Gig Addiction – Page 16 – Life on the road

Fish, City Hall, Sheffield 10-12-15

I happened to notice that the city hall offer reduced price car parking at Q Park on Rockingham street. Only £3 for 24 hours! Only problem was, even though it’s close by, somehow we walked around in a circle to find City Hall! Went to the Wetherspoons for beer & a curry, then off to the gig. This was originally gonna be in the Ballroom, but ticket sales were good enough to move to the city hall ( Agent to Fish : “Do you want to move to the city hall?” Fish : ” Erm, that’s where i’ve had many jinxed moments over the years!” 😉 )

The support act, ” Lazuli ” were interesting to start off, but, ultimately i found them a bit samey. So much so that i was dropping off to sleep ! They finished with all band member playing a glockenspiel together. That was quite impressive.

So, to the main man. I’d read that the previous night in Birmingham, he was struggling with vocals. First stop in Sheffield was A&E for Cortizone injections. This could fall below par tonight. The first song, i thought he sounded awful ! As the night went on & possibly as his vocals had warmed up, he started sounding better (Or was it *not* any better & i was allowing too much?) Fish told a story about being in A&E & there was a “typical Scottish drunk” there (Not him). It was a nice segue to ” Family Business” 😉 Then it’s time for “Misplaced Childhood”. Before the start, Fish basically said “Just enjoy yourselves, how ever you want”. This caused pretty much everyone to get to their feet.

Overall, Fish performed well, but, you could tell he was struggling a bit. I’m sure the loud audience spurred him on a lot though. Listening to “Misplaced” i was transported back to the Nottingham & Leicester gigs of 1986. So many great memories. Then we had “Market Square Heroes”….that took me back to Rock City 1983. Fish got it right when he said it’s great we can all still share these moments “together”after all these years. Whilst he doesn’t know us all per se , there is a great connection. Must confess, i thought finishing with “The Company”, didn’t really work for me. But that’s a minor complaint for a decent night out 🙂

” Winter Rocks “, The Temperance Movement, Fozzy, Nonpoint, Crobot , Scorpion Child, Graveltones, Sumo Cyco, Tax The Heat, Dirty Youth, Skarlett Riot , Falling Red, Corporation, Sheffield 5-12-15

Damn it was windy today ! Believe it or not, it actually helped us as regards car parking! Got to Sheffield & 1st car park was full. 2nd one was pretty much the same, except for 2 spaces which had some boarding that had blown down. So out the car we get, move the boarding & space secured ! (straight after, someone came into the next space lol) We went to the pub, for food n beers & then of to the Corp. There were a few in the queue before us, but, everything was looking good. Saw Simon Dunkerly & he said ” Have you seen the photo?” Me: “Erm what/where?” . Simon ” On the Winter Rocks page. Stuart asked for a photo to put up & i chose the one where you’re wearing the red top!” Me : ” Oh ace ! Cheers mate 🙂 ”

Once doors opened, we were then held in the bar area, whilst final preparations were finished. Skarlett Riot were sound checking (i shoulda filmed it under the shutters lol). Once in, front row was secured in the perfect position. Job done! First band on were Skarlett Riot. A solid opener for sure.

Next up, it was “Sumo Cyco”. (Bad Touch had to pull their set due to having traffic problems). I had never even heard of Sumo Cyco before, so it was all new to me. What can i say except that they rocked big time. They certainly brought the energy levels up. I really wanna see these do their own headline show now 🙂 P.S. My mate Ady thought that Sever/Skye was a “scary lady”….personally, i thought she had great attitude & knows how to pump up the crowd 😉

Next up it was “The Dirty Youth”. A band i’ve seen before & they’re not bad. But truth be told, anything after “Sumo Cyco” was gonna be an uphill struggle.

Next we had ” Tax The Heat”. I’ve seen these before & gotta be honest, whilst they are great musicians, they just didn’t get me going (again) sorry. I think my friend Rachel summed them up very aptly ; ” Too groomed, too safe……yawn ” 😉

Next it was The Graveltones. They’re always great. Apparently, this was their last gig for 2 months & it’s the first time in 5 years of touring, that they’re having 2 months off ! Respect ! As a bonus, they had Nick Fyffe (The Temperance Movement) jam with them as well tonight

Scorpion Child were next. Didn’t know anything about them, but they were ok.

Crobot followed & they were their usual awesome selves. Knew we were in for something special as before the show, i saw Jake with his bottle of Jack Daniels pouring himself a very nice measure. He was having a laugh n joke with some of the peeps down the front as well. This guy is a dude. I’m sure he also made the day for many ladies in the crowd as he performed tonight just wearing his pants !

Nonpoint were refreshing, due to their sound, but, ultimately were a bit boring. As for Fozzy ? Omg. Seriously ? The singer just loves himself waaaaay too much. I did think his jacket at the start was funny though! I mean, we’re coming up to Christmas, so all those flashing lights fitted nicely. Strangest moment of their set was a cover of Abba’ “S.O.S.” I turned around to see everyones reactions. There were as many people just looking stunned as there were really loving it.(I saw you gettin down to it Nina 😉 ) On reflection, i still don’t know what to make of it. The lass next to me tapped me on my shoulder with a “there there there” kind of gesture ! She’d noticed what i was thinking lol

Finally, time for the headliners, The Temperance Movement. I got chatting to a lass who had traveled down from Scotland just for this show. She was telling me that TTM are headlining Glasgow Barrowlands next year & that i should go. Must say, i’m impressed they’ve got up to that level. Just shows with quality songs & a lot of hard work touring, anything is possible. Tonights performance was just great.Not as great as the Bodega show though 😉 A shame they ran out of time ….

So, all in all, another great indoors festival at Sheffield. Was nice seeing some “old” friends there & being introduced to some others (putting more names to faces is always good) is always cool. Roll on Winter Rocks 2016 !

Judas Priest + Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Brixton Academy 1-12-15

I got to London nice n early, went to the Beehive for grub & then went to queue at the Academy, 3 hours before doors opened 😉 My mate Jim turned up later, as did his mate Nick. O2 Priority is useful 🙂 I got front row on the left side, exactly where i wanted to be. Michael Schenkers Temple Of Rock were great, but, their set was way too short. I think probably about 7 songs & around 45mins. But Schenker was on fire. It’s great to see him looking so into the show & smiles all around.

Just the intro of “War Pigs” as enough to set the tone for Priest ! The crowd were so bloody loud singing along. They started with “Battle Cry” & then straight into “Dragonaut” off the latest album. (There were 2 more played tonight off “Redeemer Of Souls”), then bam ! It’s “Metal Gods”. So many Priest classics were played tonight. Rob Halford was spot on with his vocal delivery….something that cannot be said of some previous tours, where it was patchy. The “new” guy Richie brings so much energy & enthusiasm to the show. He fits so well in Priest. Strangely, i felt it was during “Turbo Lover” when the crowd got really rowdy. There was a lot of pushing around (even though it might not be that noticeable from my video). was great 🙂

When a band is this on & playing to such an up for it audience, there’s nothing can beat this. The show has just took second spot in my “best gigs of the year”. (Garbage @ Paris is number one) For sure i will see them again on the next tour, whenever that is.

The Prodigy, Public Enemy, Sheffield arena, 28-11-15

My old mate Nick went with me to this one. Was good seeing him to catch up etc. We got down the front-ish, about 4th row, watched all of Public Enemy from there. Was quite entertaining…loved Flavour Flavs moving around the stage on his skates or whatever. I did crack up at the guy on the left who just basically waved his handkerchief around & as for the guys in the cammo gear, doing their dances, can i say “boy band” ? No seriously, sillyness aside, they were entertaining . It did seem strange to me hearing “Bring The Noise” without Anthrax though 😉

We stayed in the pit for The Prodigy….well, for the first few songs. I woulda stayed there the whole night, but, i just couldn’t take any photos/video down there : it was mental ! (But brilliant). So we dropped back to the side & i filmed a couple of tracks. I certainly need a new camera as it’s just not focusing how it used to…more expense! It was a great party atmosphere in there all night. My third time seeing The Prodigy & they’re always great fun.

Apocalyptica + Vamps , Rock City, Nottingham 25-11-15

I was absolutely fuming before this gig! Why ? I was meant to collect a ticket on the door & Alt-Tickets had NOT sent the collection list to Rock City. So whilst myself & a bunch more were waiting, people were streaming into the venue & taking the best spots. Fortunately, tonight Cat went with me so she got in the venue whilst i waited around like a spare part in the foyer. Whatever, this fiasco really wound me up & basically ruined my night. I hate incompetence. I’ve since emailed both RC/Alt-tickets complaining. RC just passed the buck. Alt-tickets did accept they were at fault & have offered to refund my collection fee of £1.50…wow big deal ! I’ll obviously never order a ticket for collection here again. In the end, i did get into the show. It was ok. Nothing fantastic. I’ve ticked them off the list of bands too see 😉

P.S. The irony was also when you collect tickets, they don’t actually give you a ticket! You just get a till receipt, which you give to the doorman! Good ol’ Cat gave me her ticket…..which i think was an attempt to try calm me down 😉 Its appreciated.

Clutch, rock city, Nottingham 24-11-15

I left work early & was on the road to Nottingham by 3.30. Had a decent drive & was in Nottingham by 5.30ish. Carl & Lisa were already there in the queue, along with Chris & Teresa. In fact, they were the only ones in the queue apart from some chap from Mexico (i think?). Doors were a little later tonight, being at 7pm. The time flew by as we caught up & exchanged our latest gig travelling stories. (They had all been following the Clutch tour – respect ! ). Tonight we had two opening bands & the second one , ” Planet Of Zeus ” (From Athens, Greece) were bloody fantastic ! I hadn’t heard a thing by them before the show,but, Carl & Lisa said ” We think you’ll like them! “. They were so right 🙂

I must say, Planet Of Zeus seemed to really strike a chord with the crowd. They got a great reaction. I wondered for how many, this was their first time seeing them, like myself. Great band.

Clutch were just the same outstanding quality as always. No messin, straight ahead rock n roll. They had the audience eating out of their hands from the off. There were a lot of NEW songs off the latest CD ” Psychic Warfare” , in fact, at one point, Mr Fallon even says ” Two more songs & we’ll have played it all” 🙂

We Are The Ocean, Tall Ships, AllUsOnDrugs, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham 18-11-15

I got to Grantham to pick Cat up along the way & typically, she’d had a slight problem with work & she wasn’t ready. So i had the options of either going on my own (& she would drive herself there) OR wait whilst she gets ready. As i owed her a lift,after she recently picked me up after the Garbage tour, i decided to wait. By the time we got to Nottingham it was 6.27ish. We were both expecting a reasonable size queue, but, there was only one person in front of us ! Talk about luck being on our side ! Once in the venue, we even more realized the gig wasn’t gonna be busy as the balcony was closed. During ” AllUsOnDrugs”, i’d guess there was a maximum of 60 people in there. The audience did get a bit bigger by the time We Are The Ocean came on though. They kicked off with “Do It Together”. A couple of songs in & Liam said his voice was in bad shape & that the crowd would have to sing up! Personally, i thought he sounded just fine ! They played their cover version of ” Hey Now” (London Grammar) & played a nice mixed set with songs from all through their career. They finished with the classic ” Good For You”. A decent night out.

Garbage, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland 14-11-15

Garbage, Manchester Academy 13-11-15

Oh my ! Memories of the last time we saw Garbage here & spent the afternoon in the Crowbar drinking 2 for 1 cocktails ! Surely, things couldn’t get as bad (worse?) as last time ??? This time, some of the Trashers got into Manchester the previous night. I’ve heard there were games of pool & THE GUYS pole dancing! Less said about that, the best 😉 I get up to Manchester around 1pm & meet the guys at the hotel. Have a quick pint with them & Anette also joins us. Seems there’s a few of us staying at the same hotel 🙂 Eventually we leave & head towards the venue/Crowbar 😉 It’s raining, so don’t expect that many to be queueing already…

Garbage, Brixton academy 9-11-15