Ronnie James Dio - R.I.P.

We learned at the weekend of the sad death of a rock legend - Ronnie James Dio passed away at 7.45am on May 16th after a battle with stomach cancer. Our thoughts are with his wife, family & friends.

We've seen Ronnie perform many times over the years and you would never have thought that a guy now well into his 60's (he was 67 when he died) could retain such a powerful voice.  I remember seeing him perform with his solo band for the first time at Donington in 1983 and thinking that I was witnessing history.. hearing all the Rainbow, Sabbath and Holy Diver tracks all together for the first time made the hair stand up on the back of your neck.  I'm listening to a bootleg of that gig as I write and it still makes me feel that way.

Name some of your favourite rock albums of all time, I bet " Heaven & Hell", "Rainbow Rising" or "Holy Diver" is in that list somewhere.

Somewhere there's a rainbow rising.. RIP Ronnie.

GMT Swindon The Furnace 16 May 2010

Another great show from GMT, if there was any justice in this world they would be playing much bigger venues. On the plus side it means I get to see this great band close up in a small venue.
Not such good value for money though down south £12 to get in, £3 for a pint and a £25 parking fine to round the evening off. Can I claim that on expenses?
NH

GMT Leeds New Roscoe 9 May 2010

Come north young man - free parking, a great band down the pub for a £10 and beer at £1.50p a pint.
Yes, GMT are in town opening up with Wild West this reviewer is in Rock n roll heaven. The main block of the set is made up of tracks from the two GMT CDs Bitter & Twisted and Evil Twin with the new download single Do You Remember thrown in for good measure.

The set ended with Mr. Crowley, New Orleans, Smoke on the Water, No Easy Way and Fire.
A great value night out.
NH

Kiss LG Arena Birmingham 5th May 2010

Sometimes after a gig it is good to take a couple of days to think about what you have seen rather than just explode on your return.Sometimes even after a few days it still seems as good as it was on the nite. Last Wednesday falls into that category.

Taking Dawn were up first . Very young 4 piece from Las Vegas just released their first cd on Roadrunner called Time To Burn. I had heard earlier in the tour they had filled the set with unwanted bass and drum solo's. Well they obviously listened as the 40 minute set flew past with basically the cd played and no extras. Led by geetarist/vocalist Chris Babbitt(who looks like a young Ted Nugent)they played an energetic cross between Skid Row and Aerosmith and although with a muddy mix their brand of high energy ass kicking metal went down very well. Finishing with their version of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"a band to look out for.

Now we all know about Kiss,36 years in and they still proclaim to be the Hottest Band In The World. I have seen them without make up and on their reunion tour of 1996. After last years excellent Sonic Boom cd(3 songs played)how would they fare. With a setlist like this how could they fail.

Modern Day Delilah

Cold Gin

Let Me Go Rockn'roll

Firehouse

Say Yeah

Deuce

Crazy Nights

Calling Dr Love

Shock Me

I'm An Animal

100,000 Years

I Love It Loud

Love Gun

Black Diamond

Detroit Rock City

1 encore of these

Lick It Up                                                                           

Shout It Out Loud                                                                            (photos (C) Shazz Evans 2010)

I Was Made For Lovin' You

God Gave RocknRoll To You

Rock And Roll All Nite

For 2 hours and 10 minutes we had the entire Kiss arsenal thrown at us. From the opening of the geetarists on a ramp that came over the drumriser to the firework exploding catherine wheel spinning end we got the lot.

An enormous lighting rig,confetti bombs,enough pyro and flamethrowers to burn off a Gulf Of Mexico oil slick,fantastic sound,great stage set of 3 rows of huge TV's,the flashing KISS logo, to the full stage width video screen at the back. In fact with 2 screens up to each side your whole vision was taken up by the size of the set. Gene spat blood and rose to the top of the rig to sing, Paul swang over us to a stage in the middle of the arena for Lovin' You, Tommy Thayer(geetar) fired cannon shots into the lighting rig, Eric Singer(drums) fired his bazooka into the rig too and Gene spat flames too..all of this performed to a sea of painted faces and not one of them thinking about a General Election.  Yes we have seen it before but who cares when it done this well.

Special mention to Singer and Thayer who have taken up their roles so well. Both are on top form. You don't miss Criss or Frehley in fact musically I have to say at present they blow the old band out of the water. Their drum and geetar solo was great too.

Stanley is still the consummate pro dancing like a big girl but talks too much between songs and his vocals on the nite were very good. Gene is still Gene tongue included!!

For the new generation and the older generation this was an arena gig with bells on,an arena gig with added cheese but everyone in Birmingham LOVED IT!!

ME 10/10

Head over to www.simfylive.com/kiss for a copy of this or any other show on the tour.