Concerts I've seen

For my tastes, Temperance in their current form have the best lineup they've ever had. Kristin is a fantastic singer, and the pairing with Michele is great. So it was a disappointment when Kristin's vocals (and also Marco's guitar) was mixed so low that it was hard to hear at many points. That aside, the performance was good, but again I'd have to lament the lack of material from the first two albums. The earliest songs they played were from "Of Jupiter and moons", and indeed "The last hope in a world of hopes" was my highlight of the set. But given that Chiara was in the building to sing with Exit Eden, it feels like a missed opportunity to not bring her out to guest on a track from the early days. Maybe there is still some personal beef between her and Marco. As well as his vocal duties, Michele was playing guitar on a handful of songs as well.

I'd previously seen Exit Eden at Wacken many years ago. Since then, Marina had left to concentrate on Battle Beast, and for this tour they'd drafted in Chiara Tricarico. That turned out to be an excellent choice. She fits the band perfectly. Anna's vocals were much improved since I last saw them, too. Not only does she have the gritty vocals for which she's known, but it turns out that she also has a great high pitched clean voice too. The mix was slightly better than it was for Temperance but still left a lot to be desired. Highlights for me were "Separate ways", "It's a sin" and "Impossible".

In truth, I've been somewhat underwhelmed by recent Kamelot shows. I like the band. They're great musicians.Tommy has a great voice and is a fine replacement for Roy. They have a habit of bringing some great guests with them to handle the female vocals and tonight was no exception. They had Clémentine Delauney providing clean vocals and Ignacia Fernández providing the growls. But somehow it just doesn't quite come together and so it proved again tonight. It was another good show. Just not a great one. The highlight by far was "March of Mephisto", which was sufficiently far above the level of the rest of the show that it felt like the whole show was just a build up to that one song (which admittedly was magnificent).

Frozen Crown are a great band, but the mix was so abysmal that it significantly detracted from the experience. The vocals and guitar were very difficult to pick out over the bass and drums which overpowered everything. When I last saw them they had a live bass player but for whatever reason the bass parts were on a backing track for this show.

Sonata Arctica's mix was better, but still poor. But the strength of the material helped carry them through and although the choice of setlist wasn't ideal for my tastes, the high points (notably "I have a right", "Paid in full" and "Full moon") were very good.

For Beast In Black, the sound quality mysteriously improved to the point where I have my suspicions that the supports were deliberately screwed over to make the headliners look better. Sadly I've seen that happen one too many times before. They were OK. Perhaps a little less electronic dance music and a little less on backing tracks that at some of their previous shows, both of which were and improvement. But ultimately, the show felt flat and while they did little wrong (other than blinding the audience with a lighting show that shone spotlights directly into the crowd), there was little there I'd want to see again.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Openers Help! were somewhat out of place, playing mostly melodic alternative rock. I don't know what happened to the published opener, Eric Martin, but they had the air of a last minute replacement and of a promoter scrambling to find anyone that could fill the slot at short notice.

Geoff Tate had billed this as the final time he would play "Operation: Mindcrime" in its entirety. Time will tell whether that remains true, but either way, it's one of the greatest albums of all time so I wasn't going to miss it. Geoff's voice had been weak the last couple of times I'd seen him, so it was a welcome surprise to hear it much improved at this show. It's clear that it's suffered with age, and it's a far cry from the glories of his prime, but it's still good enough. He opened the set with Mindcrime and played the whole thing from start to finish to an appreciative crowd. Clodagh McCarthy was once again playing Sister Mary.

I felt it was good but not great. The musicians he's assembled are competent, but having seen the real thing back in the day, they just don't compare. The drummer in particular was a pale shadow of Scott Rockenfield in his prime, and the guitarists were there or thereabouts, but not quite at the level of De Garmo and Wilton. But when the material is so strong, it's still a gratifying spectator experience. That was followed with some tracks from "Empire", a couple from the early Queensrÿche days and wisely only a single track from the new Mindcrime III album. Overall, not bad. I'll even forgive Geoff screwing up the lyrics on "Eyes of a stranger"!

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

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.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

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.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.

Review to follow.