Event Reviews

We’re here a little earlier than yesterday for what is going to be coined Love Metal Saturday, as Tuska Open Air Metal Festival says farewell to local heroes HIM. The opening act today is Lik.  Saturday’s 1.45pm start is so relaxed that when they come on there’s next to nobody …

It’s the first day of Tuska 20 as Tuska Open Air Metal Festival celebrates twenty years of Pain in Helsinki.  It’s a midday start as the PlanetMosh team sets off to the Suvilahti district in Helsinki’s industrial zone.  Walking into the arena we’re joined by hordes of heavy metal brethren from …

Dropkick Murphys are known as a fantastic live band, so being the support act for their tour is something that could be a daunting prospect for many bands – it takes a great live band to open for the Dropkick Murphys and to go down well.  Happily tonight’s support is …

Last year Ritchie Blackmore returned to playing rock music playing just three dates with Rainbow including one in the UK.  Now he’s back doing a UK tour including tonight’s show at the Genting arena. While he’s touring under the Rainbow name, the shows last year included a lot of Deep …

Sunday 25th June saw one of STP Records’ Sunday shows at the Star and Garter in Manchester. FACE UP! Syteria and CUT being the bands on today’s billing. These Sunday shows start at 5.30pm and are over by 9pm to give people chance to get home on a school night! …

First up were three-piece band Arcane roots.  They put in an energetic set and go down well with the audience despite being very different musically to Evanescence.  While they weren’t to my taste, their music having a Biffy Clyro sound is likely to see them getting very popular. I’ve been …

Tuesday night’s show at the Olympia Theatre was the very first show Alter Bridge have ever played in Ireland.  The fact this show sold out and the band announced a return in October proves how long awaited their arrival to these shores has been, and just how popular they’ve become. …

Tonight’s gig at the Craufurd arms was sold out quickly after the show was announced several weeks ago.  Fresh from playing Download, Fozzy was here for a small intimate gig. Support tonight came from Walsall based Stone Broken, who, like Fozzy had played Download festival a few days ago.  They’d …

Brutai had the job of opening the Dogtooth stage today.  Playing Download for the first time, they showed no sign of nerves and put in an excellent performance to get the day off to a great start.  They are always good live, but they’ve excelled themselves here at Download. It …

Irish band Dead Label kicked off proceedings on the Dogtooth stage.  I last saw them at Bloodstock two years ago and was impressed by them then, and they’ve improved further in the last two years.  They look to be having a great time on stage and they’ve drawn a good …

After negotiating the queues and thorough security checks and finally making it into the arena, I headed straight over to stage 2, just in time to catch Blackwater Conspiracy.   I reviewed their new album recently and was blown away by how good it was, so I had high expectations for …

After a days work, a bus that turned up late, an hour on the motorway and a sprint from the Quays I walked into The Academy literally two minutes before the funk of Chuck Brown’s ‘We Need Money’ heralded the arrival of Clutch onto stage.  The sold out crowd was in …

Goldblade are always fun to watch at Bearded Theory – their hyper-energetic frontman John Robb never stays on stage for long and predictably it’s not long before he jumps down and comes to the barrier to get up close with the fans as he sings.  He’s one of the best …

After enjoying Circus Insane yesterday I headed to the Convoy Cabaret tent early to catch their second show of the weekend.  Once again they packed the tent out.  As promised, this show was more insane and extreme than the previous day with highlights including a part of the act titled …

Metal fans are familiar with Catton Hall, home to Bloodstock open air, but the site is also used for other events, the best of these being Bearded Theory festival at the end of May. The mix of bands is more diverse than most rock or metal festivals – it includes …

After months of refurbishment work the Castle and Falcon in Birmingham re-opened its doors in March this year. The venue, which is easy to reach with good local parking, has had a complete overhaul in terms of its layout and equipment for the live bands that regularly occupy the stage. …

First up tonight was The Dives, a New York band that includes Paul Stanley’s son. Knowing that, I didn’t have very high expectations, assuming cynically that they only got the slot due to the family connections, but in fact while the family connection almost certainly helped, the fact is that …

First up tonight was a band that wasn’t part of the tour and weren’t announced till a couple of hours before the show.  The Treatment were playing here tonight as a warm-up before their shows at Hellfest and supporting the Scorpions.  Despite the fact that the venue was almost empty …

It’s Dublin on a Saturday night in May. There’s more than 350 people rammed into Fibber Magees and that can only mean one thing. It’s time for the Metal 2 The Masses Ireland Final 2017. Throughout the first half of this year thirty five bands have been whittled down to the last …

From 13th May till 2nd October this year, the Victoria and Albert Museum (The V&A) will be running an exhibition dedicated to Pink Floyd.  The exhibition traces the history of the band from the beginning through their entire career up to the present. It’s a full multimedia experience so on …