Going into a new year!

So after a long period of time and without a post since I shot W.A.S.P at the Leeds O2 Academy, I thought I had better update my blog and let you guys know (well those that are interested in knowing) what I've been up to in the past few months!


Firstly I got an email confirmation saying I had an AAA pass for the Human League's XXXV tour... which is always a good email to get in these harsh winters. I wanted to shoot one of the show's so I went to a few of the shows before I shot the show in Sheffield to get to see what the lights were like and get prepared. I travlled up to Nottingham to see them at the royal concert hall and then the next day I travlled up to Halifax to see them at the Halifax theater which, if I don't say so myself, was a LOT better than Nottingham. The crowd was more livey and the band were in full swing.

It came to the night of the Sheffield show and I was all prepared to shoot! There was no one else in the pit apart from a friend of the bands keyboard player, Neil, who was a photographer called Tracey Welch. No paper or website had commision for the show which was a nice feeling and I could shoot the entire show from where I wanted plus have the usual 3 songs from the pit. Another success that came from having no other photographers there was that if anyone needed any photos they had to come to me for them... I was in luck! The lighting and set design company wanted a photo of the set being used in action and I made a sale.

Next up for me was shooting a much loved band of mine... the mighty Thin Lizzy who I had previously missed out on earlier this year when they played the city hall in Sheffield. This time I was at the Leeds O2 again and after shooting W.A.S.P there a few months back knew how difficult it was. The pit is about 3 feet wide and the stage is quite tall for an O2 academy so I was litrally shooring up Scotty's nose! I got 3 songs from the pit and then was told I could shoot the rest of the shot from anywhere else. It was a good job as well as the lighting for the first 3 songs were shocking! The first song 'Are you ready' I wouldn't say was a song as it doesn't last that long then the band kicked into the Lizzy classic 'Jailbreak' to which the crowd jumped up and down in time clapping (I missed some wothwhile shots there).

All in all this year has gone well for me and I hope that my exams in the coming year don't stand in the way too much so I can still shoot some awesome stuff! I'm hoping to get on the NME tour photo list :-P Let's hope I do.

W.A.S.P at Leeds O2 Academy

So on the Friday evening of the 28th of September I caught a train down to Leeds in West Yorkshire to see the almighty W.A.S.P on their "30 Years of Thunder" tour that they had been doing the rest of the year and it had finally come to Europe... I just had to be at it!

As the time drew closer to the gig I must admit I got more and more excited... having listened to this band for about 8 years now and never had a chance to see them I was so anxious to start shooting. I had never been to the O2 academy in Leeds either so had no idea really what the shooting conditions would be like or what sort of lighting was usually used there (I was hoping it wasn’t the dreaded ‘red light’ or else I would be in trouble, unfortunately I'm not rich enough to get a fixed 2.8 or even 1.8 lens so I had my trusty 3.5 wide angle and zoom lens on hand).

Me and my mate arrived at the academy with plenty of time to spare, I always like to arrive early to get a clear picture of the equipment setup I might need and also to take a look round the venue and have some chats with the other toggers there. At the Leeds show there were only 6 toggers including me so I knew the pit wouldn’t be that cramped and I would have plenty of space to shoot without getting in anyone’s way. Arriving at the guest box office we were told that we were not down for any passes which gave me a slight heart attack but then they found our names and I had my pass for the night which let me shoot the first 3 songs from the pit with no flash... and even better there was NO photo release form to sign which for any photographer out there is a serious benefit!

The band before W.A.S.P I didn’t really pay attention to just waited for the main act to come on so I could get my pictures and then venture out into the crowd to watch the show. When the time came I started with my wide angle lens (14-42mm) as I had already done a shot test with the zoom lens and I found it to be a little too zoomed in... W.A.S.P was a band that I knew would be better off with full body shots rather than close up face shots. The band entered to an uproar of applause and kicked into their first song which then the toggers in the pit started shooting. It was difficult at first because they played a high tempo song and were moving around constantly and not even stopping to pose for the camera. Never the less I got my shots and left the pit to take a look at them... I a few hundred shots and managed to narrow them down to about 25 that really stood out for me... any lens blur just wouldn’t do for me.

I managed to have a chat to another photographer that I knew in name but never had met in person... Tracey Welch, who also blogs as well and is friends with some other people I know so it wasn’t too awkward introducing myself to her. Having shot for the likes of NME she knows what she’s doing in the business of photography!

Overall it was a cracking night and a review will be posted soon on the music website The Sheffield Scenester, you can also check out my site where you can drop me a message or view more of my photos on my Facebook page.

Finally a new post!!

Well sorry about the delay in my posts and thank you for giving me over 1600 page views on my Download review featuring Slash on the Zippo stage! Means a lot to me! I have been very busy these last few months both with my education and also photographing bands and a festival for the Olympics (not as exciting as it sounds). Anyway I was a photographer at the Sheftival festival in Sheffield at the Don Valley stadium and it was a fantastic weekend for two reasons; the first being our Jess won gold and the second there was a great selection of bands across two stages. I won’t be posting a review on the festival on here but if you go over to The Sheffield Scenester you can see my review on there plus loads of my photos that I took for them.

So I am thinking of getting a new SLR camera as mine is really outdated for what I need it for (live music photography) so I was thinking of upgrading to the Canon 6D or the canon 5D mark 3 by Christmas time and hopefully a good 2.8 F/ lens by next summer in time to shoot Download festival or Sonisphere festival if they get their act together...

On to the next thing and that is my experience I had with shooting The Cult a few weeks ago (again the review and photos can be seen on The Sheffield Scenester website). It was horrendous, I had to sign a photo release which stated they owned all the photos and then to also find out that it was BS as they went against what they said in the release. Shooting from the crowd and fighting for the best shoot position isn’t fair on their photographers or on the crowd who have paid for the ticket! No pit access was allowed and we eventually had to shoot from the back... good job I had my handy 200mm lens with me with an F/4. Killing Joke had already backed out so it was just the right grabbers and The Mission to shoot who, by the way, posted on their site an apology about the shooting situation stating it was all The Cult’s managements fault for the whole matter.... unreal.

Well coming up this week I’ll be shooting W.A.S.P at the Leeds O2 and then on Saturday I’ll be shooting a new and upcoming band Swiss Lips at Sheffield’s own Leadmill, and I wa requested to cover the night by the PR company Hall or Nothing... I felt chuffed when they asked me to.

Until then...

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Slash, Download 2012

After being with the hugely successful rock band Guns n’ Roses, song writer and guitarist Slash appeared with his new band at the 2012 Download festival headlining the Zippo encore stage on the Friday night. He and Axl Rose both worked together throughout the 80’s and 90’s in Guns n’ Roses and collectively released hugely successful songs and albums the most well known and received album being the 1987 album titled “Appetite For Destruction” which featured hits such as ‘Night Train’ ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’ all which have peaked in the top 100 and even got to number 1. After the band split up, and left front man Axl Rose on his own, he formed the ‘new’ Guns n’ Roses and Slash teamed up with various artists to bring out his first self tiled album “Slash” which was released in 2010 and which features artists such as Fergie, Lemmy and Iggy Pop. After this album went down well with critics and the fans slash joined up with Alter Bridge’s lead man Myles Kennedy to record a second album, just released a few months back. Slash and Myles started their musical relationship while recording the song ‘Starlight’ which was featured on the “Slash” album, said Myles at Download festival and they have taken it from there.

After having bands on the Zippo stage all day the crowd were getting restless and wanted to see what they had stood all day for... and in the rain! Bands that also featured on the Zippo stage were The Quire Boys, the reunited Little Angels, Nightwish and, if they had turned up on time Europe, but a delayed flight into Donington meant that their set got cut from the whole festival. The crowd had expectations from Slash and he certainly delivered to them playing all of his greatest hits and even putting in some new material from his latest album, as he should. He opened with ‘One Last Thrill’ and then proceeding onto the Guns n’ Roses song ‘Night Train’ to wish Myles had put his own mark on the vocals and which left Axl’s version in the dust! There was no comparison, Myles was just an overall better man for the job he even comes with the added bonus of actually turning up on time and sober! His voice has an edge to it that makes him perfect to sing the new material he has wrote with slash to singing some early Guns n’ Roses stuff that he didn’t sing on. 

I had never seen Slash live before but listen to him constantly on both my music player and his live stuff that shown on TV and I was really excited about hearing these flaming solos I have only ever heard but never witnessed. I have to hand it to him; he knows how to work that guitar! Every note he played had electric running through it and even while dancing around on stage like a headless chicken, still managed to pull off some amazing stuff on his famous Les Paul axe. All the other band members turned their instruments down when he was soloing which was good as we heard them clearly (which is what we were there for, after the entire act is called Slash). You could say that’s harder for him as with his guitar being the centre of attention he has NO room for error and there wasn’t any. All the solos were just how they sounded on the studio albums if not better as they had that input of some improve on Slashes part. 

After about an hour of pleasing the crowd with some fast hits and wild solos the band on stage slowed the pace down a bit and played the song that brought Myles and Slash together ‘Starlight’ to which lighters were brought out and hands were swung in the air. It was a magical moment to watch and even more to see the Download crowd sing their hearts out and to watch Slash play some soft riffs, a well needed break for the band... and the crowd for that matter!! After that they soared through more hits of both Slash’s and Guns n’ Roses including ‘Mr Brownstone’ and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ before ending on a killer ‘Paradise City’. I never thought I would get to hear this played by Slash as I didn’t know that he still played this, and from the crowd’s reaction neither did they! The crowd were once again warmed up to go crazy and Myles had them under his control telling them to sing and they did. If you ever get to hear 20,000 people singing at the same time it is a wonderful moment. The final solo that Slash pulled off was crazy, I'm surprised that the band could keep up. He was on FIRE! He ripped through the solo going crazy all over the stage before finally thanking Donington for being there to support him and his band and finally walked off.

Every band that day played amazingly and pleased the crowd, the only downside was not to see Europe play put instead having to hear the fans in the crowd sing ‘The Final Countdown’ which I have to admit was pretty funny. Till next year Donington... 

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Brit Floyd Live Sheffield City Hall 2012

Now usually I’m not one to go and see a tribute band, after all why see a cheap tribute when you can pay decent money and go see the real thing in a big arena packed full of people and that has a great atmosphere. Tributes are made up of musicians that try to act like the band member from the official band and usually do a very poor job trying pulling it off, they can’t sing like the original band can nor can they pull of some of the crazy solos that their guitar heroes can pull off. Tributes are just awful. Enter Brit Floyd, the number one tribute to Pink Floyd. These guys have been all the way round the world and have actually played the big arenas playing everything from ‘Money’ to ‘Comfortably numb’ and in front of thousands.  They have the looks, the personality and the feel that Pink Floyd had back in the 70’s and 80’s and if you shut your eyes you would not be able to tell the two bands apart. Pink Floyd was once one of the biggest bands in the world and still to this day sell millions of records and have the 2^nd best ever selling album titled ‘Dark Side of The Moon’. To become a Pink Floyd tribute you have to get it right 100% and have no room for error.

I had seen adverts for this band all over the internet and through posters in Sheffield and with each one was attached a snippet of a review and a 5 star rating attached to every one of them. Well I can tell you the band was a 5 star tribute; they had brought everything with them that you would expect a true Pink Floyd band to bring including Pink Floyd’s light show and the projections that shine down onto the stage and the backdrop, I was shocked at the supreme quality this band had managed to deliver to us, the audience. They had the effects and stage production of Pink Floyd down to a tee and I was blown away. The only thing they were missing, only because they were playing such a small venue, was the inflatable pig and school teacher otherwise their stage production was fantastic!

The band itself was made up of guitarist/singer Damian Darlington, bassist/singer Ian Cattell, lead guitar Bobby Harrison, drummer Arran Ahmun, keyboard player Rick Benbow, sax player Carl Brunsdon and backing singers Emily Jollands, Rosaleen O'Connell, Jacquie Williams and Ola Bienkowska. The 4 female singers did a great job at singing the backing vocals to all the songs and when singer Ola Bienkowska stepped up on her own to sing the powerful Great Gig in The Sky she blew the audience away. I’ve heard people try to sing this song but I have heard no one with a voice powerful enough to sing it and reach them high notes without being out of tune and it sounding like a cat getting run over. She had it and it was raw and energetic and was topped off with a standing ovation from the whole of Sheffield city hall. The rest of the band too were fantastic and bassist and singer Ian Cattell, who I presume was meant to be the Roger Waters of the group, did a terrific job at playing his part. What stood out mostly for me was when Ian sang ‘Comfortably numb’ dressed in a doctors outfit and dealing with a patient sat in a chair on stage, it was the song I thought really brought out the band’s stage production. Damian took over Gilmour’s part at the vocals and the two together were like the last two pieces of a jigsaw, they fit perfectly! At the point where it was time for Gilmour’s solo in the song Damian was ready and pulled it off note for note, it could have been the real thing up there playing this but no it was someone who had literally just mastered it and didn’t go wrong once. This was accompanied by the whole hall lighting up and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling that added to the already therapeutic atmosphere that was inside the hall, I couldn’t have been more relaxed if I wanted to be.

The set-list that these guys played was based on the new Pink Floyd hits album named “A Foot in The Door” which was released back in November 2011 and features mostly the hits from “Dark Side of The Moon”, “The Wall” and “Wish You Were Here” albums. The album also contains hits from other Pink Floyd albums such as ‘High Hopes’ from “The Division Bell” and ‘Learning to Fly’ from “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”. The set-list included the obvious hits such as ‘money’, ‘Another Brick in The wall’, ‘Pigs’ and ‘Run Like Hell’ which was the band’s closing song and was the song that got people on their feet clapping and cheering on the band. This 45 date UK tour also concentrated on another one of Pink Floyd’s hits albums named “Echoes” which was released November 2001 and features a wider variety of Pink Floyd hits unlike the “A Foot in The Door” album which is a more condensed compilation album. They got the set-list just right, taking a mix of songs from both these albums. They enjoyed playing it and most importantly the crowd loved watching it! 

Overall this band were jaw dropping to say the least, they were very authentic and came with the whole package. The show and the stage production were outstanding and the lighting was unbelievably great!! If you are going to become a tribute band to really pay respects to a world class band especially one as successful as Pink Floyd, then you need to do it right and I can say with all honesty... Brit Floyd you did just that! What an unforgettable night and a breathtaking experience 11/10 for all you guys!

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Press pass for Brit floyd

Just a quick update to say I have got a press pass for the Brit floyd show at the Sheffield city hall. I have also been given a pair of tickets to show (how nice of the promotors). I will upload a full review and pictures after the event which is next thursday on the 24th. Till then...

Def Leppard/Motley Crue UK tour 2011

Now queuing outside Sheffield arena for 2 hours in the middle of winter when it has rained and the temperature is almost below freezing, isn’t something I would normally do for a show but this was an exception. Today marks a great day in rock history for Sheffield and for the rest of the United Kingdom as 2 of the greatest rock legends were going to be performing not only on the same stage but on the same night! Sheffield welcomes to their arena Steel Panther, Motley Crue and Sheffield born n’ bred lads Def Leppard for one night of pure rock that will no doubt go down in history. There was a massive queue when I first arrived and there was me thinking that I was the only one out of their minds to do this but no, there was a long line of egger fans waiting to welcome their rock heroes home. Queuing that early paid off as me and my friends were first in and first to the front at the barriers... a great spot for a great show.

Steel panther I had heard of before but I had never actually listened to them as seeing them in posters they looked like a cheesy throwback from the 80’s but they were getting quite a good reception from the crowd while they were waiting. I overheard a couple of people talk about the bassist and how he travels all the way to America to get highlights and extensions... I knew from then on that they were most likely going to be a cheesy throwback from the 80’s.  Steel panther is a 4 piece glam metal band from California; Michael Starr (Ralph Saenz) on lead vocals, Satchel (Russ Parrish) on rhythm and lead guitar, Lexxi Foxxx (Travis Haley) on bass guitar and Stix Zadinia (Darren Leader) on drums. Their music has thought to be quite controversial as most of their songs include not very subtle innuendoes and when on stage consist of them making rude gestures to the crowd and each other. The band entered how any other support band would by just walking onto the stage and receiving, what I thought, to be a very warm and excited welcome by the Sheffield crowd. They kicked into their first song “Supersonic Sex Machine” and I could then see why people must love them... they were hilarious! They ran around shouting out these lyrics that didn’t really make much sense and made the bounces stood in front of me cringe and give the band looks that said “dude theres kids here tonight!” but they didn’t care, they were here to entertain and that they did. Steel Panther were on for about 40 minuets and put every bit of energy into all the songs they played as if they were the headlining act. One song that had even me cringing was “Asian Hooker” which had lyrics in it which said about certain “things” smelling like Su-Shi at that point I was hoping that this might be their last song, but no, their last was yet to come. From their album “Feel the Steel” came the song Death to All But Metal which had lyrics involving many great rock legends including Def Leppard themselves. The lads put on a great show and the crowd were now ready to face whatever Motley Crue brought to them.

I have loved Motley Crue for a long, long time and fell in love with them after hearing the song “Wild Side” which was on their “Girls, Girls, Girls” album which also features the No. Song “Girls, Girls, Girls”. The arena was now packed and had a great buzz about it that to any band must be a great thing to be able to pull off. All is you could see in front of you was a big white curtain that blocked the whole of the stage... whatever was behind it was obviously something that needed hiding. I was very curious on how they would enter and a man stood behind said “You watch, you watch. They come straight on without warn-“ BANG and on they came. The houselights or the music playing didn’t have a chance to turn off and the band were racing in “Wild Side” with front man Vince Neil stood right in front of me screaming out the lyrics! The band’s set was also very impressive as it consisted of a Wild West themed stage and had a massive rollercoaster loop in the centre with the drum kit attached to it. Motley Crue had been though a few line-up changes over the years but now the original “Crue” were back together again which featured Vince Neil on vocals, Mick Mars on lead and rhythm guitar, Tommy Lee on drums and Nikki Sixx on bass guitar. From where I was stood I could see the entire band quite clearly and I really wanted Mick to come down near me so I could get a good look at the guitar player that has inspired me though-out everything that I play. He finally did come down the runway and I had one thing going through my head... what a creepy guy. He had a hat on that covered most of his face and I could only just make out the eyes that were glaring down at me. For Motley Crue this was really a “greatest hits” tour if you could sum it up and they played all the hits including “shout at the devil”, “Dr Feelgood” and “Girls, Girls, Girls” they also including a few of the new songs in the set-list taken from their new album “Saints Of Los Angeles” which all went down a great success live! For most of the Motley Crue audience the one song that hit everyone and brought everyone together was “Home Sweet Home” which brought on stage a piano and saw drummer Lee take a break from the drums and play the song. It was a touching moment to see especially for those, like myself, who had never seen Motley Crue ever. When Lee got back on the drums I knew what the big rollercoaster track was for, for Tommy sat down on his kit only for it to take him for a ride, for the drum set actually went on a rollercoaster ride in a huge loop while he played his solo. It wasn’t over there though for he picked a member of the audience to come and join him! For their finishing song the band played kick-start my heart and for the first time in the night a mosh pit was born... the high tempo song got everyone moving and kick-started everyone’s heart, it hit everyone like a bull in a china shop!! This band are a must see as they give you all the thrills, music and lyrics that I don’t think no else can!

Def Leppard have become one of the most iconic and influential rock bands on the planet selling over 155 million albums and having multiple albums in the top 10, they did one thing that every band dreams of doing... breaking through to America and really living the American dream. Born in Sheffield, Lead singer Joe Elliot joined forced with drummer Rick Allan who started writing songs they later recruited guitarists but just couldn’t find the right one until they got guitarist Phil Collen who is still with them today along with bassist Rick Savage or “Sav”. The band made their breakthrough with the album “Hysteria” which sold over 20 million copies worldwide and their rise to fame just continued to grow. The band played a sell-out show at Sheffield’s Don Valley stadium in 1993 to which a crowd of 50,000 witnessed them play.

The houselights dimmed and a voice rang out through the arena “good evening Sheffield!” those were the first words that came from Joe as he walked down past Ricks drum kit. The band started the night with a song from their new album “Mirror Ball” and played “Undefeated” which I suppose was a statement to say their still going and nothing will stand in their way. I was very disappointed to see that some people in the crowd were starting to shift away and leave and I heard some murmurs of people saying they had seen enough, but the band was just getting started for after that the band kicked into “Action” to which Joe walked down the runway and got everyone on their feet, even those who were unlucky and had a seated ticket. Even the people all the way at the back were on their feet and stuck in with the “Action”. For Def Leppard this show was really a “greatest hits” one as they played all the good blasts from the past and their set-list included “Animal”, “Hysteria”, “Photograph” and “pour some sugar on me”. I must say after the accident that drummer Rick Allan had he still keeps on performing like any other drummer does. To this day I will never know how he does it and no one will and no one does because no one can do it, only Rick can. Throughout the night I sort of had a feeling that the band would maybe have to finish with some slow songs as they played all of the energetic songs at the beginning, but I was wrong for they only stopped half way through their set to play 2 acoustic songs “two steps behind” and “bringin’ on the heartbreak” than back into the action they went playing “Pour Some Sugar On Me” before finally ending the night with one question... “Do you wanna get rocked”? The arena erupted and that famous guitar riff was amplified to the 14,000 present. For this song Joe let the crowd sing the chorus’s and I have never heard a group of people sing back as loud as Sheffield did that night, it was magical.  

After the song Joe had a few more words to say... “Sheffield, please don’t forget us... and we won’t forget you! Goodnight”

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A quick snippet of what's to come

So just a quick update to say I have a couple of VIP tickets for download festival this year! So me and my friend will be going and I will be reviewing as many bands as I can see as well as some artists if I get a chance to! This year at download see's the great Prodigy headline for the first time as well as comeback from Metallica who has played both download festival and monsters of rock festival before. The one that everyone will be coming for is the reunion of the mighty Black Sabbath, and to make it even more special it is their only gig in europe this year!! One not to be missed!
As well as download I also have a VIP pass to V-Fest this year which has Noel and his brids play as well as The Stone Roses and The Killers, again I will be trying to get a hold of these artists for a quick interview as well as snapping up some great photos for you all. Till then...

Soundclash sheffield featuring the 48K's

 What do you get when you cross blues legend Gary Moore and his partner in crime BB King? What you get is The Black Hands, a local blues/rock band from Sheffield. The band was the first act on at sound clash hosted by Plug and they certainly did get the crowd going. There was a disappointing amount of people there for their set because you could have seen that with a full house and the same energy that the band put in they could have blown the place apart with these guitar riffs. Harmonica and natural born blues singer, Andy Gannon, is the front man of the band and definitely live up to the standard that a blues singer should have. He tore through songs better than Brian Johnson on steroids, including “Don’t steal my blues” and “The devils way. As they surged through each of their songs it was clear to me that one of lead guitarist “Daniel Riley’s” idols had to be the legend that is angus young as most of his solos had that rhythm and crunchy tone that angus always has, everyone he played sounded like his fingers had electric running through them. As the band got about half way through their set people who were over by the bar had slowly started to come and watch the band and once their they didn’t move a muscle, the lads played their last few songs only to be egged on to play more afterwards. These 6 lads gave the audience something that no other band that night managed to give which was the integrity to go and play some old blues which is what their generation and mine are missing!!

When Resonate came on stage I thought it was two guys coming on to set up the next bands gear but then as one of them sat at the drum kit and the other put his guitar on I realised they were the next band. Resonate was in fact a two man band, one which was on the drums tapping away at the hi-hat and the other armed with an Epiphone ES355 the guitar that rock n’ roll legend chuck berry plays. I wish I could have said the same for him but no their music was far from rock n’ roll as the first thing that came through the PA system was some sort of heavy sub-bass track that the drummer was in control of. The guitarist was more like the new generation of the arctic monkeys the same sounding voice and if the sub-bass weren’t in there the same sounding songs. The mood of the place was great and many people was cheering this guy on and he was definitely giving it his all pulling out some solos here and there. In between songs the guys announced that they had a new EP out and they handing out CD’s at the end which listening to sounded great and certainly offered me something fresh that I hadn’t ever heard before. I think what would help these two is if they brought into the band a synth player and let the drummer pump some beats in on the drum kit instead of the simulator that he controlled do all the work. I would definitely recommend that you go and see these two as they have something completely new to offer and I guarantee you to be entertained.

Up next on the stage at plug were the highly anticipated Little Crazy who in fact were a little crazy as at first a women walked out wearing a see-through netted top and leather pants. I was expecting something like you would used to find in the Limit back in the 80’s but instead got a more rock Joan Jett feel. These guys were certainly the “fluff” up band for the 48K’s and in fact had the entire crowd’s attention. I wasn’t too keen on them after hearing the first song but they actually grew on me and now I have a real soft spot for them as they have brought back what is so hard to bring back and that is old rock. This women was in fact front “girl” Sofire who had the voice of a true rocker, she had that edge that is difficult to find now with a girl as mostly girls want to be the next Katy Perry or Rhianna but not this one. From watching her Sofia she lived up to the expectation that I had previously heard of her.  These guys meant business and started as they meant to go on by playing some good hits of theirs and both bassist and guitarist let loose sweat and blood in everything they played and you could see them in years to come playing arenas round the world. This band gave something from the moment that they started playing to when they joined the crowd to watch and that was the determination to put on a good rock show which they were there to do and I can say with no regret that they did that!

The headline act at Sound clash was a 5 piece Brit-pop band called the 48k’s, now days every new band out there is setting out to be the next arctic monkeys or pulp. These guys take it to the next level and make themselves their own. While waiting for the group to come on stage I noticed that one their crew came on and tied a rubber chicken to the mic stand, maybe this was for the humour or for the luck. For these guys they needed luck because all the other bands had really set the level of performance and it was high. At last the band emerged onto the stage and kicked into their first track, their sound was unique and was like a mixture of the monkeys crossed with the Beatles, they had the harmonies spot on and the great crunch that Brit-pop needs. About half way through the set the rubber chicken was (ab)used when lead guitarist Steve kicked the chicken and swung it round his mic stand, I was still thinking what was the point of the chicken... Along with Steve was Kato on rhythm guitar, Ryan on vocals, Karl on drums and Adam on bass guitar. Now when I said about this band having some Beatles elements in them well this certainly fits Adam as was playing the old style violin bass that the famous Paul McCartney played so it is quite possible that he was an influence on this band. This was the first time I saw these guys and I would love to see them perform again some time, they gave the crowd some good entertainment and great laughs (you never saw Ryan without a pint in his hands!).

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Alice Cooper No More Mr. Nice Guy Live tour review

Live Review: Alice Cooper plus special guests The Treatment

It’s a stormy night in Sheffield city centre and people have come from miles around to witness the rebirth of the king of shock rock and the price of all things dark and ugly, Alice Copper. Alice Cooper, now 63, has risen from the grave to give Sheffield the show of a life time on his Halloween Night of Fear tour and for one night only.

Backing Mr. Cooper himself on this road trip from hell was the London band “The Treatment” who in my opinion, were an 80’s wanna-be old school metal band. For nearly all of their set the crowd were sat down and didn’t really take that much interest in what these guys had to offer. I thought they were very good and could have related to the old school Iron Maiden as lead singer Matt Jones weaved in and out of different singing styles just as Paul D’Anio had done back in 1980. These guys gave you blood, and in the words of AC/DC “If you want blood, you got it!!”

Since becoming famous back in the 60’s for his “Schools out for summer” single, Alice “Vincent” Cooper has become one of the most iconic performers on this planet mixing his take on theatre and somewhat un p.c songs and putting them together into one show-stopping act. Since the 60’s Alice has been through a few changes in line up but has brought back one of his original guitarists Steve Hunter for his Halloween tour. He also has recruited Michael Jackson’s would be guitarist 25 year old Orianthi. Together along with Glenn Sobel, Tommy Henriksen and Chuck Garric they make the ultimate team of terrors.

As the house lights dimmed the big curtain at the front of the stage lit up and Vincent Price’s voice sounded through the whole room and the certain dropped to reveal Cooper stood on a big podium with horrifying spider’s arms coming out of him. Now usually when people go to a Cooper show they expect a big bang for the first song but Alice had decided to do one of his early songs “The Black widow” from the Welcome to My Nightmare album, a less thrill- seeking song. At either side of the stage stood the band mates and in the centre Cooper’s Servants. Alice stands at the top of the podium arms spread to reveal each spider arm and leers down at the crowd. Without even doing anything Alice always seems to get the crowd going as almost every person in the room was trying to get as close as they could to this creature of the night.

As Alice Cooper said his first words the room felt the chill go up their spines and they knew he meant business. One of the best things you get when you buy a ticket to see Cooper is that you know you’re getting what you paid for... a show that could wake the dead! He is able to communicate with his audience without having to talk between songs, each song flows from one to the other, almost all of them been ended with Alice beating his fists to the final bloodcurdling beats.

“Brutal Planet” followed as Alice stepped down and puts on a studded jacket with his previous tour’s “No More Mr Nice Guy” written on the back and strutting up and down the stage glaring at the crowd. The whole atmosphere changes as whoever was behind the lighting controls knew how to make a good scene. As the song ends Cooper picks up a huge crutch and “18” begins to play to which the crowd, thirsty for blood, erupt. Cooper staggers around on stage with this massive crutch supporting him and when it comes to the chorus’s lets the crowd scream out the lyrics. Out of all the shows I have attended I have never heard a crowd have so much energy when it comes to singing along. 18 is one of Alice’s old classics and he stands looking proud as people, young and old chant his words back to him. More classics such as “No More Mr Nice Guy” and “Billon Dollar Baby” follow to which Alice turns on his theatrical charm. At the start of “No More...” Cooper thrusts his cane out to the crowd and looked delighted at the carnage he had caused as the crowd fought for it.

The solos that came from his band members were very impressive and gave you what you wanted when you came to a rock show, especially Orianthi’s solo at the end of “Billion Dollar Baby” to which a bright spot light hit her as she stood in the middle of the stage and belted out a screeching solo that made blood pour out every hole in your body. For a 25 year old she did very well to get this far. As the show progressed it was clear to me that Cooper, for this show, was concentrating on the songs and the energy rather than the whole stage show, which after 2 years of his “Theatre Of Death” tour I reckon he should have.

It was now time for what the crowd had been wanting, which was to hear a song from his new album “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” to which Cooper emerged wearing a leather jacket with the words I’ll bite your face off on the back. The crowd seemed to love it and when Cooper sang that chorus I really wouldn’t have gotten too close. During the rhythmic guitar solo Cooper took of his jacket to reveal a bloodstained shirt underneath and as he turned the words “New song” were printed on the back. The new song was a success as everyone was trying to get the words right as they tried to sing along.

So far the night had been a great comeback for Cooper in Sheffield’s eyes as not one person was sat in their seat but the crowd knew things were coming to a slow end. The lights dimmed and a very worn out Cooper was seen sat on a small stool on stage ready to sing the Ballard “Only Women Bleed” to which he passionately serenaded and kissed a “women” doll at the end. This song merged into his questionable and un p.c “Cold Ethyl” to which he turned into the wicked man he is and rags the doll round the stage, does unthinkable gestures and sings about Ethyl who’s great in bed and she should be because Ethyl’s dead! Alice does a great job at doing this song and after meeting the legend himself after the show back at the stage doors I can tell all you readers that all the actions he does in the song is purely his persona “Alice”. A second pre-recorded voice filled the sweaty hall as feed my Frankenstein starts and for the first time we get to see some of Alice’s Stage charm as he and “Egor” bring to life a 15 foot monster which chases the bloodstained Cooper round the stage singing along to his own song. This generated a few gasps from the crowd as never before had Cooper attempted this level of stage trickery. The 15 foot beast was truly hypnotic as the crowd didn’t dare to peel their eyes away in case they missed anything. 

The band exited the stage and remerged all dressed as Alice to do a song from the less successful album of “Flush the Fusion” which afterwards may prove to be a song that they now do on every tour as the crowd had obviously not heard this live before but had proved to be a definite win. “Wicked Young Man” proved itself also as Cooper’s Torturous stage antics returned to have him stab a camera man. Next comes one of Coopers most famous gimmicks, the head chopping act to which a drum roll beats to his death and the crowd lifts their hands as a token of respect to the dead rocker.

Schools out brought it altogether for one last rock out, a bell rang out and Alice is seen stood there with his head down and raises it to begin the ultimate rock anthem “Schools Out”. Alice is now equipped with his trusty cane again and has the best costume change of the night, a silver jacket and top hat. To the audiences surprise the middle of the song contained an extract of pink Floyds Another Brick In The Wall to which after Alice screams it’s party time in Sheffield and it was indeed as about 20 balloons the size of beach balls were launched at the crows releasing confetti and glitter. The band gave their final farewells and were ready to rest again but not before one final song and elected was the chosen one. Cooper marched onto the stage with a tribute to the United Kingdom... a giant union jack flag and for the first time all night spoke out to the crowd after screaming out the song “Elected”.

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SCHOOLS OUT SHEFFIELD!!

Thin Lizzy Live reviw at Sheffield city hall

In 1986 a man called Phill Lynott died of heart failure, on the 6^th February 2011 a close friend of Phil’s died of heart attack this man was called Gary Moore. Together these two along with Scott Gorham, Brian Robertson and Brian Downey made the Irish born rock band Thin Lizzy. Thin Lizzy made they're big debut back in 1972 with the single “whiskey in the jar” and from then on they continued to grow and grow until the death of lead singer, front man and bassist Phill Lynott, died after years of drug use and drinking. The band stopped and then saw Gary Moore take on a very successful solo career as a blues guitarist and who played on the same stage with BB King and Albert King. In 1996 Scott gathered members to reform a “new” Thin Lizzy which included original drummer Brian Downey.

The last time Lizzy played Sheffield prior to tonight was in 2007 when they played the memorial hall. Unfortunately I had missed that chance to see them so seeing them come back and play again was more than I could have asked for. The supporting bands for the night were Triggerfinger (a 3 man band consisting of vocalist Ruben Block, bassist Paul Van and drummer Mario Goossens. When I arrived these guys were just going off stage so I didn’t get a chance to see them but from what I heard when I asked the people next to us is that they did put on a good show and apparently had people on their feet (which is not what support bands usually do at a small venue like Sheffield). Thin Lizzy also had another support band for the night called Clutch who I had heard of before and maybe some of you readers may know them if I were to mention the song “electric worry” which including a strong blues riff accompanied with a killer harmonica solo! I have to say these guys I would quite happily see play without another band supporting them. It was a shame though that they didn’t have a organ player with them as some of their album songs have really good blues riffs played on a rock organ that would have sounder amazing in the city hall thanks to the brilliant acoustics the venue has.

At 9:15 the lights went out and a the city hall erupted with cheers and whistles and shouts and the Thin Lizzy logo was shown on a big white curtain, beamed onto it by a lazar and a loud voice shouted out “ARE YOU READY!” the curtain dropped and their stood the band all surging into “are you ready” taken from their album Life released in 1983. I was disappointed at first as everyone was still sat down when the band came on and no one was stood up, that’s not what the band wants to see and they weren’t taking any of it, as soon as the first song was over they said “if you want more then you’re going to have to stand up and sing with us!” to which everyone did stand and the band kicked into “jailbreak” which I have to say has to be one of my favourite Lizzy songs. Following these was more classic hits such as “Bad Reputation”, “Killer on the Loose” and “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” (not to be mistaken with the cheesy song by Toploader!! When I had heard that Lizzy had gotten back together again in this new line-up and with a new singer I was doubting whether Scotty had managed to find a singer as good as Gary or Phil and... He did it. He had recruited Belfast boy Ricky Warwick who sounded exctually like Phil and could sing every song note for note!

This new line up of Thin Lizzy also included guitarist Damon Johnson and for those people who go to regular gigs at the city hall may know him from Alice Cooper shows there as he spent many years touring with him and to see him in Lizzy saw him ditch the eyeliner and horror makeup and see him become the great guitarist he was equipped with Garry Moore’s personal choice of guitar... the famous Les Paul. The band gave Johnson the honour of playing the famous intro to “Whiskey in the Jar” to which every person in the hall cheered and got their phones and cameras out. The city hall is known to be quite strict when it came to rock concerts but even the security guards couldn’t stop the hundred or so people down in the stalls from jumping up and down and dancing around with each other, it was a great moment for someone of my age to witness.... seems as though all the people there had most likely been listening to Lizzy since they were my age and were now in their 60’s. The band must of known that this would have been the big hit of the night as this was the song that the band used to “toy” with the crowd. They let everyone sing the chorus on their own and the amplitude of people’s voices was crazy, it echoed all over the place and the man next to me had tears down his face (no joke ha-ha).

The band was reaching the end of their set-list now but they saved their most famous song till last... with no count in or warning one of the most famous rock intros boomed through the speakers “The Boys Are Back In Town” from out of nowhere like they hadn’t even been there everyone in the balcony seats and even the 4 people who were sat in the top balcony stood up and started dancing to this, the boys were really back in town! Glitter and confetti poured from above and created a wild snowstorm around the whole of the stalls. The best thing about hearing this song live is hearing the harmonised solo that Damon and Scotty played together; it is one of the most iconic solos ever created. Thin Lizzy was actually one of the first bands to have 2 lead guitarists in it and to play together in nearly all their solos. For me I couldn’t have wanted more, it was all too good to be true. After the song was over the band all gathered and took a bow only to the sound of groans and moans from all around... the crowd would not settle for just that, they wanted more!! The band walked offstage and the Thin Lizzy logo lit up behind them and the cheers for more continued and got louder and louder. After leaving the crowd waiting a few minutes the band walked back on stage and played the encore consisting of “Emerald”, “Rosalie” (a Bob Seger cover) and finally ending the night with “Black rose”. After the encore the band did one last bow together and blew kisses of gratitude to everyone and walked off shaking a few hands along the way. I think everyone could say that the whole band, even those new to Thin Lizzy, did Gary Moore and Phil proud that night!

This review goes out to Gary Moore who the world lost almost a year ago, a talented guitarist and musician R.I.P

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