Tag Archives: live review

It’s a Monday night in Belfast and the legions are gathering, their faces painted black and white and their armour made of leather and/or PVC.  Which can mean only one thing:  Cradle Of Filth have returned to the city after a 15-year gap, on the final night of their latest …

Saturday morning at Camp Hard Rock Hell dawned crisp and bright, with the day going on to prove to be warmest of the weekend.  And so, as the sun made its first appearance, and after a morning of hanging around the press area waiting on bands not turning up for …

Thanks to a mizzle which had blown in from the Irish Sea overnight, the first full day at Camp Hard Rock Hell dawns damp underfoot, as the faithful thousands wake from their late slumbers and prepare for the entertainment coming their way across the three stages. Having travelled from about …

Despite its remote location – in the crook of north Wales’ Llŷn Peninsula, between Snowdonia and the Irish Sea – Hard Rock Hell is undoubtedly one of the UK’s favourite festivals, often booking out a year in advance… and even before a single band is announced!  That was evinced yet …

On an unusually mild, bright early Spring evening in our wee neck of the woods off I set to what, according to the poster promises to be a great night of good old fashioned rock n roll.. As the lights go down, the opening band Massive Wagons take to the …

It had been quite some time since yours truly last descended the steps into the hallowed Mandela Hall…  almost exactly 18 months in fact.  And, as I stood outside the chilly Sunday night air awaiting my photographer, I could not help but note the eclectic nature of the hundreds of …

It always amazes me how certain social media channels are always filled with whinging, so called “rock fans” who complain that there are never any gigs on… I don’t know what sort of cloud cuckoo land they live in, because this, the official launch of Zlatanera‘s debut album, ‘Legerdemain‘, was …

It may have been just a relatively short six years since thrash legends Exodus last graced this very stage, but it has been a lot longer since the Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza fronted  incarnation was last in these parts… almost 27 years and 1989’s ‘Fabulous Disaster’ tour.  In fact, not one single member …

For those unfamiliar with the event, Blazefest is an annual fundraising show in aid of the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.  It is inspired by a very brave young man, Blaze Shields-Pettitt, who, in his short life, has endured a lot more than many of us old fogies could …

“And lo, the [heathen] hordes from the East did descend up the city at the mouth of the river called the Farset… and they did lay waste onto the same with their furious vengeance and the spilling of much ancestral blood.” OK, forgive the pastiche of sub-Biblical phraseology, but it …

There are some artists who just love to play live, and seem to get itchy feet if they are more than a few minutes away from treading the boards of the stage.  Just off the top of my head, I can think of two homegrown Norn Iron talents who definitely …

Max Cavalera certainly believes in keeping it in the family.  Or maybe it’s a case of keep your friends close but your family closer.  Whatever it may be, the last couple of Soulfly tours have gone out under the ‘Maximum Cavalera’ banner, with bands featuring both his sons and his …

Pat McManus gigs are always special.  So much so that many people go that extra little bit further to sit at the feet of the man affectionately known for a little more three decades now as ‘The Professor’ and bask in his talent.  On this occasion, your PlanetMosh team thought …

A little more than three months after he last graced this same stage – then accompanied by his Black Star Riders bandmate Damon Johnson – Ricky Warwick returned to one of his favourite haunts for this special New Year show.  In fact, Warwick had forsaken the somewhat sunnier climes of …

Some people would go to any lengths for a great party… and, by this, I don’t just mean those of us who regularly board the Beer Bus for the regular trips to the best little rock club in the country:  no, I mean some of the determined folk who have …

It’s two weeks before Christmas, and the dreaded party season is in full swing.  Bars in the centre of Belfast – in common with those in most towns and cities – are filled with what in these parts refer, rather disdainfully, to as “oncers”:  those people who only get out …

And so it is almost upon us again… the annual Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses competition, with it’s reward being the much coveted and desired chance to play the New Blood stage at Britain’s favourite bespoke metalfest alongside the likes of Slayer, Mastodon, Twisted Sister, Venom and a host of …

When Nick Oliveri left the stage of this very venue a little more than four months ago, he confidently predicted that the next time he appeared in Belfast it would be with Mondo Generator… little did most of those present realize that the touring schedule was already locked in and the …

Sometimes, you really should do your homework before going to a gig!  On this occasion, I was familiar with three of the five acts beforehand, and was particularly looking forward to seeing the two heavy acts bookending the bill – especially as one was unveiling a new line up and …

With many of their US counterparts cancelling, postponing or cutting short their European tours in the wake of the atrocities in Paris earlier this month and the subsequent security concerns across much of Europe – just hours before the doors opened this evening, Brussels went into a state of lock …