Concerts I've seen

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.

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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.

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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.

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