Concerts I've seen

I arrived too late to catch Janus Stark, so the first band I saw were Godflesh. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I have virtually no musical talent whatsoever, so it's really hard for me to respect any band where I can look at them and genuinely believe that I could play every note of every song. They've concentrated on sounding heavy, but have forgotten that a distorted guitar does not a good band make. You need to have decent songwriting, and to be able to play the thing properly in the first place. Godflesh had neither of these two attributes. Simply awful. Fear Factory have never been one of my favourite bands, but nonetheless, I like some of their stuff, and felt it was worth seeing them live. Quite how Dino manages to stay so fat indicates he must have some kind of serious hormonal problem. With the amount of energy he was expending running around the stage like a madman, by rights he ought to be as thin as a rake. Musically, they were competent, but nothing special, although in a few places, such as for "Self bias resistor", they showed a lot of promise.

With a lineup like that, how could I resist? Of the five bands on the bill, only Gamma Ray were going to be playing in the UK for the foreseeable future, so I didn't have to think too hard before boarding a plane and heading off to Stuttgart. After an enjoyable few days in Stuttgart, the night of the concert arrived, and I ended up at the curiously named LKA Longhorn venue. First up were Australia's Vanishing Point, the only band on the bill that I hadn't heard of. They played a quite presentable, if perhaps somewhat uninspiring set. While I won't be rushing out to track down everything they've released, I'll definitely go and see them again if they ever come and play in London. Freedom Call had impressed me immensely when I saw them opening for Hammerfall, and tonight they once again put on an amazing set. Perhaps not quite as good as last time, not helped by poor sound quality, but Freedom Call are an excellent live experience, and I'd recommend any power metal fan to go and see them at the earliest opportunity. Next were Sonata Arctica. Unfortunately, they were plagued by appalling sound quality throughout the whole of their set, easily the worst of the night. The guitars kept fading out, at times, the bass would suddenly be mixed up full, drowning out the rest of the band for no apparent reason. The band didn't look too pleased by the sound quality either. However, they did their best in difficult circumstances, and managed a great performance of "Replica". I hope to see them again when they're not so hampered by the sound quality. Realistically, had Primal Fear not been playing, I probably wouldn't have gone, despite the strength of the rest of the bill. While they were always one of my favourite bands, their performance at Bloodstock proved them to be quite possibly the best live band around at the moment. I was hoping it wasn't a one-off fluke, and tonight they proved that it wasn't. An outstanding show, and it's hard to fault it at all. Once again, the sound quality wasn't great, but that didn't really detract from the show, and from the moment the intro to "Angel in black" arrived, I knew it was going to be a night to remember. Once again, I would have liked to have heard "Into the future", but that's only a minor nitpick, and they even did a cover of Priest's "Metal Gods", as if to prove once and for all that Ralf would have made the perfect replacement for Halford. While I certainly don't think Ripper's a bad frontman by any means, on tonight's evidence, it's hard to see why they chose him over Ralf. Still, had he joined Priest, we wouldn't have witnessed the phenomenon that is Primal Fear, so perhaps it's all turned out for the best in the end. Highlights once again were "Angel in black", and the title track from the latest album, "Nuclear fire". Headliners Gamma Ray hit the stage apparently determined to prove wrong those who think they're a bit lightweight. Pretty much every song was played at monstrous speed, and significantly heavier than on the studio recordings. Sadly, I don't think this did them many favours, particularly given the general poor sound quality (which seems to have affected all the bands with the curious exception of Vansihing Point). Only "Somewhere out in space" really stood out, and I was disappointed that they didn't play "Valley of the kings". For the encore, they brought out Ralf Scheepers (who used to be their lead singer before he joined Primal Fear) to do a Helloween medley. A great end to a great night, but once again, Primal Fear stole the show.

I was looking forward to seeing Apocalyptica, but they had to cancel because Max Lilja had broken his arm a few days before (which, when you're playing a cello, I imagine would be a bit of a hinderance!). That left openers Defenestration with a longer set than they would presumably otherwise have had. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the audience would have preferred them to have had a significantly shorter set (myself included). I was surprised to see they had a female vocalist, and even more surprised to hear the noises that were emanating from her mouth -- death/black metal growls in the finest tradition of Emperor or Immortal. About 50% of the time, though, she sang with clean vocals, if singing is the right word -- she was horribly out of tune. Grim. For various personal reasons, I was in a really miserable mood for this concert, and very nearly didn't go at all. Despite that, Megadeth managed to put on a decent show, even if I wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate it. Notable performances came in the form of "Hangar 18" (and to a lesser extent, "Return to hangar"), "Almost honest", "Symphony of destruction", and of course, "Peace sells". However, the real highlight was their warp speed rendition of "She wolf". I hope they return to the UK when I'm in a more favourable mood. As is stands, this was one of the least enjoyable concerts I've ever been to, but it was through no fault of the band, and doesn't reflect on their performance.

Fony are typical Kerrang! fodder -- noisy, tuneless, and they haven't yet learned how to pull their (baggy) trousers up to their waists. The singer sounded like he was coughing up a hairball for most of the set, yet at times, he showed that he could actually sing, and I wonder what he'd be like in a different band. All in all, they're coming close to rivaling Sona Fariq for the title of worst band I've seen recently. Next up were Landmine Spring, who sadly turned out to be more of the same. Musically, perhaps, they were slightly better, but this time, the vocalist definitely couldn't sing, so no redeeming features there. Headliners Pist.On had always missed me a bit. There's nothing wrong with them, but I've never been particularly inspired by them either. A couple of things struck me when they came on stage. Firstly, how much thinner both Val and Henry looked, and secondly, how much younger Val looked. Completely ignoring my lack of enthusiasm for the band, they put on a storming set, despite playing to an Underworld that was prety much as empty as I've ever seen it (apart from Blaze). They were far, far better than I was expecting, and to be honest, they really deserved a bigger crowd.

Savatage are one of those bands that have been really inconsistent. They've done some absolutely stunning stuff, and some that's just not up to the same standard. Part of that is the difference between the tracks on which Zach Stevens sings, and those on which Jon Oliva sings. Zach has now left the band, but his replacement, Damond Jiniya proved to be an excellent find, and I'll even go as far as to say he's the best vocalist Savatage have had to date. Jon Oliva proved to have an even worse voice live than he does in the studio, but fortunately left the majority of the vocal duties to Damond. Jack Frost also proved to be an admirable replacement for Al Pitrelli, and the prospects are looking very good indeed for the next Savatage album. The difference between the Stevens era vocals, and the Oliva era vocals was highlighted here tonight, and even Damond's vocals couldn't make "Of rage and war" into a decent song. However, the majority of the tracks were excellent, with "Edge of thorns" and "Gutter ballet" particularly standing out. Judas Priest were in theory touring in support of their new album, Demolition. For marketing reasons, however, the European release of the album was delayed, which meant that they were limited in the amount of material from the album that they could sensibly play. The two tracks they did play were an improvement over Jugulator, but still lack the strength of earlier Priest albums. Still, they managed to do an impressive rendition of Jugulator's "Burn in Hell", a track which I've always been somewhat indifferent to on CD. Unsurprisingly, the classic Priest material went down well, with "Victim of changes", "Beyond the realms of death" and "The ripper" standing out. Ripper has an excellent voice, but "Touch of evil" showed that he doesn't always use it as well as he could (and perhaps more the the point, as well as Halford does). A great show, and probably an improvement over the last time I saw them, but they really need to come up with some extremely strong new studio material, if they're to avoid turning into a classic Priest covers band.

The doors were supposed to open at 7:00. I'd already been queueing for over an hour, and was near the front. It's not unusual for the doors to open late, but tonight was really over the top. We waited and waited, and then waited a bit more. We could hear the soundchecks through the walls, and at about 7:45, we managed to find out from The Astoria staff that there was a technical problem which was why they weren't opening the doors. The queue by this time had grown to an unbelievable size, far surpassing that of the Dimmu Borgir concert that I had thought was extremely long. It snaked down the side of the Astoria, round Soho Square, up onto Oxford Street, and along to Tottenham Court Road tube station. Sometime around 8:40, we were informed that the show had been cancelled at the last minute. It seems that on the night, the venue had banned Rammstein from using their pyrotechnics, despite giving assurances in advance that they would be allowed to use them. The band felt that as they were such a large part of the show, it would be unfair to the fans to perform without them, and so refused to play. It's very disappointing, but they have said they'll try to reschedule the show for another venue at a later date. You can't help but feel sorry for some people, though. I was in the queue next to some fans that had travelled up from Portsmouth, and some friends were speaking to someone that had flown over from New Zealand just to see Rammstein.

The openers tonight introduced themselves as "Spirit Of Rush". I thought that sounded ominously like a Rush tribute band, and sure enough, that's what they turned out to be. I'm not a great Rush fan at the best of times, but when they manage to screw up even the few Rush songs that I do like, you know there's something wrong. Yngwie was reunited with Mark Boals once more, following Jorn Lande's untimely departure. I'd been very impressed with Boals' solo album, "Ring Of Fire", and equally unimpressed with Yngwie's latest effort, "The War To End All Wars". However, live, Boals was relegated to the sidelines, and it was once more a case of Yngwie Malmsteen playing a solo show, rather than as a band. There was vastly more soloing than when I've seen him in the past, and much fewer actual songs. Sadly, it was just too much. Although Yngwie's a stunning player, even he can't keep interest through a whole show of soloing. That said, the songs he did play were well done, and he even managed to make the WTEAW material sound good live. Overall, though, very disappointing, and I hope he's better next time.

16 bands on two stages -- after many long bleak years, are we looking at the start of a heavy metal revival in the UK? We can only hope so. Fortunately, the bands I wanted to see were all on the main stage, so I stayed in the large hall for the whole show. Shadow Keep have long been championed as the top British power metal band, but I've always had a problem with their vocalist, and felt that DragonHeart are a lot more deserving of that title. True to form, their set here today was OK, but they really need to get themselves a decent vocalist. Area 54 were much as they were when I last saw them. Passable, but nothing memorable. Dirty Deeds put on the first decent performance of the day, but as with their last gig, the lack of new material is starting to show. I'd been very impressed by Primal Fear's last couple of albums, and was eager to see them live. What can I say? Primal Fear epitomize, more that any other band in 2001, everything that heavy metal is and should be. They were absolutely stunning from beginning to end. The only flaw I could find was that they didn't have a long enough set, and that they didn't play "Into the future". This was about as close to the perfect concert as you're ever likely to see. I've always been a bit indifferent to Skyclad, and on this, Martin's last ever show with the band, I was hoping for something a bit special. However, they didn't really produce it, and Martin's vocals definitely work better in the studio than they do live. On to Blaze, who at last had the chance to play to a decent sized crowd. That aside, this was probably the weakest I've seen him live, and although it was still a great show, it wasn't as good as his earlier gigs. Glenn Hughes just completely missed me. I've never been a big fan of his voice, but coupled with the wall of discordant noise coming from the band, I felt this was an awful show, and also completely out of place in this lineup. Sorry, Glenn. There was an abnormally large gap between Glenn Hughes and Saxon, presumably to allow Orange Goblin to finish their set on the second stage. The last time I saw Saxon was one of the best gigs I've ever seen, and I was expecting good things from them here. However, they really didn't live up to my expectations, and although there wasn't much wrong with tonight's performance, there wasn't a great deal right with it either. They had none of the energy present at their last show, and it was all a bit dull and lifeless. Maybe it was the long gap between bands. Maybe I was starting to get tired by then. Maybe it was the particularly strong set by Primal Fear. Whatever the reason, Saxon weren't all that I was hoping for. Still, overall a great day, with strong performances from Dirty Deeds and Blaze, and a stunning one from Primal Fear. I hope the next Bloodstock is this good.

Another night of goth at The Mean Fiddler. This years Gotham started off with Descendents Of Cain. They've always been one of those bands that I never have much enthusiasm for, because if nothing else, I can always go and see them at Tenebrae each month. The fact that I can go and see them for some reason means that I never actually get round to doing so. However, tonight, they were on really good form, despite the awful sound quality, and I'll definitely make an effort to see them again sometime. Their lighting effects were also very good, particularly for the opening band on an 8 act bill. Next up were Squid, the obligatory dance oriented cybergoth band. Yawn. I'd recently bought the Two Witches album, and was quite impressed with it. Live they were good, but not stunning, again let down by the sound quality, a sentiment that also applied to House Of Usher. I'd heard that Killing Miranda had moved to a more electronic dance oriented sound, partly prompted by Richard acquiring a new cybergoth girlfriend. Sure enough, he walk on stage wearing luminous green hair extension, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to their set. Bizarrely, though, this was easily the best I have ever seen them. Unlike the earlier bands tonight, the sound quality was crisp and clear, and Richard even appeared sober, and wasn't slurring his words at all (a recurrent theme at previous KM shows). Furthermore, the music seemed more guitar oriented than before, perhaps as a result of Irish Dave taking over from Chris on bass, leaving no permanent keyboard player. Either way, a very strong set, and I can only hope they keep it up. Next up were This Burning Effigy, who again were let down by poor sound. A good show, but Ger's vocals sounded really muddy, and for much of the time, I couldn't hear Steve's guitar work at all. Star Industry were next, and put on a great performance. Finally, Inkubus Sukkubus, who were almost identical to their last show at The Underworld. Bands of the day, then, were Killing Miranda, Star Industry and Inkubus Sukkubus. The only downside was that I was nominally there as a guest of Steve from This Burning Effigy, who had his guitar stolen from backstage just before their set :-(

The doors for this concert opened at 7:30pm. I'd been delayed at work, so I didn't arrive until just before 8:00. I wasn't particularly bothered, because I'm not a huge Orange Goblin fan anyway, so missing them was no great hardship. However, when I arrived, to my dismay, Dio was already on stage and partway through his set. I assumed that Orange Goblin had pulled out, and Dio had been given a longer opening set to fill the time out. However, I later heard that Orange Goblin had indeed played -- they'd been on stage at around 6:15, and played to a handful of friends and family that were allowed in before the doors opened. Whatever the reason for this, the upshot is that I came in halfway through "Don't talk to strangers". Dio went through a set list similar to the one he played at The Forum last year, but with slightly less material from the Magica album. It's was a good performance, but the Wembley sound quality really didn't do him any favours, and he's definitely come across better in smaller venues. Alice Cooper also suffered from the poor sound quality, although it was somewhat better than for Dio. The set and stage show were almost identical to his recent Hammersmith show, even down to the complaining about a guy in the front row wearing a Marylin Manson T-shirt before the start of "The little things". Towards the end of the set, the band broke into a rendition of Queen's "We will rock you", and a tall curly haired bloke in a white shirt wandered onto the side of the stage. He wasn't moving quite right, and at first I thought it was a Brian May lookalike, but as soon as he started playing, it rapidly became apparent the it really was Brian May. A nice end to a good night.

For some reason, this gig was originally destined for the LA2 / Mean Fiddler. Unsuprisingly, it quickly sold out, and hence was moved to the main Astoria. Although I'd expected it to be a popular gig, I wasn't expecting the scene that I saw when I arrived. It was the longest queue I've ever seen at the Astoria -- so long, that by the time I'd made it into the building, the first band, Susperia, had already played their set, and left the stage. So it was, then, that the first band of the night (for me at least) was Nevermore. I'd been a bit wary of Nevermore for a while, as they'd always seemed to be a band (much like Iced Earth) that show great promise but never quite managed to do anything with it. However, tonight they put on a great performance, and for being 4th on the bill, they managed to get an amazing reaction from the crowd. Next up were Lacuna Coil. When I saw the date for this gig, and the lineup, I assumed it was an April Fool's joke -- Lacuna Coil are completely out of place on this bill, and it showed. Their performance wasn't quite up to the high standards they set at The Borderline last year, but it was far from bad. However, the crowd really wasn't there to hear that sort of music, and gave Lacuna Coil a lukewarm reception. Following swiftly on came In Flames. I'm afraid tonight's performance simply reinforced my opinion of the band. The music's fine, but they're in dire need of a vocalist that can sing. As they stand at the moment, it's mostly just noise. I should point out that I'm obviously in a minority here, because the crown were loving it, but it's really not for me. Finally then, headliners Dimmu Borgir took to the stage. A strong performance, and easily the best sound of the night. There was plenty of material from their newest album, "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropy" (with the orchestral opener, "Fear and wonder" moved to the middle of the set, and working remarkably well live), and some from earlier albums as well. The only slight disappointment was the use of Vortex's clean vocals. Given that they've gone to the effort of making him a full time member of the band, I wish they'd make more use of his vocal talents. Still, that's a minor complaint, and overall, it was a very strong performance.

Openers D.U.S.T. played a quite presentable set, but the sound levels were awful. I later heard from others that the people at the sound desk were holding up notes to the crowd saying "this band is crap", and randomly playing with the faders, which probably explains the sound levels. They deserved better, and it would be nice to see them again in a less hostile environment. Second up were The Faces Of Sarah, replacing the advertised Attrition. They were pretty much as I remembered, them, again playing quite decent rock oriented goth, but I think they overdid the effects on the vocals for most of it. The parts where the effects were faded down a bit sounded much better than the rest. Highlight of the set was easily their excellent cover of "Baby one more time", which is to be found on their latest album, "Twentyfour". Finally, we get to Inkubus Sukkubus. I'd been a bit wary of them, as I didn't think much of the last album at all, and live they've been sounding very repetative recently. However, this was the launch party for the new album, "Supernature", and I was very pleasantly suprised to hear a marked variation in style from their previous material. This was probably the one of the strongest sets I've seen them perform, and the new material sounded great alongside the older stuff. It's good to see them back on form.

Chalice have supported Doro for the rest of the European tour, but for unknown reasons (probably financial), they didn't make it to the UK. Instead, we get Psycho Squad. Oh dear. You're never going to endear yourselves to an indifferent audience by spitting at them. They tried to cover their lack of musical competence by playing tuned down mallcore / "nu-metal", but it didn't work, and they failed to win anyone over. To top it all off, they played the worst cover of "Crazy Horses" I think I've ever heard. However, Psycho Squad weren't why I was there, and after a while, Doro came on. Wow. All I can say is that her pictures really don't do her justice. In person she is one of the most stunningly attractive people I've ever seen. But aside from that, she's also playing some of the best music of her career. I remember reading a review years ago in the UK rock press of her "True at heart" album. In it, the reviewer said that she'd obviously been badly hurt in the past and that he wished she'd just write a whole album of songs about how bad men are, so it was out of her system, and she could get on and write the traditional rock songs we all know she's capable of. Well, it took 9 years, but with the release of her "Calling the wild" album, I'd say she's done just that. Not only is it her best album in years, I'll stick my neck out and say I think it's quite possibly the best album she's ever released, eclipsing even Warlock's awsome "Triumph and agony". High praise indeed, but would she be able to carry it off live? The answer is without doubt yes! For two hours, we were treated to some of the best live metal I've ever seen. Stunning, and I can't wait for her return to the UK.

For some reason, the LA2 has been renamed as The Mean Fiddler. Whatever the reason, it was packed tonight, and I was pleased to see Blaze able to play to a decent sized audience compared to when I last saw them. Once again, they put on a great show. It's a shame they didn't have time to do a full set, because they were certain on form tonight. Perhaps not as good as last time, but very strong nonetheless. Then came Helloween, touring on the back of an excellent new album, "The dark ride". I don't know what it was, but although they put on a good performance, it wasn't a great one. The crowd seemed to notice, and the lack of crowd response probably contributed to the lack of enthusiasm from the band. Everyone's entitled to an off night every now and again, and I guess this was Helloween's. With the exception of a stunning rendition of "Revelations", then, a fairly average show, but I'm sure they'll improve again. Update: I later heard from others that went to multiple dates on the tour that they were indeed much better elsewhere, and just had a bad night in London.

A night of gumby metal -- what more could anyone want? I was looking forward to openers Freedom Call, as I'd thought their "Stairway to fairlyland" album was excellent. Fortunately, the merchandise stand was selling the new album "The crystal empire", as well as their "Taragon" EP, which hasn't been available in this country. The real revelation is that they're even better live than they are on CD. Absolutely stunning for the whole of their set. Virgin Steele are one of those bands that I've been meaning to get round to listening to for years. Well tonight, I finally got the chance. They took to the stage with David looking like a cross between Joey DeMaio and Ronnie James Dio, but they put on a very strong set. Although it lacked the energy present during Freedom Call, they were good enough to convince me to buy the CD, and I'll see them again if they return to the UK. Hammerfall are probably the single band that did most to convince me that metal had a future. When I heard their debut album "Glory to the brave", it was the first album I'd heard in ages that had all the elements of traditional heavy metal, after the long years of darkness where grunge reigned supreme. I've been following the band ever since, so naturally I came to see them at their first ever UK gig. They didn't disappoint, and even if I don't feel their latest album, "Renegade" is quite as good as their first two, the tracks on it work well live. I hadn't realised until tonight just how good a guitar player Stefan Elmgren is. Overall, an excellent evening with strong performances from all three bands. If pushed, I'd have to say Freedom Call just edged out Hammerfall for performance of the night.

So, opening support band, David Thomas And Two Pale Boys -- hmmmm. An overweight man wearing a red PVC apron, and wielding an accordion-like squeeze box of some variety. Things weren't looking hopeful from the start. That said, musically, they weren't that bad, playing something that I guess I'd call vaguely blues based, but couldn't really describe any better than that. The problem was that it wasn't what I wanted to be listening to before a Sisters show. Perhaps in a different environment, I'd have been more receptive, but as it was, they were unable to sustain my interest past the first couple of songs. Next came Tinstar, who started out quite promisingly, with a sort of "Fear-Factory-toned-down-for-the-masses" electronic pop/rock. Too many dance-orientated bass lines for my tastes (and mixed way too high), but interesting enough nonetheless. Sadly, that didn't last long, and although the later songs in the set lacked the dance-oriented parts, they also lacked anything else either, detoriorating into Oasis-like bland indie pop, which was far worse than the earlier material in the set.

The Sisters took to the stage in the midst of their traditional clouds of dry ice, but noticably less than normal. I could see them quite clearly, and even stranger, Andrew Eldritch actually seemed to be visibly enjoying himself! The sound quality was also better than I've heard from them before, and the show got off to a great start with superb renditions of "First and last and always" and "Ribbons". The only downside is that they played too much new material, and I wasn't familiar with much of it. Sure, the new tracks are all available on various bootlegs, but I'm not a big enough Sisters fan to go to the effort of tracking them down. I wish they'd just release a CD with the new material (like "Summer", "We are the same, Susanne", "Romeo Down" etc.) on it. I admire The Sisters for both varying their set list every night and for being prepared to deviate from playing a greatest hits show each night, but as time progresses, more of their touring material is unfamiliar to all but the most hardcore fans, and it'd be nice for the rest of us to have a chance. Oh, and I still haven't seen them on a night when they're playing Jolene :-(

This was the fifth time I'd seen Dirty Deeds, and they seem to have recovered from their dip in form that they had when I last saw them. Tonight was much better, even if the sound quality wasn't up to much. They really need to get the third album out, though, so they have some new songs to play. Tonight was a chance to see Iron Maiden in a small venue, and tickets were initially only offered to the fan club. The unsold tickets were then offered to the general public, and I was fortunate enough to get some. Unfortunately, in common with every Iron Maiden show I've seen, the sound quality was appalling -- even worse than for Dirty Deeds. I could barely hear Bruce's voice at all. The set seemed to be a much better mix of the old and the new than when they played at Earl's Court, but several people were saying it was identical, apart from two extra songs in the encore. Perhaps they just came across better in a smaller venue. Overall, a good show, but not a great one. Apparently the mix was better further back in the venue, but at the front it was just awful :-(