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'.


  

  

Faster Pussycat - Saturday 29th October 2011, Camden Underworld

I recently read a magazine review of a Faster Pussycat concert in USA where the journalist suggested that "it was time for this cat to be put down". Now it might have been something to do with him not liking their 2009 album - "The Power and the Glory Hole" being drastically different to their self titled album of 1987. However unlike their peers at least they have updated their sound and so try not to live on past glories (unlike some bands I could mention). For the record Faster Pussycat are my favourite band of all time. They never really toured the UK in their heyday (although they toured here in 1987 with Gun's N Roses - which I missed). However they have certainly made up for it recently. To give them their dues, in the last 9 years they have toured the UK 6 times and on each occasion I have seen them (and not just in London). As a point to note Taime Downe's is the only original member of Faster Pussycat left. (Anyone remember Brent Muscat & Eric Stacey's version that toured the UK in 2007?) However saying that I've always left each gig slightly disappointed due to them either playing a short set or not playing enough of their old songs. So what was I going to expect tonight? Well the omens didn't look good from the start with a virtually empty Underworld. I guess all the glam fans were at Alexandra Palace to see Alice Cooper. However by 9.15pm there were approximately 100 fans to witness 70 minutes of the best Faster Pussycat gig I have seen. As the intro played ('Bye Bye Bianca'), Danny Nordahl (bass), Xristian Simon (guitar) and new boy Ace Von Johnson (guitar - replacing Michael Thomas) were centre stage horns aloft. They then went straight into 'Jack the Bastard' off Whipped album. Out came Taime, standing there in his rock star pose looking the epitome of cool with his (un lit) cigarette. He never did smoke that cigarette (I think he has given up smoking!)
Anyway you know already that this was an awesome performance so rather than trying to add more superlatives to describe how good this concert was, I'll just give you a run down of the songs they played (certainly a mixture of old & new):
Jack the Bastard, Cathouse, Slip of the Tongue, No1 with a Bullet, Sex Drugs & Rock N Roll, House of Pain, Nonstop to Nowhere, In Denial (a Newlydeads song), Don't Change That Song, Porn Star, Bathroom Wall, Pretty Fucked Up (a Supersuckers cover sung by Danny Nordahl), Shut Up & Fuck and Babylon. *Note* - they might have played Where there's a Whip....I can't remember.
I cannot finish the review without mentioning the ever reliable Chad Stewart on drums and the excellent musicianship of the others. On a final note this is the first time I've seen Taime really happy (smiling a lot and taking the piss out of our English accents!!) Normally he can be aloof but when he sat on the monitors at the front of the stage (during House of Pain) it appeared to me he was genuinely enjoying himself. He also thanked the crowd a couple of times for coming out, which was appreciated by me.
Best concert of 2011 so far.

 











Alice Cooper & New York Dolls - Thursday 27 October 2011 - Birmingham NIA

For those observant amongst you this review takes place in Birmingham and not London. This is because the London date is the same day as Faster Pussycat play in London and as they are my all time favourite band I cannot miss them. So with this dilemma I decided to make my way up to Birmingham to experience 'Alice Cooper's Halloween Night of Fear'. Having seen Alice twice before in the last 18 months (Sonisphere Festival 2010 & Download 2011) and been impressed by the show he put on, I decided to go and see him again. It is only recently I have rediscovered his great music again. Having bought the Alice Cooper Fan Pack and suitable impressed by "Welcome 2 My Nightmare", I was looking forward to another entertaining show.
Before that however we had 50 minutes of New York Dolls. Now those who read my blog where I saw them in Toronto, know that I enjoyed them and would like to see them again. Not realising at the time that 4 months later I would get that opportunity to see them in England. This time I was much closer to the stage and thoroughly enjoyed their 'Special Guests' slot. Highlights for me were 'Cause I Sez So', 'Dance Like a Monkey', 'Pills' and 'Personality Crisis'. Both David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain took turns to introduce the songs and seem to be enjoying their time on stage. As a side point, what was with Johansen's lyric book stand? All he did was randomly flick through the pages and not read them!
Before Alice came on the crowd got to choose the best fancy dress from a line up of individuals. Needless to say someone dressed up as the Devil won the cash prize. Who said Heavy Metal fans are fickle?
Finally Alice took to the stage. Apart from the entertaining stage show the other reason on going to the concert was to see him indoors rather than at a festival and to get up close to the stage. I got fairly near to the stage which was good however the stage show was an exact copy of the Download festival earlier in the summer! For me that was a bit disappointing as I was expecting something a bit different song wise or stage show. Of course we couldn't have an Alice show without the props such as the guillotine, Frankenstein's monster, confetti, dollars and batons. And of course we couldn't have an Alice show without the songs; 'I'm Eighteen', 'Billion Dollar Babies', 'No More Mr Nice Guy', 'Poison' 'School's Out' and 'Elected'. He played 1 song from the new album, 'I'll Bite Your Face Off' and my favourite Alice song 'Hey Stoopid'. Alice has got a great band behind him these days; Steve Hunter (who played on the original Welcome To My Nightmare), Tommy Henriksen and Orianthi on guitars, Chuck Garric on bass and Glen Sobel on drums. Incidentally the drum solo was brilliant - but I would say that being a drummer! After set closers 'School's Out' and 'Elected' the show was over. A good concert but it was all too similar to his Download performance 5 months prior. Here's hoping that he will change the order of his set list in time for Bloodstock 2012!
Setlist: Vincent Price intro, The Black Widow, Brutal Planet, I'm Eighteen, Under My Wheels, Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr Nice Guy, Hey Stoopid, Is It My Body, Halo of Flies, I'll Bite Your Face Off, Muscle of Love, Only Women Bleed, Cold Ethyl, Feed My Frankenstein, Clones (We're All), Poison, Wicked Young Man, Killer, I Love the Dead, School's Out (including Another Brick in the Wall) and Elected.

Alice Cooper - Halloween Night of Fear - UK Tour 2011

Alice Cooper - Birmingham October 2011



Alice Cooper Band on stage - Birmingham 2011



LA Guns (Phil Lewis) - Sunday 9th October 2011, Camden Underworld

A few months after Tracii Guns version of LA Guns, Camden gets another visit from LA Guns. This version consisted of Phil Lewis (vocals) and Steve Riley (drums), 2 original members and to my mind the better version of LA Guns currently doing the rounds. Phil Lewis's LA Guns last played London 3 years ago at the slightly larger venue of Islington Academy. However for a Sunday night a respectable London crowd were in attendance to see if this version could cut it. Starting off with 'It Don't Mean Nothing', Phil Lewis hit the stage wearing a Venetian(?) mask. Not sure of the significance of that, but it was soon removed  for 'Gypsy Soul'. This was swiftly followed by 'Sex Action', 'Never Enough' and 'Over The Edge'. Clearly Phil was enjoying himself, asking the crowd if it "sounds alright or what". Actually the sound was good for the Underworld. Of course this would only be expected from Steve Riley clear drum sound and Stacey Blades guitar playing. However the poor guy nearly had a tantrum when his guitar cut out on 'I Wanna Be Your Man'. It was good to see Phil offer him a hug saying these things happen and he shouldn't get too upset about it. It's a live gig, these things happens! To my mind it adds to the unpredictability of the show. We also got 'Vampire', 'My Koo Ka Choo' and 'Nothing Better to Do' with the clearly excitable bassist, Scotty Griffin taking over lead vocals. Phil returned for 'Sleazy Come Easy Go' and 'Showdown (Riot on Sunset). Phil couldn't help but have a dig at Tracii's version of LA Guns (now they have a female vocalist) likening them to a karaoke band! Ouch!! Anyway back to the music, Steve Riley performed a drum solo. It was good to see him take the spot light as in my opinion he is far too underrated. Now was the homeward straight of  'Electric Gypsy', lighters out for 'The Ballad of Jayne' and finishing off with a riotous 'Rip And Tear'. We were given an encore of 'No Mercy' and sadly it was all over. Come back soon LA Guns (Phil Lewis version).



Phil Lewis - LA Guns



Stacey Blades  - LA Guns

High Voltage Festival - Saturday 23 July, Victoria Park, London

Having missed last years inaugural Festival due to a hit and miss 2 day line I decided that this year would be the one to go to. Being a keen reader of Classic Rock magazine I was waiting for them to announce the headliners for both Saturday & Sunday. Soon as I heard that Judas Priest would headline on Saturday I decided to get my ticket. The rest of the bands on that day were a bit special as well.
So on a warm Saturday morning I ventured to East London.On arrival, apart from the main stage, there was the Metal Hammer stage and the Prog stage. However the main action was on the Main stage.

First up was Michael Monroe. Having seen him last year at the Download Festival I was looking forward to seeing him again. At precisely 1.30pm he kicked up a half an hour set with 'Trick Of The Wrist'. We had a couple of Hanoi Rocks, a couple of Demolition 23 songs, Dregen from Backyard Babies on guitar, him scaling the scaffolding and finishing off with 'Dead, Jail or Rock N' Roll. Another energetic and entertaining performance.

Skin were next, however I missed most of their set but heard the last 2 numbers, 'Tower Of Strength' and Shine Your Light'. A reliable performance by all accounts.



Next up was Queensryche. I hadn't seem them since 1991 Monsters of Rock Festival so I was looking forward to them. These days even though Geoff Tate is sporting the bald head  he certainly hasn't lost his voice. Although the sound was bit suspect in places, for me the highlights were 'I Don't Believe In Love', 'Jet City Woman', 'Empire' and finishing off with 'Eyes Of A Stranger'. It was a pity they finished 10 minutes early as they could've played another song. Magnificent!

Thin Lizzy were up next. Ricky Warwick has got it spot on, all the songs sounding great. And as you expect they played all the hits including 'Waiting For An Alibi, 'Jailbreak' and 'Dancing in the Moonlight (with Michael Monroe on an inaudible saxophone!). Of course we had 'Wiskey in the Jar', 'The Boys Are Back In Town', 'Rosalie' and finally finishing off with 'Black Rose'. Another magnificent performance.

Slash played for 1 hour, and to be selfish all I wanted to hear were Guns N' Roses song. I did, and I got 4 of them. A one two of  Nighttrain' followed by 'Rocket Queen'. Of course we had 'Sweet Child of Mine' and finally finishing off with 'Pardise City'. We all know that Myles Kennedy is no Axl Rose but he still made a good job. As an extra bonus for me he played Velvet Revolver's 'Slither'. A solid show.

Finally at 8.35pm Judas Priest hit the main stage. They played songs from their 30+year career. Obviously with no KK Downing on guitar, I was curious to see if Richie Faulkner was as adequate replacement. And I hate to say it in my opinion he was just a good. Highlights for me included 'Metal Gods', 'Prophecy', ' Night Crawler' and 'Turbo Lover'. Rob Halford got the crowd to sing 'Breaking the Law' in it's entirety which I thought was a right cop out. Sadly by the end of 'Painkiller' I had to leave which  meant I missed the encores of 'Hell Bent for Leather', 'You've Got Another Thing Comin' and 'Living After Midnight'.

To sum up this was a good one day festival. Same again next year I hope.

Motley Crue & Poison & New York Dolls - Tuesday 28th June 2011, Molson Amphitheatre - Toronto Canada

When I first heard about this concert a few months back I thought what a fantastic package. Two of my favourite bands touring together. Like most glam heads out there, I would never in a million years think these 2 bands would tour together. Yet here it was in 2011 a 30+ date tour of America (and 1 in Canada). Of course this tour would never reach London, let alone the UK, so my only chance to see them was to fly over there. This was an opportunity too good to miss. The last time I saw Poison play in London was in 1993 at the Hammersmith Odeon. So this was my chance to see them play a (short) greatest hit set as 'very special guests' to Motley Crue. I've seen Motley Crue twice in the last 2 years. Firstly at last years Sonisphere Festival and secondly at Download Festival the year before. So my real intention on going was to see Poison.

I decided to choose Toronto to see the gig. After persuading my girlfriend to join me, I booked the tickets (not the greatest seats I must add as all the best ones had long gone - hence the lack of close up photo's), we flew out a few days beforehand for some sightseeing. On the day of the concert I got there in good time to see New York Dolls. Not a massive crowd to start of but the venue started to soon fill up. Couldn't tell you any of the songs as I'm not a fan of them but I was pleasantly surprised. I would certainly go and see them again.

Then (for me) the main band of the evening....Poison. They were celebrating 25 years so I new they would play all their hits. It started of what looked like a Poison roadie in a hoodie spray painting Rikki Rocket's double bass drum. It was in fact him! After jumping behind his kit, out came CC Deville playing the opening riffs to 'Look What The Cat Dragged In! Out of the wings soon followed Bobby Dall and Bret Michael's (in his customary cowboy hat).This was quickly followed by 'I Want  Action', 'Ride The Wind' and 'Your Mama Don't Dance'. We had an unnecessary guitar solo from CC. I know that he's an very underrated player, but with only a 50 min set they could've skipped the solo for another song. Never mind, all was forgiven when they continued with 'Fallen Angel' and 'Unskinny Bop'. We then had Rikki's drum solo. This I enjoyed being a drummer myself. They then slowed it down for 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn', finally picking up the pace for the final 2 songs 'Talk Dirty To Me' and of course 'Nothin' But a Good Time'. And that was the Poison show done. Was it worth it flying all those miles to see them, you bet it was!

   

Now could Motley Crue top that? Of course, their 15 strong set was also greatest hits set voted by their fans (including me). I knew the set list before it started and I knew about Tommy Lee's rollercoster drum solo. After seeing it, they need to bring this over to the UK! All 4 members were on top of their game, even Vince Neil's vocals, which can be hit or miss at the best of times was singing most of the words. Mick Mars guitar playing was awesome (and a great sound), Nikki Sixx is a bass monster, prowling the stage, and Tommy Lee can certainly

wack those drums. Did I mention the songs, well you can check the full list at the end of my blog. However they started of with 'Wild Side', finished with 'Kickstart My Heart' and in between played my girlfriend's favourite 'Too Young to Fall in Love'.

 

So who came out top? Honours are even in my opinion. Now wouldn't it be great if these 2 bands played Wembley Arena next year? Here's hoping. 

Motley Crue setlist: Wild Side, Saints of Los Angeles, Live Wire, Shout at the Devil, Same Ol' Situation, Primal Scream, Home Sweet Home, Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away), Looks That Kill, Dr Feelgood, Too Young to Fall in Love, Ten Seconds to Love, Girls,Girls,Girls, Smokin' in the Boys Room and Kickstart My Heart.