W.A.S.P - Friday 21 September 2012, HMV Forum, London

Now W.A.S.P are one of my favourite bands and when they announced their 30 year anniversary tour I quickly bought my ticket. When I checked their website they promised "elements from early WASP shows". Immediately I thought of the rack with a semi naked woman, exploding codpiece, raw meat and flames. I knew that Blackie wouldn't play "Animal" anymore as he had become a Christian, but the thought of all this appealed to me as I was too young to see them first time around. Did we get this? Sadly not.Was it a good concert? In places; so let me explain. All the signs were good; the Forum was packed (sold out I believe), massive banners,/video screens/high risers. However I think that Blackie had taken a leaf out of Axl Rose book as we had to wait over 45 minutes for them to start. However all was forgotten as soon as the band came on.  The gig was split into 3 parts with the first playing songs from the first 4 albums. Favourites such as  "L.O.V.E . Machine", "Wild Child", "I Wanna Be Somebody" and a medley of "Hellion/I Don't Need No Doctor and Scream Until You Like it". We had video screens as well showing the videos of songs whilst they were being played (although at times they were out of sync!) After a short break, the second part of the gig consisted of a shortened version of the Crimson Idol album. Not one of my favourite albums, and it unfortunately ruined the momentum of first part of the gig. With minimal lighting and the video screens repeating the same video, this was truly a low point for me. The final part of the set they tried to redeem themselves as we had Blackie's infamous moveable microphone stand and songs such as "Widowmaker", "Chainsaw Charlie" and finally finishing with "Blind in Texas". I guess Blackie might be embarrassed by his antics 30 years ago, but tonight we got a 21st century celebration of WASP's career. I guess I'll have to go back to watching Live at the Lyceum to relive those early days. Now where's that video....

Night Ranger - 04 June 2012, Islington Academy London

Having missed them this time last year and hearing good reviews, I decided to check them out. Stopping over in London before heading off to the Sweden Rock Festival, this was an ideal opportunity to acquaint themselves with their English fans again. Playing to a packed Academy, they started off with 'Lay It on Me' from their new album 'Somewhere in California'. What a great song song to kick things off. They also played 'Growing up in California' from the aforementioned album later on in their set. Two great songs, I suggest you check out that album. Four songs in they played first of 2 Damn Yankees song, 'Coming of Age' and later 'High Enough'. Of course this was inevitable as Jack Blades was the bass player in Damn Yankees. We also had a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train' as Brad Gillis was in Ozzy's band after the death of Randy Rhoads. They also played 'The Secret of My Success' from the same name film, a song that I never realised they played on! I was half expecting to see Michael J Fox make an appearance! After nearly 2 hours we had the obligatory encore of their 2 famous songs from 'Midnight Madness'. Firsty 'Sister Christian' (with Kelly Keagy on lead vocals) and finally 'You Can Still Rock in America' (with the whole  Academy singing along). What a great band with great musicians (I forgot to mention Joel Hoekstra on guitar and Eric Levy on keys). They said that they'd be back again next year. I for one will, make sure you do.

Vain - Sunday 18 March 2012 - Camden Underworld, London

Just under a year ago Vain were in London playing at the Purple Turtle which I reviewed. 11 months later they were back in the capital promoting their new album "Enough Rope". Now I heard good things about this album, so with this in mind and that "No Respect" is one of my favourite albums of all time, I decided to head to the Underworld. There was a respectable turnout for a Sunday night and once again Vain did not disappoint. Backed by a different set of musicians this time, the majority of the set was split between "No Respect" and the new songs off "Enough Rope". Opening with "Secrets" Davy Vain mixed the new songs with old favourites like "Icy", "1000 degrees", and "No Respect". As with his other gigs I've witnessed Davy likes to tell a good tale and proceeded to regale us a story about a groupie about 5 minutes before launching into frenetic "Who's Watching Who". He later mentioned how he loves playing the UK and especially London but this would be his last UK for some time (although he didn't say why). If this is the case that is a shame because London loves Vain as well. However before he went we were treated to a mandatory encore of  "No Respect". Don't stay away to long Davy.

Def Leppard & Motley Crue & Steel Panther - 8th December 2011, Nottingham Arena

At long last us Brits have got us a mini tour of the UK of 2 of the greatest hard rock bands of the 80's. About time too. Now this was certainly going to be a hot ticket and as such within 48hrs all the standing tickets were sold out at Wembley Arena, hence my review from Nottingham. Having seen the Crue (albeit from a distance) in Toronto in June, I was determined to get near the front to experience a piece of their action. However before the main event there was 40 mins of Steel Panther. Now I've seen these guys twice before and I think they are a great band. Not only have they got great songs, but their onstage banter (between Michael Starr & Satchel) is extremely funny. Remember people rock concerts are meant to be fun! Having not got their latest album 'Balls Out', I was not familiar with their songs. However the pick of the new songs they played for me was 'Just Like Tiger Woods' and '17 Girls in a Row'. I will be certainly buying their album now. Of course they played favourites as 'Community Property' and ending with 'Death to all but Metal', with the imortal line, "where is Def Leppard, where is Motley Crue". Not everybody's cup of tea but certainly a good choice as support band. Check 'em out when they tour in March 2012.

Now how would Motley Crue compare to my Canadian review? Would they play a similar set? As in Toronto, the Crue hit the stage without a fanfare but with a mighty bang, ploughing straight into 'Wildside'. One again this was a greatest hit show. A shorter set than in Toronto (although still playing for 90mins) but with all the hits nonetheless. Vince Neil  does run about the stage a lot but lets the crowd sing a fair bit of the songs. Is it because he's forgotten the words, out of breath or his voice is not the same as it was 30years ago? You decide. Nikki Sixx still looks menacing as he commands the stage. Mick Mars stays in the shadows but his guitar playing is phenominal. He does speak later on only to apologise for his poor guitar sound. Tommy Lee is still like an excitable puppy, not surprising as he has brought his rollercoster drum kit over. Apart from the drum solo and guitar solo we also get explosions, video images, and a glittery grand piano used for the intro to 'Home Sweet Home". What about the songs? Well we get a good mix from all their albums including 2 songs from the underrated 'Saints of Los Angeles'. They eventually finish off with 'Kickstart My Heart'. Another memorable concert, much better than Toronto. The only drawback was that there were too long a gap between each song. I'm sure they could've squeezed an extra song in!

Now could Def Leppard follow that? I'm certainly a big Def Leppard fan but following the Crue their performance was certainly more safe & pedestrian. They had brought over their full American production and like the other bands they used full use of the stage included the added extension. They had the lights and video screens , but they were the only band to have their performance projected on the video screens. They started of with a new track 'Undefeated' from their lateat live album 'Mirrorball'. Next up was 'Rocket' which was 1 of 8 songs they played from 'Hysteria' album. 'Gods of War' was another song they played from that album. I haven't heard that in ages and forgotten how good it was. They slowed things down with a couple of accoustic numbers, 'Two Steps Behind' and 'Bringin on the Heartbreak' which they played at the front of the stage. Both Viv Campbell & Phill Collen's guitar playing was spot on. Later on when Joe Elliott anounced it was Phil's birthday, he lead the crowd to a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. The hits kept coming, 'Make Love like a Man', 'Animal' & finally ending with 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'. 1 encore followed with the show finishing with 'Lets Get Rocked'.
This package was certainly value for money and we should have more arena tours like this for 2012. Now I wish Poison make it over to the UK for a long overdue tour!

Motley Crue setlist:  'Wildside', 'Saints of Los Angeles', Live Wire', 'Shout at the Devil', 'Same Ol Situation', 'Primal Scream', 'Home Sweet Home', 'Looks That Kill', 'Dr Feelgood', 'Muthafu**ker of the Year', 'Girls Girls Girls', 'Smokin In the Boys Room', 'Kickstart My Heart'.

Def Leppard setlist: 'Undefeated', 'Rocket', 'Action', 'Make Love Like a Man', 'Let it Go', 'When Love & Hate Collide', 'Women', 'Gods of War', ' Two Steps Behind', 'Bringin on the Heartbreak', 'Switch 625', 'Hysteria', 'Armageddon It', 'Animal', 'Photograph', 'Pour Some Sugar on Me', 'Love Bites', 'Lets Get Rocked'.