Opinion

Tonight’s show had an early start – 7.30pm.  With most gigs the support band would be on stage then or maybe even later, but Joe Bonamassa plays with no support and with an early start.  It’s something that catches out the unwary, but tonight the seats are all full before …

On this day over 2000 years ago, the man credited with being the Son of God was in Jerusalem in the build-up to the events which are generally associated with Easter. But before the four day weekend arrives, there’s the small matter of Heat Four of Metal 2 the Masses: three …

The rollercoaster ride that has been Metal 2 The Masses Ireland 2017 reached the semi-final stages last weekend and PlanetMosh was strapped into the carriage once again to see which bands could hold on tight enough to secure a place in that one last foray on the way to Bloodstock. …

Greek Metal crew MAPLERUN release their third album ‘PartyKrasher’ on 28th April. We had a talk with the interview about their background and here’s what happened:   What is the full band line-up, who plays what? NICK – VOCALS, GUITAR, NIKOS (THE MOOR) – BASS, VOCALS, ORESTIS – GUITAR, CHRIS …

I spoke to The Charm The Fury’s singer, Caroline Westendorp backstage just before their album launch show kicked off at Sugar Factory in Amsterdam. You recently signed to Nuclear Blast for the new album.  Why choose them? Because they offered us a deal.  Nuclear Blast is such a household name …

Sadly a late finish at work meant I missed the opening act The Connor Selby Band, but arrived in time to catch JFK. I do think they made a bad choice of name for the band – when people see a band they enjoy they’ll typically look them up on …

If you ask someone to describe a typical Blues artist, the chances are they’ll describe them as an old man, and there are plenty of Blues stars around who fit that description, but the Blues isn’t a dying genre and has a wide age-range of talented musicians, and when you …

To celebrate the release of their new album Dragonforce have decided to do a special album release show (6 weeks before the release date), and rather than playing the size of venue they usually play, the show is at the Black Heart in Camden, a small venue that only holds …

Punk n rollers BLACK BULLETS just can’t stop touring and releasing new records (look out for ‘Mockingbird’, which lands on 28th April). The UK hellraisers did manage to find the time to have a chat about their background:   What is the full band line-up, who plays what?   Billy …

Eclectic alt-rockers, The Lotus, release their new single ‘Mars X’ on Friday 5th May. Before then, we had a chat with the guys:     What is the full band line-up, who plays what?   Rox Capriotti (vocals, bass, keyboards), Luca De Falco (guitars, vocals), Kristal Cross (keyboards, programming, backing …

For tonight’s gig I’d travelled all the way to Hamburg. Why? Well sadly some bands never seem to tour the uk and Crystal Viper are one of them, a band I’d never had the chance to see live, so a tour with them and Bloodbound seemed with the trip. The …

Last year the Neal Morse band released the album “The similitude of a dream” which was based loosely on the Canterbury tales.  Now on their current tour, they’re playing the album in full.  As it’s a double album, there is no support act and the band are playing two sets …

Summer appears to have come early in the UK, which probably explains why Download Festival ends up being a complete washout as the country uses up its sun quota for the year before Easter. In any event, it’s a glorious day in the capital, one perfect for finding a beer …

Being an Edinburgh resident and finding out last year there was to be a heavy metal festival weekend in my home city I couldn’t help but think it was some kind of a wind up.  It was to start on 1st April and this is Edinburgh after all; the city of the world-renowned arts festival …

Inside the Voodoo Lounge there is a very strong sense of high expectation tonight as evidenced by the early arrival of a large number of heavy metal enthusiasts. This is promising to be a rather special evening, spent in the presence of Ross “The Boss” Friedman, former guitarist of power …

I spoke to Liv Jagrell, aka Liv Sin, former lead singer of Sister Sin about her forthcoming solo album. It’s been around a year and a half since Sister Sin came to an end. When the band split did you take time off to reflect or did you know you …

A couple of years ago Thunder did a few acoustic gigs around the UK in support of the Wonder Days album, no more than a half hour set followed by a meet and greet. I was lucky enough to be at the Glasgow event and was blown away by the …

On arriving at the Olympia Theatre to see Blackberry Smoke on Saturday night we were offered the chance to sit in one of the boxes, something I’ve never done before, so I jumped at the chance.  Sitting there feeling like either Statler or Waldorf, but definitely some kind of grumpy …

With the clocks going forward an hour for British Summertime, it seemed strange to be heading into Manchester on a bright and sunny, Sunday afternoon rather than a dark miserable one, to see Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds at The Star and Garter. Which, luckily, is still trading in it’s …

I recently sat down with Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen to talk about the new album due out soon, the live shows planned for September, and more. As all your albums have a strong story element, when you start to work on a new album, what comes first – is it …