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Concerts I've seen

Hollywood Vampires

The O2 Arena

The Jesus And Mary Chain

12th August 2026

The Jesus And Mary Chain were a band I was aware of through hearing their name in the '80s, but I couldn't recall anything about them or what they sounded like. Which turned out to be utterly bland and forgettable alternative pop. Dull droning music and mumbled lyrics just resulted in a weak performance.

Hollywood Vampires were much the same as when I'd last seen them. A mix of some original songs, a few Alice Cooper and Aerosmith songs and a selection of covers by various other artists. Cooper remains the consumate showman, Perry is a great guitarist and Johnny Depp seems a little more comfortable taking a leading role this time around, singing on a couple of songs himself. A solid if unspectacular night, with my highlights being Aerosmith's "Living on the edge" and Alice Cooper's "School's out". We had to leave early to try and catch the last train home, which meant we missed Ronnie Wood joining the band for a couple of Rolling Stones stongs in the encore.

Wacken Open Air
Alestorm	Wacken
Sabaton	1st August 2026
Powerwolf
Airbourne
Lamb Of God
Asrock
Minotaurus
Review to follow.

Wacken Open Air
Subway To Sally	Wacken
Running Wild	31st July 2026
Judas Priest
In Flames
Saxon
Døvydas
Pig Destroyer
Black Label Society
Danko Jones
Paradise Lost
Metaklapa
Grand Magus
Vreid
Future Palace
Review to follow.

Wacken Open Air
Def Leppard	Wacken
Savatage	30th July 2026
Van Tastik
Storm Seeker
Yngwie J. Malmsteen
Uli Jon Roth
Thomas Nicholas Band
Review to follow.

Wacken Open Air
Velvet Rush	Wacken
Vika Goes Wild	29th July 2026
Morphide
Elchivo
Ricky Warwick And The Fighting Hearts
Lovebites
Thundermother
5th Avenue
The Crescent's Call
Visions Of Atlantis
Human Nebula
I See Red
Born Broken
Gannondorf
Seer Of Light
Review to follow.

Maid Of Stone Festival
Saxon	Mote Park, Maidstone
Doro	18th July 2026
LN
Phil Campbell's Bastard Sons
Rattlesnakes
Girlschool
Kit Trigg
Xander And The Peace Pirates
Untamed Silence
Häxan
Review to follow.

Sumo Cyco	The Craufurd Arms
Eville	10th July 2026
Bright Black
Mercy Falls
I didn't arrive at the venue in time to catch the first band, so Bright Black were my opening band of the night. They were the reason I'd come to the show. In a rare example of targetted advertising actually working, I'd seen a Facebook ad for them and quite liked what they sounded like. Since they were playing locally, I thought I'd go along and see how they were. Which turned out to be pretty decent. They had to play the first song and a half without a bass player. Technical problems meant there was no bass sound, and he didn't have a lead on stage to try the basic "just plug the bass straight into the amp". I've ranted about that before, but I just can't understand that level of unpreparedness. But that aside, they played a solid set of melodic metal with some occasional harsh edges and I enjoyed the performance, even if they didn't really do much to stand out. I'll see them again if they're playing locally. Eville didn't get off to the best start. Although they're a three piece with a drummer, bassist and singer/guitarist, the first song had no guitar and she was just singing along to the drums and bass. And when I say singing, she was mixing rapping with out of tune clean singing. I don't like rapping at the best of times, but when it's done in a southern English middle class accent, it just doesn't work. She was trying to sound edgy, but it just came across as fake. Musically not for me and a performance that I felt was lacking. I'd seen Sumo Cyco a few years ago when they were touring with Devilskin. Compared to the two openers, they quite noticeably took the professionalism up a notch, being musically tight and putting on a strong performance. The only problem (as with the previous time I'd seen them) was that it wasn't entirely to my tastes. A bit too much punk and alternative and not enough rock and metal.