Live Review: Guns N' Roses - Not In This Lifetime - Live at London Stadium 17/06/2017

Yesterday, I went to the Guns N’ Roses “Not In This Lifetime” tour when it was in its second night at the Olympic Stadium in London - now rechristened since West Ham United made it their home as London Stadium – catchy. I had seen Guns N’ Roses twice before this day – Download 2006 (the least said the better) and Manchester in 2012 – which was excellent. Occasionally, when I would mention the fact I’d seen Guns N’ Roses and list these dates, people would scoff and say something to the effect “no, you’ve seen Axl”. I’m sure there are other bands in a similar situation where the line-up had all changed aside from the singer – perhaps not as big as Guns N’ Roses were/are. Regardless of where you stand on this one, I saw a band who toured under the name Guns N’ Roses with Axl Rose on vocals and previously that had been good enough for me. I have also seen Slash (and Duff McKagan for that matter) play GnR songs live, so that was cool.

It probably doesn’t need stating but I imagine I was in the minority of people by having this view as the band Guns N’ Roses were playing arenas in this country and they weren’t full (on their last arena tour – London tickets were being given away for free on the day – limit quantities of them but still). On this tour, with Slash and Duff back in the band, they have been playing big open air gigs and stadiums around the world (selling out several them as well – don’t know how many off hand). When the rumbling of a reunion between Axl and Slash started, I didn’t believe it would happen – there just seemed to be too much bad blood between them. I was quietly hopeful though as I never got the chance to see these two perform on the same stage together. Then it was announced that it was taking place and I knew that if/when it was coming to this country, I had to go. There was a bit of chat about them headlining both the Download and IOW festivals – but when Download announced their headliners and Guns N’ Roses weren’t one of them, it was clear that wasn’t happening – not in 2017 at least. They instead announced a date at London Stadium, which quickly became two dates due to demand for tickets. I couldn’t get one for the Friday but managed to grab one for the Saturday. This was back in December (apparently) so since then, it has been the waiting game.

That waiting game came to its conclusion yesterday. I’ve been to London Stadium before for athletics, rugby and to run around as part of the Great Newham 10k, but never for live music so this was going to be a new experience. I can now say that I’m a fan of London Stadium as a live music venue. Whilst being slightly smaller than Wembley in terms of overall capacity – I can see it becoming London’s home for stadium rock gigs as the standing area is noticeably bigger than Wembley’s (and other comparable stadiums like Twickenham and Arsenal’s ground I would say). Because the area as well was built with the London 2012 Olympics in mind, it can easily cope with the numbers of people that would come to a big gig as well. When I arrived in the area yesterday, it was dead easy to find where I needed to be, and I ended up entering the stadium concourse right by a merch stand (funny how that happened) – so I grabbed myself a tour shirt. £30 is steep for a t-shirt without doubt – especially when the tickets weren’t exactly cheap – but I don’t do it very often.

On to the gig itself. The opening band were called Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown. I’ve seen their name about but never actually listened to them (a brief bit of research tells me they just played Download). They also supported AC/DC last year at London Stadium – someone in a high place is a fan of this band clearly! That aside, I enjoyed their set. It made me want to go back and listen to them again (I haven’t yet because in all honesty, my soundtrack to writing this is Guns N’ Roses with the shuffle button on). I will aim to check them out some more though. I suspect they will be back in this country before long. The main support was The Kills. Now, I’m not complaining, but I did note that the main support in Dublin was Royal Blood, and around Europe, it is Biffy Clyro – are The Kills a slight drop off? In my view, yes. I’ve just googled to find out some more tour supports and seen that one of the founding members of the band used to be married to Kate Moss. Odd that information was offered up without needing to search for it. Anyway – I first heard of this band when they were due to support Metallica in Paris in 2012 - almost every other European show had Gojira and Machine Head. Paris got Gojira and The Kills – bullshit if you ask me! Anyhow, I didn’t mind some of The Kills stuff, but overall I would say it is not for me. It probably would have made more sense to swap the bands around – maybe The Kills are bigger than Tyler Bryant, but genre wise I would have said Tyler Bryant is more fitting for a rock show like this. Oh well. The Kills weren’t terrible, but I doubt I will go out of my way to listen to them again.

On to the main event, and my word – what a main event it was. For about 15 minutes before the band came on, the stage graphics started moving around which was good. A Motorhead song on the PA went quiet, and gun shots rang out from the speakers and then the Looney Tunes theme tune. Not long after this, the band were on stage. It was quite surreal actually seeing Axl, Slash and Duff on the same stage together – even though they had been touring together for a little while at this point – to actually see it was quite something.

What then followed was 2 and a half hours plus of Guns N’ Roses playing a set list which was immense. Early doors, the question of whether the set would feature Chinese Democracy material was answered, with the title track being the 3^rd song played. Two others from that album were played – Better and This I Love. I was really pleased to hear them and that the album hasn’t been ignored as there are some great songs on it. I would have loved to have heard Shackler’s Revenge as well, but you can’t have everything! Looking over the set list again now, it is hard to pick out highlights as the whole thing was excellent. The opening of It’s So Easy into Mr Brownstone into Chinese Democracy into Welcome To The Jungle was outrageous. The run of Estranged, Live and Let Die, Rocket Queen and You Could Be Mine before a cover of The Damned’s New Rose was brilliant. Civil War into Yesterdays and Coma? Fantastic. The build up to Sweet Child O’ Mine before Slash launched into the very familiar intro was great. An instrumental cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here into November Rain (with the Layla piano outro as an intro) was just massive. Gun to my head, November Rain is probably my favourite Guns N’ Roses song and this was a great performance of an epic song. The mood changed considerably as the band paid tribute to the recently departed Chris Cornell by playing Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun. It was a special moment. Axl then dedicated the moment to the people who had died recently in the UK in the terror attacks and the Grenfall tower fire before the band played Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. The main set ended with Nightrain – but the band were back before long to end the gig with Don’t Cry, a cover of AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie and ending proceedings with Paradise City. To me, that is a near perfect set list. I would have loved to hear My Michelle (which was played the night before at the expense of Out Ta Get Me). There are other songs from the Use Your Illusion albums I would have liked to have heard but as said earlier – you can’t have everything.

Not only was the set list a great one, but the band matched it with how good they were. The band have introduced a backing vocalist who also plays some other instruments when needed to support Axl’s vocals which I think worked really well – for the most part you couldn’t tell she was singing (which I guess is the point). This gig was one of the best I’ve been to – that is a sentiment that is easy to express as the gig is still fresh in my mind but I feel as though this one will live with me for a long time and for all the right reasons – it will take something special for this not to be my gig of the year.  The one thing I wish I had done differently? I wish I had stumped up for a golden circle ticket just to be a bit closer to the action – without doubt it would have been worth it.

Will they come back to the UK with this line up on this tour? Will it be the same set or slightly altered? Will it be their own shows again or will they headline festivals? At this stage, it is impossible for us to answer these questions (the only people I suspect who know are the band and their management). All I can say is I hope so. Absolute belter of a gig, that was! 

Live Review - KT Tunstall @ Warwick Arts Centre

When heading to the Warwick Arts Centre last night to see KT Tunstall, there were three main thoughts on my mind. The first was about the first & last time I was at that venue, which was a few years ago to see David Gray. The second was about the gig I was attending that night and how I was very happy to finally be at a KT Tunstall show - there have been a whole series of reasons for why I haven't been able to see her live. When KT was announced for Victorious Festival - a festival in my hometown, which I won't be at because I'll be in Copenhagen - I decided to do what I could to get to one of the dates on her headline tour. The final thought was about the horrific bombing in Manchester. I didn't go into the venue scared it might happen again but I couldn't help but think of the people that went to see Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena with the same intent as me at this gig - to have a good time - and never came home (not forgetting those who died collecting children at the show). By continuing to go to gigs, and most public gatherings, we show that we will not be broken by acts of terror and that love will triumph over hate.

Onto the gig, and the opening act was Nina Nesbitt. She was really good. Seeing her live definitely made me want to go and check out more of her songs. Predominantly, you will tend to find me at rock gigs and occasionally, when a support act tries to get the crowd to join in, it can end up being a bit awkward when no-one does. The worst example I can recall of this was a support band for Motörhead who tried to get the crowd to clap along to a song and if memory serves, not a single person clapped. Anyway, that wasn't the case for Nina as the crowd joined in when requested for a singalong which was good. I really enjoyed this set.

KT Tunstall came on not long afterwards and was excellent. I had wondered if it would be KT with a live band or on her own. It was KT accompanied by an electronic band so to speak (Pete, Hans and Wee Bastard). Occasionally there were little issues with the band which with lesser performers could have derailed the set. However, KT took it in her stride and, perhaps most importantly, made the issues that occurred funny (#prayforpete). How often at a gig does William the Conquerer show up to play trombone? (That might classify as  a "you had to be there" moment).

For me, the set list was nearly perfect. I like a lot of KT's material but there are 6 stand out favourites of mine and 5 of those were played which is ace (Still A Weirdo, Other Side Of The World, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Hold On and Suddenly I See). There were a couple of occasions when other artists songs were incorporated in some of these songs - Seven Nation Army and Walk Like An Egyptian - which was great. KT, as part of the "KT's Covers Challenge" covered The Undertones - Teenage Kicks which was really good (and indicative of how good a live performer she is as she was told by her guitar tech Tristan she'd gone to play the song too early in the set - proving her show can be flexible as opposed to a rigid set as you would more commonly see).

All in, this was a superb night out. I'd been waiting many a year to see KT Tunstall live and she did not disappoint. I will now hope it doesn't take me as long to go and see her again.

WorldWired

I’ve said to myself the last few times that I’ve written year-end review blogs that I should write more frequently. I always enjoy the writing of that particular blog (even if choosing the eventual top 10 is always a right prick) which I guess helps matters. I’ve only been to one live music gig this year, and I did give thought beforehand to writing a review of it – but then booze happened. For those who read this and don’t know, I went to see The Wildhearts in Nottingham perform their only UK show (to date) of Fishing For Luckies in full. It was an early curfew gig (10pm) so my plan was to eat after the gig. Boozing on an empty stomach meant that I got drunk quite quickly and by the time The Wildhearts came on stage, I was nicely pissed. The gig was fantastic from top to bottom without doubt. What was a bit daft though was that I’m not familiar with Nottingham at all – this being my only visit. I managed to get quite spectacularly lost on the way back to my hotel (even managing to cross the road my hotel was on whilst getting lost). I eventually gave up and called an uber from where I was to take me back (much to the amusement of the driver) and, after one more drink, called it a night. Now, that story is quite amusing – even when back at the hotel I was amused about how much of an arse I’d been. However, that would not make a good blog as I have just retold the entire story in a paragraph. Maybe that is where I am going wrong – my blogs tend to be longer than a paragraph. Anyway…

I am going to a gig next week and a couple of others in April including to see one of my favourite artists, Ginger Wildheart, which should be good. I’m looking forward to seeing While She Sleeps as well in Southampton. That one is twofold actually – While She Sleeps are a superb band who ought to be bigger than they are. Their last album, Brainwashed, was just stunning. It is also a chance for me to visit the new Talking Heads in Southampton. I really liked the old one and saw some outstanding gigs there, but for a while there has been a threat of it closing and last year it finally did. However, it has relocated to nearer Southampton Central train station (which is a win for me) so I’m looking forward to checking out the new location. I will be heading back to Coventry to the Warwick Arts Centre for the first time since seeing David Gray there in 2011 to see KT Tunstall (one of about 4 acts I’m really gutted to be missing at Victiorious Festival). I’ve wanted to see her live for ages. Then of course, there is the small matter of Guns N’Roses, Volbeat in Copenhagen and Weezer at Wembley Arena. I’m sure something there will yield blog worthy material.

However, one thing I wanted to write about is the fact that over a week ago, Metallica announced a UK arena tour. These don’t happen very often (thinking a proper tour in arenas, I can think of 2004 and 2009). A Metallica indoor show these days is pretty rare. I’d imagine that is because they still do good business headlining festivals (in that, they don’t play to empty fields). As Metallica are my favourite band, I suspected this news was coming but I was still excited when it was confirmed. I won’t lie, when I saw the prices, my excitement waned a little bit – I still wanted to go but I was shocked. To stand on the floor, it would cost over £100 when you factor in all the booking fees and postage. All lower tier seating in any arena was the same price, hell even some of the upper tier seating cost that much. The remainder of the upper tier cost either £60 or £80. There is no way to sugar coat it – that is a lot of money for one gig. Due to the timing of the gigs, members of my family have paid my way into two of the gigs as birthday presents– one of the London shows and Birmingham. I am an excited man. I cannot sit here and defend the price rise – it is a significant rise, so much so that it cannot be explained away simply by shouting Brexit! It probably won't come as much of a surprise to learn that the tour sold out in under a day - or at least I believe that to be the case. I know both London shows sold out. 

However, with that all being said, I’m now getting lost in the ideal setlist planning based on what they’ve done so far for the World Wired tour. As such, this for me would be perfect

Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
For Whom The Bell Tolls
King Nothing/The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven
Now That We’re Dead
Moth Into Flame
Creeping Death
Halo On Fire/Confusion/Spit Out The Bone (delete as appropriate)
Phantom Lord/Hit The Lights
Sad But True
One
Master of Puppets
Fade To Black
Seek And Destroy
------
Battery/Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Now that, would be cool! I write this whilst pro-footage of their gig in Brazil is on in the background. Sure it has cost a lot of money, but it is going to be outstanding. They say you shouldn’t wish your life away – but roll on October!

I will definitely write more often. I really enjoyed the revisiting series I started doing last year. I should do another one of those again soon. I think if I were to do another one, it would be Weezer or possibly Frank Turner. That could be a fun day or so.

2016 - A Year In Live Music

Another year has come and gone (well, almost). It has been an interesting one for sure. I’m not going to focus on the negatives of 2016 in this blog. I’m here to do what I do every year – talk about the best gigs I’ve been to in the last year (I’m sure these introductions are getting shorter and shorter each year).

Before getting into the gigs of the year though, I usually give a mention to the festivals I’ve been to and the various sets I saw and rank them as well. However, I only went to Victorious Festival this year, so this will be a much easier job. I remember looking at the completed line up for Victorious and not being overly impressed with either day until the evening, which was a shame. However, I did discover a pub nearby that had Hop House 13 on tap. Swings and roundabouts I guess. Anyway, my top 10 are:

10. Pretty Vicious –Didn’t know a massive amount about them, but they were alright. 6/10
9. Dagny – I had a choice to see two bands before Pretty Vicious, and this band were on the same stage as them. They were pretty good. 6/10
8. The Boomtown Rats – I thought they were a lot of fun. Few good singalongs along the way which helped. On an unrelated note, they have been booked for next year’s Wacken festival. That is a weird booking for a metal festival but not the weirdest I suspect. 7/10
7. Levellers – Genuinely thought I knew some of their stuff before they came on stage, but I didn’t. They were really good though. 7/10
6. Sound Of The Sirens – Listened to a handful of their songs before the festival and wanted to see them live. They did not disappoint. Good music and genuinely funny in between songs. They had a really good set. 7.5/10
5. Manic Street Preachers – Manics are very dependable live. This was a solid set. It wasn’t my favourite time seeing them live (but to be fair, all their singles in one night will likely never be topped). 8/10
4.  Ash – Missed them at the Wedge earlier in the year because I’m an ass (but mainly because tickets had sold out before I got round to buying one) so seeing them here was essential. So glad I did as they were excellent. 8.5/10
3. Wolfmother – Genuinely didn’t know what to expect from their set but they were outstanding. Loved their set. If they come back to Portsmouth, I’d probably go see them again. 9/10
2. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Sure there were sound problems in places, but the set was really good. I’m not overly familiar with his solo material, but there was a fair bit of Oasis in there which was pretty cool. The singalongs for Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger were pretty special. 9/10
1. Travis – I’ve wanted to see Travis for years. They played everything I hoped they would and they were great. 9.5/10

I’ve just re-read the conclusion of last year’s blog where I talked about 2016 gigs that could make the list for this year. One of them does which you will see later on. Most of the others were honourable mentions which I will be getting to shortly. Sad to say the Hey! Hello! headline show in Southampton got cancelled. I’ve seen them twice since the cancelled show, both times were really good. Hopefully we will get a headline tour next year. Anyway, to the honourable mentions! These are listed in chronological order

Honourable Mentions:

Cancer Bats – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth – January – I’d love to be able to wax lyrical about this gig. However, “beers before Bats” occurred (as well as beers during Bats) and as a result, there are chunks of the gig I simply don’t remember. Cancer Bats don’t do bad live shows though, and the bits I can recall back this up – which is why this is an honourable mention. People who get twatted for every gig they go to must have a lot of money to fritter away. Not remembering all this gig due to the drink is not a good thing! (Neither was working through the hangover the next day…oofh). Also, Palm Reader were really good.

Crossfaith – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth – March – Sure they were fun but it fell on the same night as I did a 10k run for charity, so turned up already knackered. Thinking back on it now, I can’t remember a great deal from it. It was a pretty short headline set from what I recall though.

Morass of Molasses – Edge Of The Wedge, Portsmouth – April – To my shame, I don’t tend to go to many small local gigs. Going to this was a good call though as this was a really good gig from top to bottom. The other bands that played were Foxer, Victorian Whore Dogs and Sahara Snow – all 4 were really good. Morass though were my favourite band of the night and I’m very tempted to grab an Icebreaker Festival ticket for next January just to see them again. Riffs for days!

Muse – O2 Arena, London – April – I thought after it happened that this gig would without doubt be in my top 5. When I drew up my original list it was towards the bottom end, eventually falling out of the top 10. It would have been 11^th had I done a top 11 though. The stage was in the round, sort of, which is pretty cool – only the second gig I’ve been to with that set up (if you discount Rammstein’s second stage in the crowd, which I am) and I am a big fan of in the round stages. On the show, it was pretty damn ace. I can’t remember off the top of my head everything about it but the way the drones interacted with the stage was pretty special. In terms of songs played that night, they played all my favourites from the new album. Map Of The Problematique was a nice surprise as was Plug In Baby. Overall it was a great set list and a really good gig.

Ginger Wildheart Band – Brooklyn Bowl, London – July - Would have been a strong contender for top 10, but I had to leave early to avoid a rail replacement bus. The last train back from London is long enough without a rail replacement bus being in the mix! Think this was Hey! Hello!’s first show with their new singer, which was cool. Ryan Hamilton’s band were a really good main support. The headline set by GWB was ace, and one which included songs I’ve not heard live before from the Silver Ginger 5 days, which was cool. It was really cool seeing Conny Bloom play with Ginger as well – something I hadn’t seen before. Also, I like the Brooklyn Bowl.

Amon Amarth – Roundhouse, London – November - Leaving this one out of my top 10 was a horrible decision. This gig ticked a number of boxes for me, including going to The Roundhouse in London for the first time (a venue I quite like now) as well as seeing Grand Magus live for the first time. They were really good. As were Testament, who were the main support. I saw them earlier in the year and whilst I enjoyed it, the sound mix that night was not their friend. Amon Amarth are an excellent live band – I’ve seen them deliver stunning sets in headline length slots at Wacken before. This was my second time seeing them at a headline show and this was just as good as the Wacken shows, if not better. Also, they had people with swords and shields battling on stage at different intervals which was pretty cool.

Delain – Engine Rooms, Southampton – November - Similar story to the one above really. I left early to catch a direct train home as opposed to staying to the end and getting a service which involved a rail replacement bus. As much as I love the song We Are The Others, I don’t love it enough to have been on a stopping service replacement bus. The gig itself was excellent though. Delain showing off the best of their new album, Moonbathers, with some ace songs from their back catalogue mixed in. No “Sing To Me” though which was a shame.

Alter Bridge – Genting Arena, Birmingham – November - I tend to not go to gigs just to see the support bands and leave before the headliner – but never have I been more tempted than I was at this gig. Alter Bridge are an excellent band, but they were the second best band when I last saw them in an arena (the best band that night were Black Stone Cherry). This gig had Gojira and Volbeat supporting – and they were third best. Gojira are a really good live band and the stuff from their new album sounds massive live. Having seen them live on a festival main stage, I knew they wouldn’t be swallowed by the stage – but they owned it. Volbeat…well what can I say? I’m massively in love with Volbeat and think it is criminal they aren’t headlining venues the size of the Genting Arena in the UK when they can headline stadiums and open air venues around mainland Europe! (More on that later). I enjoyed Alter Bridge a lot more than I thought I would, considering I’d just watched one of my favourite bands. They were very good.

And so, onto the top 10. It was quite interesting when compiling the provisional list as I only had 9. The 10^th spot was filled at the end of November. I went to three gigs in December which were all shouts for the top 10. Enough of the waffle though, the top 10 gigs I went to in 2016, starting with number 10.

10. Birthday Bash 2016 feat The Wildhearts – The Forum, London – December

I’ve said this a few times, but I bloody love The Wildhearts. They are one of those bands that as soon as they announce a tour, I work out what dates I can attend, in the hope it is more than one. This London show was also the Birthday Bash as it fell on Ginger’s birthday which meant it had a bigger bill than the other shows on the tour. A bash usually is one long Ginger gig with loads of special guests. This one was multiple bands on the bill. Opening were Elvana, who I missed. Then it was The Main Grains, who I caught the second half of and thought were very good. Then it was The Dowling Poole who were good. Hey Hello were on after them, and they were superb. I liked what I heard from Jim Jones and The Righteous Mind but I disappeared after 3-4 songs to go for a smoke. Dirt Box Disco were the main support and they were excellent – they are just a lot of fun live. After they finished, I cursed the fact the Hey Hello tour earlier in the year was cancelled as they were due to be the main support – whilst Dirt Box are great in a bigger room, it would have been great to see them in a 150 cap venue.

The Wildhearts came on and it was business as usual as far as a Wildhearts gig goes. The set list was a best of and it was outstanding. Unfortunately, Ginger was feeling unwell which became apparent during Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes when he started throwing up on stage (didn’t miss a note of the song mind). I was expecting the gig to end there, but it didn’t. The crew came out and cleaned up the stage (so much respect for them) and Ginger and the band soldiered on throughout the rest of the set, including playing a song which I’d not heard live until this point – Stormy In The North, Karma In The South – which was ace. Danny McCormack joined them for the encore, which was cool to see. It probably should have been more special but Ginger feeling unwell was the main point of note here, and he started being sick again after Geordie in Wonderland which was a shame to see. Again, I anticipated the gig being ended but the final song, I Wanna Go Where The People Go, was played with special guest Frank Turner on vocals. The Wildhearts were just superb and this gig deserves its place on this top 10. It would without doubt been higher but I think after Ginger started throwing up, I expected the gig to end which took me out of the moment a little bit. If anything, Ginger and the rest of the band deserve the world of praise for finishing the gig – especially as well as they did.

9. Black Stone Cherry: Experience Kentucky – Guildhall, Portsmouth – November

In another end of year post, I included my story about having seen Black Stone Cherry at the Wedgewood Rooms. That story was included in the entry for them playing Wembley Arena if memory serves. They played arenas earlier this year I believe and I decided to give that a miss as the London date was midweek. Then they announced this tour. This was a “an evening” with tour, with Black Stone Cherry playing an acoustic set, taking a short break and then playing a full band electric set. As it was taking place in my home town, it was a no-brainer. On a trivial note, when I saw them at the Pyramids in Portsmouth in 2009, they originally booked the Guildhall and it got downgraded.

The acoustic set was brilliant, and they played Stay – which is one of my favourite Black Stone Cherry songs and one which hasn’t been played live in quite a long time (cheers Florida Georgia Line). A couple got engaged on stage during the acoustic set which was pretty cool. The full band set was ace – they played a few covers including Ace of Spades as a tribute to Lemmy. The set contained quite a few songs I’ve never seen them play live which is always good. It was great getting to see them play in Portsmouth again. I didn’t expect to see that happen after they started playing arenas. Black Stone Cherry are an excellent live band – and this gig proved that once again.

8. Billy Joel – Wembley Stadium, London – September

I’ve wanted to see Billy Joel live for quite some time. When he came to the UK in 2013, I so wanted to go but I just didn’t have the money. Also, the London show was at Hammersmith, which was a shock – but it meant it sold out very quickly. He announced a show at Wembley Stadium for this year and I mentioned it to my brother, as I knew his wife wanted to see him live. He asked me if I could sort out the tickets for them, so it could be a birthday surprise for her – which I did. After I done that, and had the Ticketmaster order page staring back at me saying “Michael, you are going to see Billy Joel!” – I was slightly annoyed that I wasn’t. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to grab myself a ticket as well. As soon as I bought it, I had buyer’s remorse but that went away fairly quickly.

Wembley Stadium all seated is a bit strange. I was in the upper tier, looking down on the pitch. Those poor bastards who sat down there got soaked during that gig as the weather was horrible. There wasn’t a support act for the gig which meant we would get about 2 and a half hours of Billy Joel which was pretty ace. The set was basically the perfect Billy Joel set list for me – with the added bonus of an AC/DC cover thrown in for good measure. Joel and his band were on top form all evening. I had read some reviews of his European tour which were all full of praise – so I went in with high hopes and I was not let down. This was a great gig. 

7. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Ricoh Arena, Coventry - June

Going to this gig ticked a box for me, in that I’d wanted to see Springsteen live for quite a while but never got round to doing so. I have spoken to a number of people about his live shows and every review was glowing. My parents, who had seen him once before this gig, said they didn’t know exactly what was going on (he played Darkness on the Edge of Town in full), but they could tell it was something special. This gig just happened to fall on my Mum’s birthday, so I went to visit them and we all went to see Springsteen together. In the US, he had been touring the album The River. I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t happen in Europe but not so disappointed that it took anything away from the gig.

No support band for this one, but one wasn’t needed. Springsteen and his band played for about 3 hours I think, maybe slightly longer. All of the reports I had heard set my bar pretty high for this gig – that bar was surpassed and then some. The whole gig from start to finish was just great – even when songs were being played that I didn’t know, I didn’t feel bored, waiting for one I wanted to see/knew. One thing which impressed me is just how well prepared the band were for the fan requests. They played three fan requests – and one of them was a song rarely played live. Now, they might have ballsed it up for all I know about the song in question – but based on the crowd reaction to it, it didn’t seem that way. They played a few cover songs throughout the course of the evening, the highlight being Because The Night, a Patti Smith song. The overall gig highlight for me was when they played several in quick succession that I loved – Born In The USA, Born To Run and Dancing In The Dark – outstanding stuff. I went to this gig, as said above, to tick a box but I would 100% go and see them again.

6. Clutch – The Roundhouse, London – December

Funny that this gig is here given the first time I saw them live, I dismissed them. I have come to the conclusion that they had a bad sound set up the first time I saw them. It wasn’t great. I saw them again at the Wedgewood Rooms which was noticeably better but I had to leave early to catch a train home. I didn’t give them much thought until I saw them at Download 2011 and they blew me away with how good they were. I wanted to go a headline show to see them again but I couldn’t make any of the London shows that cropped up between this set and their set at Download 2015 – which was even better than the 2011 one. I fully intended to see them on their headline tour in 2015, but I waited too long to get tickets and they sold out. I made plans for that day and then the gig got moved to a bigger venue as the Shepherds Bush Empire needed emergency work doing to its roof (after The Wildhearts blew it off in September – maybe). So there were now tickets available, but I had alternative plans. This tour came around and I again held off buying a ticket but got one in the upper standing area, which actually I quite like.

Lionize were playing as I walked in, who I thought were quite good. I also liked the main support – Valient Thorr – but not as much as Lionize. Clutch came on, opened with The Mob Goes Wild and from that point, this gig was just outstanding. There was not a single “piss break” moment during this gig. The set was almost perfect for me but no Earth Rocker was a bit of a disappointment. That is the only negative I have to say really. This gig made me go back and listen to the latest album again (which I already liked) and discover just how damn good the song Firebirds is. There was a pretty long pause before the encore of Electric Worry and X-Ray Visions – which was a superb encore. Of all the times I’ve seen Clutch live, this is definitely the best.

5. Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – Guildhall, Portsmouth – December

For most of these entries, I’ve written a bit of context to go along with discussion about the gig. That is a straightforward task for this one – In 2014, the Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls gig at the Guildhall was my gig of the year. In 2015, it was my second favourite gig of the year. It seems strange putting it in 5^th this time around as it was outstanding. It has been a tough year for establishing an order.

I missed the support acts because I was in a pub across the road (I know; I am an awful person). I don’t tire of seeing Frank Turner live. Much like The Wildhearts, when Frank Turner announces live dates in the UK, I try to work out if I can make any. This set list was a bit different to the tour from last year but was still pretty great. Also, getting to hear him play Love, Ire and Song was just great (played it in 2014 and I have no memory of it taking place – despite not being overly drunk for that gig). I don’t know if there is anything else to add really – another year, another excellent Frank Turner show seen.

4. Arch Enemy – The Engine Rooms, Southampton – August

I wrote a full review of the gig here, so I won’t tread over too much old ground again. What I will say though is that when I was heading to this gig, I had hoped it would be in my top 10. I had no idea it would be so good that it was a genuine contender for gig of the year at one point. It has changed place on this list a number of times, ending up in 4^th. It was a headline show I had been waiting to see for nearly 10 years and it was much better than I ever thought it would be.  

3. David Gilmour – Royal Albert Hall, London – September

I wrote a full review of the gig here, so I won’t go as in depth with this one. The review of this gig was the most recent post to this page before this one and just re-reading it, it reminded me just how special it was. I don’t think I need to add much more than that really.

2. Weezer – Brixton Academy, London – April

I missed Weezer at Sonisphere 2011. I had a headache kick me in the...well head I guess, during Sum 41 and I left the arena to take a break to shake my headache off. I came back in to watch Ginger, who played a great set. However, I left the tent and my headache was back and worse. So I left the arena again and didn’t come back. This meant missing Weezer – but I remember being alright with this because I was convinced they would come back. And then they didn’t. As the years rolled on, no UK show happened. They released an album in 2014 which was pretty decent but still no UK show happened. Then The White Album was announced to come out for earlier this year, alongside a couple of UK dates – Manchester and London. It was midweek which was a pain for those who don’t live in London – but I had to go.

The support band were Dinosaur Jr, who were really good. I’d seen them once before at Camden Rocks festival which was also good. However, having a good support that night was little more than a bonus. I was there to see Weezer and they did not disappoint. I had managed to listen to The White Album twice before going to the gig (it is great by the way) so I was somewhat familiar with them. It seemed I was in the minority though as the crowd didn’t really singalong when the 5 songs from the new album were played (it was a bit louder for the stuff from Everything Will Be Alright In The End). However, when they played one of their better known songs, the singalongs were something else. In the first half of their set, from their back catalogue, they played My Name Is Jonas, Hash Pipe, Back To The Shack, El Scorcho, Pork and Beans and (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To – the singalongs were loud. This to me was almost the perfect Weezer gig (and had they played Dope Nose, it would have been).

1. Avantasia – The Forum, London - March

I’d seen Avantasia twice before this night, both times headlining Wacken festivals and both times they were my band of the festival. I did not anticipate they would play a UK headline show and this view was reinforced when Team Rock Radio were plugging Bloodstock Open Air in 2013 and mentioned just about every band playing apart from Avantasia – who were sub-headlining the Saturday night. One of the publications that fall under the banner of Team Rock, Metal Hammer, when reviewing the festival wrote something like apart from the 500 diehards there, no-one could care less – can’t imagine why that could be. Anyway, fan boy annoyance aside (not least as I couldn’t make that show), when a headline show was announced, I snapped up a ticket immediately.

It was “an evening with” set up in that there was no support band. Doors opened at 7, Avantasia came on at 8. The new material from Ghostlights worked so well live as did all my old favourites that I had seen previously at Wacken. Tobias Sammet was only not on stage for 3 of the 24 songs of the night (sadly, two of them are my favourites but no matter) which is pretty damn impressive. It was everything I hoped it would be and then some. Looking back at the set list from that night now, I’m really struggling to not say “all of it!” were I to be asked about the highlight – and that to me is the sign of a great gig. I’ve spoken about this gig without once giving mention to Michael Kiske. My favourite Avantasia songs that have more than one singer usually feature him, and he was so good during this gig. That isn’t to say the other singers and musicians weren’t great, because they all were. I think the thing which made it gig of the year for me was seeing this music that I absolutely love in such an intimate setting, given the context of the previous times I had seen them. They were always great at Wacken, but this was just something else. I remember watching their first live DVD, and there was a clip of them playing a venue in Argentina the size of The Forum. I remember wishing they would do something similar in London, and speculating just how incredible it would be (and then being annoyed because it would never happen). It did, and it was (and then some).

And that, for 2016, is that. It has been a good year for gig going and I’ve been to some great gigs. I suspect I will do this again next year and I can already see some potential gig of the year candidates in my calendar. At this stage, it is hard to look past Guns N’ Roses at Olympic Stadium – but we shall see. Had you asked me this time last year what my gig of 2016 would be, I would probably have said David Gilmour.

Live Review: David Gilmour - Royal Albert Hall 30/09/2016

First off, I would like to start this review by saying how much I love the Royal Albert Hall. Yesterday was only my 3^rd visit to the venue (and first for over 3 years) but I had forgotten just how good of a venue it is. All 3 times I have been, I’ve been in gallery standing up the top. I do need to experience something from lower in the bowl at some point. It was the perfect surrounding for the evening’s entertainment. David Gilmour was playing the last date on the “Rattle That Lock” world tour which saw him play at the Royal Albert Hall 11 times over two years. The setlist on previous nights had a decent helping of Gilmour’s solo material but the majority of it consisted of Pink Floyd songs. Whilst I really like the Rattle That Lock album, I was really looking forward to seeing Pink Floyd songs performed live by one of the people in the band again. I saw The Wall performed at Wembley Stadium by Roger Waters, which was phenomenal.

The evening was set to be broken up into two sets, with a short interval in the middle. The first set kicked off with 3 songs from Rattle That Lock. Hearing the songs live gave me a whole new appreciation for these songs which I already liked. Not that the crowd as a whole weren’t into these three songs, but there was a significant increase in volume whenever a Pink Floyd song was played. The first of these was What Do You Want From Me, which is a great song. This was followed by The Blue – another solo track from the album On An Island and then The Great Gig In The Sky – which got a massive roar of approval from the crowd. Another song from Rattle That Lock – A Boat Lies Waiting – followed which was good. What followed this was one of my highlights of the night. Back to back Pink Floyd classics in the form of Wish You Were Here and Money. Wish You Were Here provided the first loud sing along of the night and the crowd had barely calmed down afterwards before roaring again when the introduction to Money kicked in. This section was certainly one of my top two moments of the gig. Were you to put a gun to my head and demand to know my favourite Pink Floyd song, it is possible I would say one of these two. To hear them both back to back? Awesome. The instrumental section of Money was longer than it is on record, which sometimes can be annoying but not on this occasion. The saxophone player in particular was just superb. The first set ended with another Rattle That Lock song – In Any Tongue – and High Hopes from The Division Bell. The first set was, put simply, stunning.

The second set opened with a real cross section of Pink Floyd material – One Of These Days, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V), Fat Old Sun and Coming Back To Life. It was great to hear a real mix of Floyd like this – Shine On You Crazy Diamond was another moment where the crowd really got into the performance. This is a part where my memory is letting me down slightly. I know after the four Pink Floyd songs, there were 3 more solo tracks played. The Girl in the Yellow Dress is not often on the set list but it was last night. I’m looking at other set lists and it has the Pink Floyd song Us And Them on. I can’t remember if we got that as well, or if we got The Girl in the Yellow Dress as a replacement. I’m sure someone out there knows. Regardless, I really enjoyed this part of the set – particularly as I wasn’t expecting to hear The Girl in the Yellow Dress. Towards the end of Today, another song from Rattle That Lock, the crowd really livened up – to the point I wondered if I had missed something as they hadn’t got that lively for a song that wasn’t a Pink Floyd song all night. Today is a superb song though so maybe that is why. The second set concluded with two Pink Floyd songs, Sorrow (one I’m not overly familiar with) and Run Like Hell – which was immense. It was one of my highlights when I saw Roger Waters and was one again last night.

Gilmour and the band came out for an encore to close out the night. The room got very loud again when the introduction to Time started. The end of Time blended in nicely with a bit of Breathe, which was really cool. The last song of the night was Comfortably Numb – another one of my highlights from when I saw Waters. It was better last night than it was at Wembley Stadium. I think Gilmour singing the chorus is vital to that song when performed live and no disrespect to the guy in Roger Waters’ band, but Gilmour he is not. Earlier in the tour, Benedict Cumberbatch came out to sing the Roger Waters parts of the song which must have been cool to see. This encore was probably my favourite part of the set due to the inclusion of Comfortably Numb – a predictable but epic closer.

I bought my ticket for this gig in December last year, and it exceeded all expectations I had for the gig. Were I to rank my top 3 highlights of the gig, it would all be Pink Floyd songs. That is not to take anything away from the solo material though – as there was never a moment when a solo song was being performed that I wished it would be over. It is just, in my experience, always great to hear Pink Floyd songs being performed live by someone that was in Pink Floyd. I’ve made reference to the Roger Waters Wembley Stadium show but I am not going to say which gig was better as they were entirely different experiences. What I will say though is that last night was just outstanding, and I am glad I was there to see it. Would I have enjoyed it more being sat down closer to the stage? Possibly. Being stood up at the top didn’t ruin it at all for me though, which is a good thing.

Live Review - Arch Enemy at The Engine Rooms, Southampton 24/08/2016

It has been a really long time since I’ve written a long form review. Not since last year’s Download Festival have I done one. The reason I am doing this one is because last night, I went to a gig that I’ve wanted to go to for about 10 years in going to the Arch Enemy show at the Engine Rooms in Southampton. I first saw Arch Enemy at the 2006 Download Festival. I had never heard of them before and the only reason I saw them is that they were still on the main stage after Devildriver had finished on the second stage and I was walking back round. I hadn’t planned on seeing them but they certainly got my attention that day. I remember thinking I’d like to see them again. That opportunity came when they were on the Black Crusade tour bill, headlined by Machine Head and Trivium. Their set was probably only 30 minutes that night but they were the second best band of the night (they would have been the best but Machine Head on The Blackening tour were phenomenal).  Again, I remember thinking I wanted to see them play for longer. I didn’t see them again until Sonisphere 2011. I had a brutal hangover whilst they were on, but I still remember loving their set.

It was another long time before I saw them again, and in that time, Angela Gossow had stepped down as lead vocalist, with Alissa White-Gluz chosen to take her place. I saw the new look Arch Enemy support Kreator in London and it was superb – it was obvious the change in singer had not taken away from how good the band were live. The last time I saw them before last night was supporting Nightwish at Wembley Arena – the biggest indoor venue I had seen them play which, you probably won’t be shocked to learn, I really enjoyed. It wasn’t long after this gig that a headline tour was announced, with a relatively local date to me – this for me was an essential gig ticket purchase. There had been opportunities to see them play headline shows, but logistically or financially, it just wasn’t possible for me. Thankfully, I was now able to rectify this.

I have one small gripe before talking about the positive. The ticket said doors were half 7. The Facebook event said the same thing. I arrived at 7.45 expecting the first band to just be coming on, and they had finished and the main support had come on. I’ve just looked back over my email and I have just found an email telling me doors had been moved an hour earlier. I got that email nearly 3 weeks ago. It would have been useful for this change to be widely advertised as I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that forgot. It is a minor gripe, and one which was caused by my poor memory, but still. I didn’t get to see Griever, which is why there are no words about them. Anyway, that is the only negative point of the evening for me (spoiler alert?)

Not that this gig needed an extra selling point, but it had one in the form of Soilwork being the main support band. I had seen Soilwork twice before this gig, both times on an open air stage at Wacken in Germany, and both times I remember thinking they were great. Last night was no exception to this rule. Due to the aforementioned door time change, I only saw them for about 40-45 minutes (no idea how long their set was). Either way, they had a great set. They didn’t hang around much between songs which was cool to see. As their set concluded, I wished I could drop everything and go and see them again in London (which is today of this writing). I suspect their headline show at the Underworld will be excellent. They closed their set with Stabbing The Drama, which I really like so I was pleased.

As was said earlier, I have wanted to attend an Arch Enemy headline show for quite some time. However, there are occasions sometimes when you build something up so much in your mind that it just can’t possibly reach those heights. The band (in this context) may do absolutely nothing wrong, but because you internally set the bar so high, they had no chance of reaching it. Despite having seeing Arch Enemy live before, and knowing how good they are live, I did fear that I had done this. What I can now say is that if I did set the bar high, Arch Enemy not only reached it, but they surpassed it. It was an outstanding headline set. The set contained pretty much all of my favourite Arch Enemy songs which I’m sure helped my enjoyment of the gig somewhat. Afterwards, I couldn’t think of any song that I would have cut to shoehorn in another one of my favourite songs. Had they played Rise Of The Tyrant and Leader Of The Rats, it would have been the perfect set list for me. The absence of those two songs did not take anything away from this gig for me though – Arch Enemy were just superb last night. I don’t tend to add a rating to the bottom of gig reviews (I tend to save that for festival reviews) but this gig was a genuine 10/10 for me. Choosing highlights from this gig is too tough an ask. I just tried to and I ended up almost writing out the whole set list. I can comfortably say this – when it comes to the end of the year, this gig will without doubt be in my top 10, if not my top 5. My first Arch Enemy headline show was everything I wanted it to be and more – and you can’t ask for more than that can you?

A Decade Of Gigs Part Eight - The Photo Blog

If you have read any of the previous Decade of Gigs posts, you will know that they come with plenty of words - not this time. This blog is basically a selection of photos I've taken over the last decade of gigs. Enjoy!