Event Reviews

School night gigs in Belfast – possibly in common with most other locales – are notoriously difficult to fill, unless of course they involve a “big name” touring band.  But, increasingly, Thursday nights seem to be becoming the “new Friday” and so a healthy crowd of 70 or so grinders …

Enter Shikari (9) have always loved doing stuff their way. Tonight sees them play a venue that, whilst not being the smallest place they ever done, is tiny when you compare it to the venues they could be filling out instead, like the 3,000 capacity Roundhouse they’ve sold out twice over later …

Heartbreak Remedy Due to a bit of a logistical cock-up I managed to dash into the Brickyard just in time to miss the first couple of songs of Hearbreak Remedy’s set. This hacked me off a little as I have seen their full set before and liked them a lot …

Rockmantic is becoming an annual event hosted around Valentine’s Day (hence the name) by Raz White. I went to Rockmantic 1 but couldn’t make last year. This year Valentine’s Day fell on on a Saturday so I was looking forward to a bit of Lurve as I braved the Friday …

Friday night’s Metal 2 The Masses Ireland heat was always going to be the curveball in this year’s showcase. It was a real mixed bag of genres that came together in Fibber Magees and what followed was an interesting selection of performances. The Dark Lanes opened the evening. Kevin’s enthusiasm for …

While an awful lot of people – many of whom really should have known better, or perhaps possess more money than sense – were heading towards the city centre restaurants armed with inanely worded cards and over-priced flowers in order to “enjoy” equally over-priced meals in a vain attempt to …

I was expecting to go to a gig on Saturday night and hear some ballsy riffs and psychedelic wails from Monster Magnet.  I was not expecting to witness the second coming of the Messiah, but as Dave Wyndorf sang a miracle occurred.  The sick were healed, and the crutch that had …

It’s twenty to seven and Black Label Society fans are already queueing outside the O2 ABC in Glasgow on this Wednesday night. These people have a brilliant answer to the question of what to do on a Wednesdays night? Black Label Society started their European Tour on 11th of February in the heart …

The Amorettes are a Scottish band I have seen once before supporting another local Scottish band Attica Rage just two years ago, but this time The Amorettes have their own headline slot. The night meant there would be a larger setlist, and a lot of this would be new, with …

As I wait outside Camden Underworld to review and photograph Primitai, I notice in the back of my interview book I had written “Primitai, wish I had heard more” from when I first caught them supporting Edguy, thankfully I have got to see them a few times since and was …

Preceding the U.K rock giants tonight are heavy metallers Hell; a strangely bizarre band who flirt dangerously between theatrical Satanism and occult metal. Lead vocalist David Bower summoned his five piece band from of the darkest pits of Derby to perform tracks from albums “Human Remains” and” Curse and Chapter”. …

Tonight’s gig seemed to be a long time in arriving – I’d been hearing good reports for several weeks from friends who had been to earlier dates on the tour – this was a pretty long UK tour before the bands head over to Europe.  It’s a great lineup – …

I suppose, in the interests of journalistic impartiality, we better start this review with a declaration of interest, and that is that Terminus bassist David McCallum is a PlanetMosh contributor.  The band play with a dark, thumping groove that has a ball-shaking intensity and equally dense and brooding vocals, delivered …

It is rare that I get excited about a gig nowadays; everybody has a list of acts that they want to see. And I’ve been lucky enough to see the bands that or on that list for the most part. One band that was amiss for far too long were …

As the last remnants of what laughingly passed for “Snowmageddon” melted, turning Belfast’s streets to slush and ice, the city’s metallians and assorted other freaks braved the nevertheless freezing temperatures to head to the venue that is fast becoming the local mecca for same, the now iconic upstairs club room …

Four piece, London based, metal band Savage Messiah were the opening act on Amon Amarth’s current UK tour. I headed down to the Manchester Academy 2 on a cold Sunday, and luckily found some free parking within a five minute walk. Just made it as I picked up my ticket …

Tonight’s gig was my first time since the work to upgrade the NIA had been completed.  Now named the Barclaycard arena – which is bound to cause confusion with the Genting Arena (the NEC), it’s looking a lot better and the facilities are certainly improved.  That’s lucky really as tonight …

Metal 2 the Masses Ireland had its second heat on Saturday night and it turned out to be another belter of a showcase for Irish Metal. Six bands went head to head on a night that was filled with excitement, aggression, technicality, camaraderie (yes, camaraderie) and damn good fun. Black …

StOp, sToP a Hard Rock/Glam Metal band, founded by front-man Jacob in Barcelona in 2009 and, now based here in the U.K. party hard and tour relentlessly. I saw them when they played at Rebellion Bar in Manchester last year and was pretty much blown away, so it was with …

January – and especially the middle of the month – is a notoriously difficult time of the year, with most people still recovering from the needless over-expense of Christmas and counting the minutes until their next pay day… so, it is extremely rewarding for those promoters who dare to venture …