This time I took a later train from Boston to Nottingham. Arrived Notts about half 3pm. Walked to “Roomzzz” & stayed there till about 15mins before doors opened at Rock City. Tonight was an early start, or rather, it should have been : Doors 5.30 ! They do this when there’s a club night after the gig & there’s usually a curfew of 10pm for the gig. So as usual, I went to venue 15mins before doors. Then had to wait till gone 6pm before was let in. During that wait, I saw members of Buckcherry were doing a Meet & Greet in the foyer. I didn’t even know that was happening. Unsure how many did the M&G but pretty sure there weren’t many. I Spoke to a couple of security guys about getting a seat, the second one dealt with that. Got my fave position in the venue & I sat there thinking “I wonder how busy it will be tonight ? ” (Earlier I’d seen they were doing “2 tickets for the price of for 1” at the London venue).
I hadn’t heard of the opening act “Alitas Way”. Can’t really say that i loved them, but they were entertaining. The singer said something like “…We’re Alitas Way from the USA. We’re pleased to be on this tour. Once we’ve finished it, we’re coming back for Download, then doing our own headline shows in venues similar to the size of here…”. Sorry, but I think you could only play “The Rig” headlining, seeing as tonight’s 3 band bill isn’t close to selling out. But credit due to them, by the end of their set, I’m sure they’d won over a few of the crowd. Something I’ve just remembered was that no one seemed to want to come in the area under the stairs. I wonder if it was because I was wearing my Rock City hoody ? (It’s been a while since anyone thought I was security 😉
Next up it’s Hoobastank. I last saw them in this venue back in 2015. A lot has changed for me since then. I think i was on the front row with a local friend & now I’m having to sit watching the show. I’ve got to say, I wasn’t very impressed with their latest album.
Though they’re cover of “Tears For Fears ” song “Head Over Heals” is certainly different 😉 It’ll be interesting to see what the setlist is tonight. 
They have a short intro, ( I know this music, but can’t place it! Any ideas?) then just amble onto the stage & Doug says ” Hello Nottingham. What the fuck is up? We’re Hoobastank from Los Angeles California & we’re hear to make some noise !” They kick off with a song from their debut album, “Hoobastank”. “Pieces” is a great one to start with.
Next up it’s the classic “Out Of Control”. The audience lap this up. It seems to me that the set is going in the right direction i.e. not many of the new songs will be played tonight (That’s fine by me 😉 ) We then get “Remember Me” from their debut album. The audience is looking good bopping around 🙂 I quite enjoy hearing the funky “Inside of You” (From the album “Every Man For Himself”). Next it’s back up to full throttle with “Same Direction”. I’ve always preferred their first couple of albums, “Hoobastank” & “The Reason”, tbh I thought they went a bit down hill after those.
“Running Away” is typical Hoobastank. It’ a good one to wave your arms to 🙂 Tonight’s set is pretty damn good actually.
Doug puts a smile on faces when he’s talking about probably their biggest “hit”. He said something like ” If you know the song, you could help us out… if you don’t know it…fuck you ! “(he’s joking) . Just the intro chords of the song is enough for a cheer from the crowd. Again, it’s great to hear everyone totally getting into “The Reason ”
After that one, Doug says thank you to everyone, introduces the band members & they finish with “Crawling In The Dark” :
Considering time constraints, I think we got a pretty good show.
So to the headliners of tonight BUCKCHERRY. A lot has changed since I last saw them. They have new band members & Josh Todd is now the only original member of the band ! Really don’t know how this will affect things.
I did look at the online setlists before going & was pretty shocked to see they open with a cover song. Mind you, it’s a great song so I’m interested to see what they do with it… 
Well I suppose that is a sign that you should NOT try to change a song that was already unique for the right reasons ! After HLAH they play one of their own tunes; “It’s a Party”. That’s more like it 😉 
Next they play a song of the 2014 EP “Fuck”; namely “Somebody Fucked With Me”. It’s kinda funny they had an EP where the song titles always included the word “Fuck” 😉 We then get a song from the “Black Butterfly” album (I’m sure I’ve got the Japanese version hidden somewhere), namely, “Don’t Go Away”. Tbh, I wasn’t over impressed with that album. But this song is cool. It’s one of those where it’s only natural to sway your arms…or have a slow waltz haha. No, joking aside, it’s a nice song !
From the “ying to the yang”, it’s an old classic “Lit Up”. Josh lets us know that the first time he took cocaine was off a Ouija board. Scared ? Nah..
They then go back to the “Fuck EP”. It’s kinda hard to believe that Josh loved “Icona Pop”, but by changing a few lyrics of the original, it became a nasty pop/rock song. To think at the time, the song ” I Love It ” (also featuring “Charli XCX” on vocals) was a disco smash hit & just by changing a few lyrics, it’s totally different. Oh yeah, anyone notice the AC/DC riff in there ? (I’m still unsure if it was a piss take or not!). All i can say is it’s a fun song (wish I’d filmed it, but was getting into the show)
They then play a song that’s off the forthcoming new album “Warpaint”. Warpaint, the song, is typical Buckcherry sound. I Wonder what the rest of the album will be like ? (Due to be released in March)
Next up is “Too Drunk…” Anyone remember the “Dead Kennedys”? The last few songs of the night were “Sorry”, “Bent” (Off the soon to be released “Warpaint” album), “Gluttony” & as ever, “Crazy Bitch” ;
Unfortunately there was a curfew tonight, so the sets seemed rather short….bloody club nights ! As always, didn’t have far to go to my hotel as it’s virtually next to Rock City. I’ll always recommend “Roomzzz” 🙂
Overall, I’d say my first gig of 2019 was OK. I’m sure the next one will beat it by a mile 😉
