” 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

Scans0586Β Winter Rocks 2015

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 πŸ™‚ ”

12339100_523459581149003_1197949217560640296_oOnce 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! Β 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 πŸ™‚ 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 πŸ˜‰

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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 ; ”Β Too groomed, too safe……yawn ” πŸ˜‰

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 !

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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 πŸ˜‰ ) 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 πŸ˜‰ Β 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 !

2015.12.05 Winter rocks

Michael Monroe, Hardcore Superstar, Chase The Ace, Corporation, Sheffield, 10-10-15

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A few friends were also going to this one, so nice to briefly hook up with Lisa + Carl, Nomis + Liz & also Scott. Whilst i was the first in the queue, i wasn’t the first there as a couple of nice German girls were actually waiting at the wrong door. I soon put them straight though. First band was “Chase The Ace”. They had plenty of energy up there. They said they were also not getting paid for tonight, which is a sign of the times. Yes folks, that’s why it’s always important to support bands buying the merchandise.

This was a co headline tour between Hardcore Superstar & Michael Monroe. Those German girls i mentioned were following the tour to see HSS. Oh yeah, there was also a lass i met from Finland who was following the tour to see MM πŸ™‚ HSS i’ve seen a few times before & i always felt there was nothing that really stood out that was different or unique. But saying that, they are good at what they do & tonight was the best i’ve ever seen them. Really enjoyed their set.

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Mr Monroe is always entertaining. Within a couple of numbers, the sweat is just running off him. The band all seem to be having a great time as there’s little in jokes with each other etc. MM is just all over that stage & down on the barrier. It’s what full energy rock n roll is always about. Something i loved though was despite the craziness, he still took a few seconds to go down in the pit to tough base with someone in a wheelchair ( I think it was a “mate of a mate” Mark Hodgkinson) such a diamond geezer. I wouldn’t really say that the show was much different than it always is….just quality rock n roll delivered very professionally by all involved.

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