Street Sleeper - The Drop Kick - Wyke nr Bradford - 28th August

I saw this band back in January (review in our archives) and was very impressed. This was another excellent performance by the whole band. Highlights for me from the first set were Mr. Big’s Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy, Eat the Rich, Slither, You Could be Mine and metal versions of Whiskey in the Jar and Let There Be Rock. The latter being driven by the superb bass/drum section of the band.

The second half was even livelier than the first with singer/front band Bob leaving the stage to sing a number of songs standing on the tables in the pub. Nothing like getting close to your audience!!! Highlights from this half were Enter Sandman, The Trooper, Symphony of Destruction, Whole Lotta Rosie and Sweet Child of Mine. There were also a few “modern” ones that went down really well, but I don’t know what they are called. (It’s an age thing). Guitarist, Craig, was outstanding all night.

A great night out for the price of a few pints – excellent!!!! I’ll certainly be looking out to see if Street Sleeper are playing anywhere near me in the future.

How about a bit of Saxon next time for us Old Skool fans?
NH

Europe @ Bloodstock Festival

Despite appearing to be a strange choice of headliner for Bloodstock, Europe went down an absolute storm at the recent Metal festival. We were going to go but it frankly looked too scary for the likes of us, so courtesy of Noble PR and Christie Goodwin, here are some pics from the show.




Greg Moffitt of Metal Hammer magazine said : In the wake of the Cradle of Filth controversy, dark corners of the festival were rife with speculation about the fate which awaited the following evening’s headliners. Would the creators of one of the most annoying/catchy (delete where applicable) rock anthems of all time be driven from the stage like lepers? No chance. Despite the Bloodstock forum being awash with vitriol and stunned disbelief when Europe were announced as the festival’s closing act, their note-perfect, slickly-choreographed show pulls together all ages and tastes for a feel-good finale that smells like total victory. While the naysayers skulked in their tents, the rest of us rocked the night. Back of the net, boys!

All photos in this post are © 2009 Christie Goodwin

Video Archive - Thunder

Dirty Love
Love Walked in
I love you more than Rock n Roll
A Better Man
On The Radio
Goodbye from Thunder

She's so fine
Love Walked In (live)
Gimme Some Lovin'
Low Life in High Places
Devil Made me Do it (live)

Final Rock Radio Session
River of Pain
Backstreet Symphony
Low Life in High Places

U2 - Don Valley Stadium Sheffield – 20 Aug 2009

Two top of the range shows for me this year, and they don’t come much bigger than this!

To put it simply U2 were awesome tonight the imagery from the screen held over the stage by the “crab” was just breath taking. To start with it showed 360 degree images of the band on stage, but as the show progressed the screen expanded down towards the band and started showing more abstract images. The sound was also top notch. I had to keep reminding myself I was at an outside concert it was so good.

The night started with the intro of David Bowie’s Space Oddity and then U2 kicked in with the set list below.

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Magnificent
Get On Your Boots
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding LightsVertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
Mysterious Ways
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender

This was possibly the best show of my life, and we got to ride the super tram to and from the gig as well!
NH

Thunder Hammersmith Odeon 11th July 2009

Apologies to all at Rockgig Towers but with a holiday and starting a new job, i've been a bit busy.

Anyway back 4 weeks we go. Support was from the recently reformed Electric Boys who, I have to say, were excellent. Connie Bloom(lead geetar/vox) is a star. A cross between Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant and plays the geetar like Hendrix!! They were all very tight and included Psychedelic Eyes, All Lips n' Hips, Mary in a Mystery World, Electrified, Groovus Maximus and Rags to Riches in a 40 minute set. A great warm up.

Not that tonight the sell out 5000 crowd needed any warming up. The last night of the last tour (2 festival dates to come) it was being recorded (by Concertlive) for an upcoming dvd. By the time they came on the crowd was at fever pitch.

The setlist was

• Loser.
• On the radio.
• Higher ground.
• Low life in high places.
• The devil made me do it.
• Gimme some lovin.
• Empty city.
• Like a satellite.
• River of pain.
• You can't keep a good man down.
• Love walked in.
• I love you more than rock n'roll.

Encores:

• A better man.
• Backstreet symphony.
• She's so fine(only time played on the tour)
• Dirty love.

The show was superb. Danny Bowes(vox) was in fine form .We sang our heads off (some of the loudest singing ever - hairs on the back of the neck time), we clapped, we danced(ish) we waved our arms around...yes we did the Danny Bowes work out for the last time. The guy has such a voice. Listening back now to the the live cd of the show (which you could pick up straight after the show or pay £2.99 to have it sent to you which was well worth the money as the queue at the end was enormous and it was pissing down) he is untouchable. British music is losing such a voice.

The sound and lights on the night were excellent and the cameraman didn't get in the way either which was good.

Luke Morley(geetar) looked close to tears during Better Man and at the end as the band took a lengthy final bow.

Harry James(drums) on the night was a little subdued and didn't do his balder man bit in Better Man..but the crowd did!! I think he was taking it all in. Ben Matthews(geetar/keys) and Chris Childs(bass) were as great as ever.

As we walked away at the end the realisation that Thunder were no more came over us.No more party nights (there were tears around) with Thunder.I believe that this is it this time. We await the dvd for a reminder of a great night and 20 years of Thunder.......

The rain lashed down on the way home, there was no Thunder though..and there isn't any more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ME