonight– not to mention permanently having their images held in many a mans mind also and it isnot hard to think why either.

This hot quartet covered Motorhead’s ‘Killed By Death’ on their ‘Losing the Game’ debut single and then got to be invited as the openers for the tour – I mean – how can you better that? I can see them coming back over to see us with a headline tour of their own sometime next year.

Up next were Clutch, who I have to say didn’t do a lot for me personally with their fuzzy stoner sounds that I’ve heard done by other bands but they did throw in some rap-like chants & almost jazzy influences. They had a cracking drummer who for the most part was the most interesting of the band for me personally with his powerfully played syncopated time-changing beats.

Clutch went down extremely well and the vocalist every three songs or so reminded who was up next by asking us if we were ready for Motorhead ? The response of the crowd got louder and louder each time - lol.

This also appeared to work as a ploy to vibe up the crowd for their own songs - the last of which sounded like an old Cream number – I think it was ‘Politician’ if my 32 year old grey organ serves me right.

No matter who you have on a band bill, no-one can ever seem to top Motorhead and tonight is no exception – the ‘Kiss of Death’ Tour proves to be one of their best outings yet and it’s a killer album too – even after Lemmy and Phil’s count-up of who bought it, they both agreed more people had purchased it than the last one ‘Inferno’ – ‘60’ – that’s than last year Phil joked and still wanted those who hadn’t bought it to buy 2 copies that following day – can’t fault ya mate.

Lemmy starts it off with his classic introduction of “Good Evening, we are Motorhead and we play ‘Rock ‘n’ f*ck*n’ Roll” before they launch into ‘Dr. Rock’ (that is now the main opening song, replacing ‘We are Motorhead’ that they played for a few years running). The set list was supreme as well and had a cookin’ array of numbers in it that please everybody – playing around 3 numbers from ‘Kiss of Death’ that included ‘Be My Baby’ that comes early in the set and we are greeted later with the ferocious ‘Sword of Glory’ and ‘One Night Stand’.

A good buddy of mine, Alan Shooter said the set was “F*ck*ng Awesome and the best tune of the night was ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ ” from the album of the same name. They’d not played it live for years if at all with Lemmy referring to it as an old newie that they might screw up on – they didn’t much to his amazement – lol.

Many notable highlights in the set include the golden riffage of ‘Killed By Death’ from ‘No Remorse’; ‘In the name of tragedy’ and ‘Killers’ from the previous album ‘Inferno’; ‘I got mine’ from the hated when it came out ‘Another Perfect Day’; and the one that if we knew the words, we should sing along – ladies and gentlemen ‘Iron Fist’ from the album of the same name.

A classic quote of the night from Lemmy “You ain’t at a Catholic Church on a Sunday, this is a Motorhead concert, so get up and I wanna see you dancing to some rock ‘n’ roll – you like Rock ‘n’ Roll”, where he gets a strong ‘Yeah’ from the crowd and announces ‘Going to Brazil’ with the hall erupting into a mad frenzy of joy during the song.

It was funny when Lemmy said that we go quiet in-between songs expecting him to say something intellectual, ‘It ain’t gonna f*ck*n’ happen’ he joked – nice one Lem. What’s cool about this band is that although they are long-standing perfectionists they don’t take themselves too serious on stage and are often ridiculing each other and having a good ole lark.

It’s like witnessing a rock n roll equivalent of the old geezers from ‘The Last of the Summer Wine’ at times without Nora Batty or a hillside in sight – now which one is the equivalent of Foggy I wonder? - no, I don’t mean the motorcyclist before you ask!!

Phil Lynott is played tribute to with a killer version of ‘Rosalee’ which is refreshing change to hearing ‘RAMONES’ – not that I would ever knock that as I love that short ditty – but yeah, this Thin Lizzy classic was a warm welcome to the set. Nice quote for an epic from Lemmy who said “And since we are close to the 11th - ‘Sacrifice’ with that tremendous solo of Mikkeys blaring out around the hall, not to mention covering stage left with tossed up in the air drum sticks as well. Mikkey f*ck*d up on one of the songs at the beginning which was highly amusing for all to see – even the band were laughing.

For this tour, Lemmy has a new bass that matches Phil’s 6-stringer too that which is ironic because he weren’t a big fan of the guitarist’s previously – times change I guess and it’s played during ‘Just because you got the power doesn’t mean you got the right’ and looks and sounds f*ck*ng awesome.

The encore still included the brilliant acoustic ‘Whorehouse Blues’; their signature tune ‘Ace of Spades’ and the last but by no means leastly marathonic, balls-out, blistering and brutal ‘Overkill’ where the strobe lights were kept on virtually throughout – ouch my eyes – don’t think any fits took place in the audience as there were warnings before we went into the hall to take into account.

Lemmy, Phil & Mikkey were bang on form and my mate Tred Melbourne said it was the best he had ever seen them and that’s sayin’ something as he’s been blasted by ‘em on numerous nights over the years. I gotta agree as well – this gig was second to none. So good that I even bought a ‘Kiss of Death’ tour t-shirt and that’s a rare occurrence for me to buy merch these days.

Lemmy told us that we had been an excellent audience, not to forget them and that they would be back next year and after a wave from the ‘head, several plectrums being flung into the crowd, they were gone amid the legendary feedback that fills the room after a solid 90 odd minutes of sincere, honest hard rock ‘n’ roll pleasure.

See ya next year for definite.

10/10

By Glenn Milligan

Now this was a weird night since the band that opened up the night ‘Super Sexy Animals’ were nothing more than a jumped-up Rock/Metal covers band that should be playing the local pubs in their area of Norwich, not the Prestigious Boardwalk in Sheffield. It was overblown to say the least and extremely laughable – seems that the venue had been booked for them to have a DVD recorded (as it was their drummer’s birthday) and Bernie Marsden to headline. They even had their own Limo and Tour bus – bizarre really as most covers bands have an old van that’s been around the clock twice – it must have cost a fortune for all this – beats me what it was in aid of.

Musically they weren’t that tight, with the singer thinking he was some kind of Rock God – looking like Billy Idol but behaving like a pretentious tw*t and even saying they were better than AC/DC because they had a female drummer – what ? and calling the Australian legends ‘C*nts’ – hmm, personally I think you're the c*nt mate. They had a go at ‘Comfortably Numb’ which was played too fast, with the drumme noticeably speeding up now and again. Best bit of their set was when the top fell off of one of his maracas – now that was P*ss funny.

I can’t see these primadonnas being back anytime soon to support anybody – headline ? – you must be f*ck*ng joking.

4/10

Bernie Marsden, who you older rockers out there will remember from the UK Whitesnake days and if you don’t then here’s a short rock ‘n’ roll history lesson - Bernie was one of two guitarists in the Coverdale led band – the other one being Micky Moody (who coincidentally enough was here the other week)was a different kettle of fish altogether – now this was friendly professionalism and showmanship.

Greeting us with an ‘Alright, how you all doing’ he won over our hearts immediately with a smeltering pot of blues, mainly from his new album ‘Stacks’ that included new material that he was impressed we took a liking too as well as covers by Freddie King, BB King and Jimi Hendrix (Purple Haze and Spanish Castle Magic).

His trio was completed with Jimmy Copley on drums who has beat the cymbals and skins in the past with Go West, Tears For Fears, Tony Iommi, The Pretenders and Jeff Beck (in fact he still does) – who tonight also gave us a killer solo as well as keeping the beat.

The other guy, who took care of bass guitar duties was David Levy (who played with the late, legendary Irish Guitar God, Rory Gallagher from 1991 to June 1995) was a deep noted powerhouse and a fully complimentary stage-left to Mr. Marsden.

From these guys, we enjoyed around 90 mins of the blues, topped off with a ‘Here I go again’ after yours truly shouting for some Whitesnake. Ya can’t beat that can you.

Nice to see Bernie’s Boys back at the Boardwalk soon.

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

Of course, what gig would be complete without the famous 'Money For Nothing' that got the people up dancing (the keyboard player of the tribute band wants his MTV too!!), not to mention the cooking little non-album 12-bar ditty going by the name of ‘Twisting By The Pool’. Lastly but by no means leastly we were serenaded by the theme of 'The Local Hero' called 'Going Home' before the crowd did precisely that – the only way to end the show.

They'll be back - unlike the ‘Dire Straits’ themselves who aint’ been around since that Nelson Mandela charity gig a good few years since. Be great to hear ‘Solid Rock’ next time too.

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

Quite ironically, they toured the UK themselves only fourteen months earlier with the Motorhead tribute act ‘Motorheadache’ – www.motorheadache.co.uk in tow so it’s a nice bonus to see them here tonight, fanfaring the real thing. McCauliffe and co make the most of their half-hour-plus clock space, leaning almost exclusively towards cuts from their prime and raising a fair old ripple from the so far half full venue, and a new number also finds favour, a rare happening for a veteran outfit these days. A welcome and fitting opening to an evening of vintage metal from a band who have been around for about as long as the 'Head themselves and still going no less strong

After a sold-out gig, they are bound to be bouncing back into Sheffield next year.

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

The Micky Moody Band / Silverjet –

The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Thursday 27th October, 2005

When I got in I thought, where is everybody as I expected plenty to turn out to see the ex-Whitesnake guitarist with his own band – since it was pretty packed for Company of Snakes about 3 years since that featured Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden & Don Airey (ex-Rainbow, now of Deep Purple). I thought the hoards would turn up when it hit headline time sadly but it wasn’t to be. Surely there couldn’t have been something better on television?

Anyway, enough of my moaning, Silverjet hit the boards and played out their usual great rock n roll (you know the style by now so I ain’t repeating myself again, that right, Mr. Hardcastle). Well lets put it like this, if you like the sounds of The Glimmer Twins or The Robinson Brothers, then you’ll like Silverjet.

A similar set to their Dogs D’Amour at the other main Sheffield Rock venue was had with songs from the album ‘Honour Among Thieves’ and ‘Amalgram’ Sessions EP – consult the review of those in the ‘S’ section of CD reviewsThey appear to go down well in here and gain a few new fans – even selling a few CD’s too – good on ‘em..

After a short break The Micky Moody Band hit the stage with a load of blues styled songs - many of which were his own compositions as well as the odd cover that included the John Cale number, ‘They call me the breeze’ made famous by Lynyrd Skynryd. Things stepped up even more when Mr Moody started sliding on that guitar, not to mention playing some thing from that popular beat combo he used to be part of with David Coverdale as he put it – LOL !! Admitting that he can’t sing like Coverdale, but Coverdale can’t play a guitar like him. ‘Give me all your love’ was the number in question that got everybody singing and later he played that amazing countrified blues solo that he’s famous for on the ‘Live in the Heart of the City’ album and at Donnington in 81 when we were all a damn sight younger (I was 7 at time).

Micky’s band was a blues dream and apart from the man himself, the other greatest attribute to the band was none other than the maestro Jawharp and Harmonica extraordinaire Peter Hope-Evans (from 70’s band ‘Medicine Head and sometime member of Pete Townshend’s live band as well) who wailed and squawked away, totally complimenting Mick’s Guit’ at every available moment. It was absolutely mesmerizing with metallic shrill notes filling the room.

We were treated to different sounds from the six string as three different guitars were used in the performance, depending on the tone and atmosphere of the ditty that was in store for us – loved

the one that had the ‘lie on the track’ line in it – it reminded me of an old Aerosmith song – they may have stole it from him – ya never know do ya.

Anyway, a good night was had by many in attendance – next time bring Bernie Marsden and the rest of the lads … hey come to think how’s about a proper Whitesnake reunion with Whitesnake members !! Now that’d be something – in the meantime we can enjoy the members of yesteryear in solo stint still proving that their hearts still in it, despite not playing large arenas anymore – Come on Coverdale give ‘em all a call and let’s see the real ‘Snake back in action.

7/10

By Glenn Milligan

After being elsewhere when this tour rolled into Sheffield, I knew from what I'd heard from friends that it could not be missed - so 40 miles down the road I find myself in the neighbouring venue, Rock City, Nottingham on a well, not so quiet Monday night. After being told that the show was a complete sell-out, I was anticipating a jam-packed solid big live room and I wasn't too far wrong. 'Head t-shirts were amass as well as a few Sepultura scattered around.

Saw the last few songs of opening act, 'Class Of Zero' (who are incidentally managed by Ace Trump, the webmaster of Motorhead's Officical website - wonder if that's how they got on the bill?). 'Zero came across like a rowdy, heavy nu-metal kind of crew - sort of like the harder side of that music channel being with the letter K and ending in G. They scorched through a bag of numbers from their debut album, 'Nothing will survive' that'll be reviewed elsewhere on the site shortly.

Class Of Zero

Left -Ryan Dainty (Vocals) & Metal Bob (Drums) Right - Billy Peele (Guitar), Ryan and Ian Salvas (Guitar/Vocals)

Sepultura then came on and completely obliterated the place by churning up the bowl-splitting, throat-ripping, ear-shooting sounds of what can only be described as a garganic attack that had been served up from somewhere close to the depths of hell. They look as evil as f*ck, especially vocalist Derrick, who's like a cross between a Manawar Jellyfish and possessed blood-thirsty athelete.

With a set filled with purely gruesome old-school heavy, deep, down-tuned numbers, Sepultura proved to be a major hit in Nottingham and was at times like listening to the bombing of a well known four letter area in the east all over again.

Opening with 'Apes of God', their set list mainly comprised of well-known pleasers that included'Attitude'; Slave New World'; 'Arise' plus newer songs such as 'Mindwar' and 'Choke' then engulfed it with a mind-squashing version of 'Roots'.They could do no wrong for the noise-bearing, bruise-wearing battered chaps who dared to fill up the large frontal mosh pit and get f*cking crazy.

After a good old changaround of instruments, the clock hit 9.30, the houselights went out amid a roar because all new what was up next - a 90-minute deafening session from Lemmy and his boys who are famously or is that infamously known as Motorhead. Taking us by surprise, they had dropped the usual opener 'We are Motorhead' which had been used for the last few World Tours and opted for the boogie of 'Dr. Rock' instead.

This was very much a brand new set list of songs that saw Motorhead taking the odd risk by performing a couple of songs from as Lemmy put it, 'The most hated album in the history of the band - the one with Brian'. That's one way of referring to 'Another Perfect Day' and Brian Robertson (ex-Thin Lizzy). The Motorheadbangers forgave him though as they were treated to note-perfect versions of 'I got mine' and later 'Dancing on your Grave' that were pretty cool since Phil Campbell was getting a chance to stamp his mark onto them.

Of course it would have been a crime not to include a batch of oldies but goodies (as Mr. Kilmister calls 'em) such as 'Going to Brazil'; 'Stay Clean'; 'Killed By Death' and 'Over the Top' which always go down well at their gigs. 'Sacrifice' was still part of the set too where Mikkey Dee's syncopated drumming continues to remain an outstanding highlight with his precisionesque drum solo stamped in the middle of the number.

Lemmy told us that they still had to keep 'RAMONES' in the proceedings too 'because three of them had f*ck*ng died and there's only one of them left making the song very special' - so let's hear it for Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone' with the close to two minute track following.

A few newbies from the back to the raw-edged style of the 2004 album release 'Inferno' such as 'In the Name of Tragedy'; 'Killers' (which Lemmy wasn't sure if the fans liked or not) and as part of the encore 'Whorehouse Blues' - that saw Motorhead get acoustic on us - you f*cking what!! - yep, you read that right siree - Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee switched to pale wooden unplugged guitars with Lemmy perched in the middle on vocals and harmonica to present a good ole bit of Texas walin' to us and here's the picture below to prove it.

Finishing off with 2 of the only ways possible, their trademarks 'Ace of Spades' and the very hard to play on the drums dittie known as 'Overkill'. A few might moan that 'Bomber' wasn't part of the set but they did spoil us on the 2003 tour with the rig itself. So there you have it, an hour and an half of 'head-strong music that was played tighter than a Convent of Nun's V*g*na*. Lemmy even congratulated us as well by being the loudest audience on the Tour so far - even louder than Belfast !!

9/10

By Glenn Milligan

Motorhead/Sepultura/Class of Zero -

The Octagon, Sheffield 11th November, 2005

Class of Zero

Class of Zero are a five-piece hard rock band from Simi Valley, California. We could see why they were playing at this level as they were individually talented musicians and very tight as a band. They did however do nothing artistically for us - we've heard it all before. If this noisy nu-metal is your thing then check out their album 'Nothing will survive' that came out on November 8th. 7/10

Sepultura

I think that I was looking forward to this band more than Motorhead. However, Sepultura seemed to find it difficult to deliver on stage. While Derrick Greene is a more than competent frontman, he is no replacement for Max Cavalera. Also they seem to lack the drive and raw energy of the old Sepultuara because of the latin beats were notably missing. While they did do tracks like 'Arise'; 'Mindwar' and 'Attitude' we missed out on other notable tracks like 'Roots' and 'Refuse Resist' that were included in the set at Nottingham a few days later. The crowd did get behind them so they still retain some of their old magic. 7/10

Motorhead

Well here is the part of the show where I have to eat my words. Motorhead were better than superb. Thirty years on and they rock harder than the other bands on the bill tonight. This was a master class in how to perform metal.

Mikkey Dee showed his drumming prowess to the full and then rubbed salt into the wounds with drum stick juggling - you guessed it - yes, while playing. Phil Campbell's guitar playing was tight, gutsy and always added to the overall sound. He is our kind of guitarist - never flashy for flashyness' sake and complimenting the band to perfection. As for Lemmy, well what can you say about this metal legend - no nonsense, stripped down to the bare bones metal. He just does it. The audience were in the palm of his bands from the opening song to the final encore.

And yes, they also showed that they can play on acoustic with 'Whorehouse Blues' that would blow most other bands off the stage. We are so pleased to see that Lemmyhas recovered from his recent foot injury as the metal scene would not be the same without him.

10/10

By Bona (of Steel City Metal, Sheffield) & help from Martin Bellamy

MITCH MALLOY + Teenage Casket Company -

The Boardwalk, Sheffield, Sunday 12/09/04

It was only three years ago that Mitch Malloy last took stage at the Boardwalk to play his ultra-pleasant brand of happy-go-lucky melodic rock to a couple hundred adoring fans who sung their heart out to almost every word of his timeless AOR classics. Tonight though, in this room at the top of Snig Hill, the man enters alone, with an acoustic guitar and plonks himself down on a stool in front of fifty-or-so sat round the tables. Taking what he's got, in his stride however, the chap lays straight into 'You Lift Me' and 'Cowboy And The Ballerina', two of his greatest numbers that get the crowd reasonably noisy straight away.

For the following 75 minutes, M.M. rules the room with his incredible voice and inter-tune banter alike, in particular joking back at a few gathered hecklers shouting out for particular hits to get an earlier airing on the set. 'Middle Of Nowhere', 'Over The Water', ' Nobody Wins.', 'Forever', 'Problem Child', 'Ceilings And Walls' and a decent helping from last album 'Shine' as well as a couple of newies keep the minute gathering roaring though of course everyone is mainly here to catch material from his legendary debut . Saving the best for last, 'Anything At All' ends the platter - any other place on the set fro this belter would be a travesty - and though Mitch had originally planned to play 'Mission Of Love' too, time isn't that much on his side tonight, Sunday night licensing shenanigans requiring a 10.30 finish, being one of the main reasons. People aplenty are still singing his songs at full volume as they step out into the cold Sheffield air once again, serving to show how dedicated even the smallest turnout can be. With no Gods fest this year, though he still wangled his way into a slot at the z2004 the following weekend, Mitch Malloy tonight provided a worthy compensation package, along with Tyketto's imminent reunion bash.

Sheffield's Teenage Casket Company, sorry for not mentioning them at the start, were impressive too with their quite AOR-led pop rock material, similar to Mitch's itself and like the headliner, performed unplugged tonight. Garnering quite a good reaction, they beckon for further listens in the near future. An absolute quality night of hard rock, played with a difference.

9/10

By Dave Attrill

A concert extravagazna that celebrated 50 years of the fender Stratocaster, in support of 'Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy' with a lot of high profile artists taking part with a house band that included Wix Wickens (of The Paul McCartney Group) among others. Placing the concert in such a large capacity venue could have been an atmosphere killer straight away, but they had the sense to put up video screens so we could see what was happening from the back of the venue as opposed to trying to focus on matchsticks holding guitars.

The concert was a really strange affair and come across like you were instead watching a DVD documentary because in between the acts were Vox-Pops of late Fender players and snippets of the next artist talking about the guitar before the lights went up on the stage for their short set. Having a grey-suited David 'Kid' Jenson compering the event made it more like an awards ceremony than a rock 'n' roll gig.

The first act to grace the large stage were the late Buddy Holly's backing band 'The Crickets' who'd come all the way from Texas (with 'Brian May' and Albert Lee on guitar) who cranked up with 'Oh Boy' and other faves like 'Peggy Sue' (feat. Ronnie Wood) and 'That'll Be The Day' with the BM1 player on lead vocals - that's Mr. May to those of you not in the know of all things 'Queen'.

The Shadow's Hank Marvin then played us some of their echoey, tremolo bending old hits that included 'Wonderful Land' 'The Rise and Fall of Flingle Bunt' but most notably their No. 1 'Apache' that received a standing ovation. Although it's quite a spectacle to witness this man, you can't help but feel embarrassed by his niceyness, cheesey smiles and naff dated posing - at least he introduced the band. In all honesty it was tacky and corny making you just how much British music has moved on since the early 60's.

Albert Lee warmed up the atmosphere somewhat with some exceptionally fast and mind-blowing country rock along side a rather gorgeous Swedish fiddle player - they traded licks majestically. It's a pity that her own composition was your typical ten-a-penny Alanis Morrisette number - there's too many of them already.

Paul Carrack (along with ex-Genesis/Mechanics Guitarist, Mike Rutherford plus Andy Fairweather Lowe and Phil Manzanera) who also livened up the crowd with the old Ace hit 'How Long'. He should never have attempted 'I can't dance' as the choral falsetto section was diabolically weak - it was a bit like 'Tonight Matthew, I'm gonna be Phil Collins' - he really should have performed 'The Living Years' and it still puzzles me why he didn't. Gary Moore then fulfilled our obligations to hear the blues with a long version of 'Red House' by Jimi Hendrix that was absolutely faultless despite talk that he would not be attending the gig that night - he proved us wrong, nice one Gary - he'd lost quite a bit of weight since supporting Whitesnake last year too.

It was really annoying that a ten minute interval (what's this - the f*ck*ng theatre) took place that wound up being the best part of half an hour, still a pure comedy moment took place regarding the mistaking of Hot Chilli Sauce for Tomato Sauce took place which was one hell of highlight, especially for the mouth and throat!!

The first two acts of the second half were newbies - a guy on a piano who sounded like Paul Rodgers and then an irritating load of jazzy stuff from a girl called Amy Whitehouse who duetting with a black guitarist (whose name I'll include when I find it out). It was rather special to witness Paul Rodgers for the 1st time and boy was I impressed, who paid homage the Chicago legend, McKinley Morganfield in 'Muddy Waters Blues' complete with guitar - he took the roof off, so why did he have to use the gig as a cheap marketing ploy to feature his son and daughter with a newly recorded song called 'Drinkin' that was out of place and completely sub-standard to what came next - 'All Right Now' that had Brian May taking the role of long-departed Free legend axe-player 'Paul Kossoff' - absolute brilliance with Rodger leaving the audience to sing the title line throughout. How could that be bettered, well pretty easy actually as the last song become 'Can't get enough of your love'. Many of us would have liked to heard 'Wishing Well' but it wasn't to be, much to our disappointment.

Joe Walsh as good as a guitarist and songwriter, just could not sing, despite having a high, shrill, powerful voice as you could hardly tell a word he was uttering throughout his set that included 'Cold Mountain'; 'Rocky Mountain Way' and The Eagles 'Life in the fast lane'. A shame really as the playing was incredible.

Due to the joys of the London Transport system we missed out on seeing 'David Glimour' - the genious from Pink Floyd as we didn't fancy a squash in the Underground or fear paying the best of £70 for a taxi for our journey back - no doubt we missed an end of night rock 'n' roll jam too - still we'll find out what happened by watching the DVD when it comes out - as tonight was being filmed.

On a summary of the event though we considered that the line-up would have been a lot better if they had had a lot more electricity to it, had there been artists like Pete Townshend, Mark Knopfler, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Ritchie Sambora & Blackmore being part of the line-up. The audience was for the best also like witnessing a bunch of bank managers watching ITN news or women waiting for goods at Argos or Index which is hardly what rock 'n' roll dreams are made of.

Best of the acts were most definitely Brian May, Albert Lee and Paul Rogders

So who will be around for the 75th Anniversary is anyones guess.

6/10

By Glenn Milligan (with the greatly appreciated contributions of Alexandros Kotziamanis)

Tribute acts are and always have been a revered commodity in the classic rock scene. As the genuine acts these bands follow only come to town so often these days anyway -well those that still exist anyway - and they cost quite an astronomical quantity to see when they do, one can at least satisfy himself with as near to the real thing in the meantime.

I had actually wanted to see Motorheadache for some time now and failed on every past opportunity. Fronted by Scotland-born multi-instrumentalist Rob Campbell who not only sings almost exactly like lemmy but also sports the 'tache and wields a Rickenbacker bass and the same angle, 'Motorbreadcake' as repeatedly nicknamed by a mutual friend of ours, have built up a surprisingly weighty following, having actually gone on tour to entertain longing metalheads gathered around bar tables across the country.

Britain's only band (at the moment) paying homage to the metal legends kick up a storm in the Eccelsall Road pub for all of 70 minutes with hit after hit, including 'We Are Motorhead, 'Orgasmatron', 'Iron Fist', 'We Are The Roadcrew' and obvious encore 'Ace Of Spades' and immediately, it was easy to see why we had to print one or two of the punters reactions on the Metalliville site's homepage.

If you can't wait till the real act's Sheffield Uni gig in December, let Motorheadache make this Christmas come early. Lemmy will be proud Rob, keep it up.

8/10

By Dave Attrill

Sadly I missed 'The Quill' who musta come on bang on 7pm - no doubt they were pretty good thrashing out some good stoner.

Thank god I got to see 'Gluecifer' a bunch of Swedes who have an album reviewed by one of us a couple of years ago. Come at ya like a possessed Iggy Pop and The Stooges mixed in with a slight glammy punk sound akin to Love/Hate and enterntain with some strong material in their set even though they might not have the best looking frontman in the world or be the best dressers in rock 'n' roll. Excellent band and I'd like to see 'em again.

Monster Magnet, the headliners tonight are stoner rock of the highest order whose frontman, the oriental looking Dave Wyndorf has a presence that can be likened to that of Iggy Pop or maybe Mick Jagger with lead guitarist, Ed Mundell needing no introductions either. Wasting out all the Rock City audience (or was that just the exceedingly strong joints in the crowd being smoked) our ears were filled with a healthy selection of Space Rock that even included the new single 'Unbroken (Hotel Baby)'; heavy grooves of back-catalogue and even a highly appreciated version of Hawkwind's 'Brainstorm'. Sonic Approval all-round.

8/10

By Glenn Milligan

Motorheadache - The Office, South Shields,

Friday Dec. 12th, 2003

Motorheadache are a Motorhead tribute band (bet the name gave it away), and had come all the way from Sheffield to play this gig. No ticket fees for this event. The band were willing to play for normal pub money and I’m pleased that the group were thinking with their heads and not with their pockets. The group turned out to be really nice lads and genuinely in to what they were doing. I got to the venue good and early, and gave them a hand with their soundcheck. Together we ended up with a monstrous sound that befitted a band that are renowned for rattling fillings and shaking your earwax loose. A band like this aren’t meant to be quiet.

Motorheadache took to the stage and then began their aural assault on the audience with the current ‘real’ Motorhead opening live song, ‘We Are Motorhead’. The sound was excellent and incredibly authentic. Their lead guitarist was probably better than Fast Eddie ever was, and easily as good as the current Motorhead guitarist, Phil Campbell. The drummer did a solid job too, although technically he was closer to Philthy Animal than present sticksman, Mickey Dee. But without doubt this was the ‘Lemmy’ show! Not only did he look like him (mutton chop sideburns and beard), play like him, move like him, and sing like him, … but also he even ‘talked’ just like him between the songs. The homework this guy had put in to his performance was unbelievable. Rob the main-man simply has to be ‘THE’ most authentic frontman that I’ve ever seen in a tribute band (including Wayne from Limehouse Lizzy). For this night he was Lemmy through and through, and he did a superb job. The set was far superior than the real Motorhead’s own live set, as the majority of it included all the classic tracks from the first few albums.

A really excellent set that even included ‘Breaking The Law’, ‘Highway To Hell’ and ‘RocknRoll’, as Motorhead have covered these numbers for various tribute albums. Motorheadache are a brilliant band, and I will have them back here to play again. Only please let there be a decent sized audience to appreciate them next time.

By Colin Smoult

(Courtesy of Riffs Webzine)

Motorhead -

Nottingham Rock City, 8th October, 2003 and Newcastle 9th October, 2003

Out infull force as ever, both band and fans alike were on the ball on the two consecutive nights. Performing a similar set as that seen at Sherwood Forest but taking 'Bomber' away and sticking 'Love like a Reptile'. Motorhead are bang on form.

Opening with 'We are Motorhead' and closing with the heavy as hell 'Overkill' they pack in a set that delivers quality cuts like 'Killed By Death', 'Civil War', 'Brave New World' and many more. Lemmy pokes fun at the speed of 'Sacrifice' by saying, "Don't try and dance to this because you'll break both legs" and no doubt you most probably would. It beats the sh*t out of me how Mikky Dee manages to keep in time because it's so incredibly syncopated, not to mention the incredible tempo of it.

The Geordies and the Notties (if there is such a term) were very impressed and after being jeered up by Phil and Lemmy to make as much noise as possible