Event Reviews

Massive Wagons/Skam – The Yorkshire House, Lancaster: 17th July 2015 The Seventh night of the Out of Our Rocka’s tour (usually two of ‘Off Yer Rocka’ bands Massive Wagons, Skam, Texas Flood and Pig Iron with local support) saw Massive Wagons and Skam playing The Yorkshire House in Lancaster, conveniently …

Saturday at Ivory Blacks in Glasgow was a four band show, leading up to the debut headline gig from Dyorlich. First up on the night was three piece Psycho-Logic.  They were on very early and because of that the crowd hadn’t really filled out yet, but that didn’t stop them …

What do we know about SOS Festival then? Sponsored by Rocksector records and organised by them and Chris Appleton (founder member of Fury UK and now playing with Absolva amongst other things) who also compered it, it’s now in its 8th year and showcases some of the label’s talent, along …

Belfast had been in virtual lockdown for the long weekend which marked the cornerstone of Northern Ireland’s marching season, the Twelfth.  Bars, restaurants and shops kept their doors firmly shut for most of the duration, leaving those who dared to venture into the practically abandoned city centre with little to …

AC/DC – Glasgow, Dublin and London 2015 Review AC/DC must surely rank as one of the greatest bands of all time! Formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young with Dave Evans initially on vocals, followed by Bon Scott from 1974 until his untimely death in 1980, and for the …

As yet another old saying goes, “All good things must come to an end”, so bleary eyed we headed off to the main stage for the final day of Wildfire Festival in more glorious sunshine. Another 11am start and opening band, Sheffield based trio Silverjet faced a packed out tent …

Saturday! The second day of Wildfire and the sun has put his hat on, as the old song once said. At the unholy hour of 11am, first band on the main stage were Leeds based The Idol Dead who were the perfect opener for the change of weather with their …

Wildfire Festival, previously known as Les-Fest in recent years returned in 2015 with an extra stage with over fifty bands spread out over three days, thus making the event in Wiston the place to be! The brain child of Dave Ritchie, his towering presence could be seen throughout the weekend …

A rare sweltering hot day in London again, yet the Boston Rooms still pulls a crowd of metal heads melting in black and leather but more than happy to be there for a metal show, and we really were in for a treat! Up first we have 4 piece heavy …

Tonight was one of just three UK dates on the current Primus tour.  It’s a tour that see’s them without a support act – instead, Primus play two sets. The first set was a fairly normal set (well as normal as Primus get anyway), with songs taken from their various …

“I told you we’d be fucking back!”  It may be somewhat unusual to start a review at the end, but drummer Brann Dailor’s closing remarks to the audience are important for contextualizing what had happened over the previous hour-and-a-half or so.  You see, it had only been a little more than …

It’s Sunday lunchtime and the punters have crawled out of their beds from across the city of HELLsinki to once again descended on Suvilahti for the final day of this year’s instalment of Tuska Open Air Metal Festival. The carnage of the Saturday night after-parties is evident on the faces …

Tonight’s gig was ZZ Top’s only UK show, which would normally be more than enough to make this a gig not to miss, but to make it even better, the support act was Thunder, so two great bands on one bill. Coming on stage to the sounds of the ACDC …

It could be argued that, although they hail from the Midlands of England, Diamond Head share an affinity with Belfast:  after all, it was they who helped shape the sound of the nascent Metallica – a place in history they share with a band from this neck of the woods, …

The final day of Download, and it’s sunny, rejoice! Well, it isn’t for long, but the optimism of a better day of weather than before really pulls people through. What is in store given the barnstorming set that Muse put on the previous night is anyone’s guess, but let’s find …

Download 2012’s horrendous weather had led to the year being described as ‘Drownload’, and as Saturday morning breaks it seems likely that this would head the same way; the rain isn’t as heavy but it’s no less relentless. That being said, the arena is open with time to spare before the …

Ahhh, post-festival blues, don’t you just love ’em? Download Festival 2015 has been and gone and for the 80,000 or so punters that attended, it’s back to society and the grindstone. But for those of you who can’t quite let it go yet, here’s the first day of the madness relived …

The venue for this evening’s long-awaited return to Belfast by Pat McManus – it has been almost exactly a year since ‘The Professor’ last graced a stage here – is the basement of a pub situated in Belfast’s oldest known building, McHugh’s Bar.  Built back in the 17th century it, like …

Tonight’s gig kicked off with a set from the Dave Hanson band.  They’re a four piece band from Leeds, fronted by Dave Hanson on vocals and lead guitar, and play music that is fairly laid back – a mix of blues and funk.  It’s very good but did feel a …

Back in 2004, I had the pleasure of visiting Finland on vacation. On the night I arrived in the Helsinki hostel, I noticed a larger than normal number of heavy metal fans arriving back after a show. I asked one what gig they were at. The answer.. DIO at TUSKA. …