Toto - Hammersmith Apollo - 26/06/2011

Returning to the Apollo for the first time since 2006.There is no new product to promote these dates are to raise some money for bass player Mike Porcaro who is suffering from ALS.

Joining Steve Lukather (guitar/vox) we had Joseph Williams (vox and heavy coat and scarf on the hottest day of the year!) David Paich (keys/vox), Steve Porcaro (keys), Simon Phillips (drums), Nathan East on bass and 2 fantastic backing singers Jenny Douglas and Mabvuto Carpenter.

Weighing heavily on the classic ”IV” album and the two Joseph Williams led “Fahrenheit” and “The Seventh One” albums, they were greeted like returning heroes.

This is what they played:

Child’s Anthem

Till The End

Afraid Of Love

Lovers In The Night

Somewhere Tonight (including Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry!)

Pamela

Leah

Gift Of Faith

Keyboard duel

Africa

Human Nature

Rosanna

Georgy Porgy

Stop Loving You

Home Of The Brave

Encore of Hold The Line

With superb sound and lighting in front of a backdrop with a new Toto logo from “In The Blink Of An Eye 1977-2011” the band hit hard with the first 4 numbers played back to back to an amazing crowd response. Again I go back to the Journey gig recently and how a crowd can make a show.

Joseph Williams was in fine form and sounded excellent and there was a real joy coming from the band who are obviously enjoying being back together after a long time apart.

“Human Nature” off Michael Jackson’s Thriller cd written by Steve Porcaro was a welcome addition as was the lengthy extended guitar solo by Steve at the end of Rosanna.

A lengthy “Home Of The Brave” ended the set to more crowd delirium and Steve’s son Trevor (seen talking outside to Bernie Marsden (yes him again)) joined his dad for a guitar led  “Hold The Line” which brought the evening to an end.

There will be a dvd released by the end of the year, to be shot shortly in Italy, which will be a fitting tribute to an evening of class music.

 10/10

Shazz

Night Ranger - Islington O2 Academy London 23rd June 2011

At last the Holy Grail had arrived :  There was no Choir of Angels, but an awful lot of people "of a certain age" waiting very very very expectantly!

Although we had to wait outside for an extra hour due to the bands 7 hour immigration difficulties, this only heightened the air of expectation and made the queue to get in reach nearly to Highbury!!

Airrace were the support and as we went in due to the timing difficulties were still putting their kit on and had to play a shortened 30 minute set. Being the consummate pros they are they came on and gave it their all.

Due to the time constraints, we only got 2 songs from their soon to be released cd "Back To The Start" which were "Two Of A Kind" and "Better Believe It" and both showed a heavier approach but still showed off Keith Murrell's soaring voice. We had "Caught In The Game", "Open Your Eyes", "Promise To Call", a sublime "First One Over The Line" and a rip through of" Brief Encounter" from the debut cd to end it fantastic style.
Hopefully some more touring for the soon to be released cd will only increase their star!  They were understandably disappointed that they had to cut their set back - but they needn't worry - it was a blistering set that came across really well.

So at last it was here .During the gig Jack Blades said it was 26 years since they supported Foreigner on their only English date. Jack get it right it was 26 years and 9 days and I have waited patiently ever since. (Editor's Note - you're lucky I had to wait 29 years since getting the bus into Oxford and buying an import version of Dawn Patrol on LP!)
Over the course of 1 hour and 50 minutes it was everything and more.
This was an event. 800 crammed into the Academy to say they were there. In years to come 10,000 will say they were.  (Editor's Note again - We were!  Front Row!)


I've never heard so many people saying as we left it was the best ever. They were that good.
As you can see from the picture of the setlist that I managed to get we had classics old and new and a fantastic Damn Yankee's track ("Coming of Age") Four from the new cd (and the acoustic Japanese bonus track) that all went down well and had all the Night Ranger attributes of dueling geetar and great vocals.

We had great keys from new boy Eric Levy ,great vocals and between song banter and pirouettes on his one good leg (after damaging his hamstring last week )from Jack Blades ,powerhouse drumming and sublime vocals from Kelly Keagy, stunning geetar playing from the bear of a man Joel Hoekstra and Brad Gillis.

What to say about the man? His Wikipedia entry says "He is often regarded as one of the most innovative users of Floyd Rose styled tremolos" No Shit Sherlock! After his solo on Touch Of Madness the whole place had their mouths open. He plays geetar with an attitude of look at me with more whammy bar use than I have ever seen. There was more face gurning than John McGurning winning a gurning competition in Gurnington. The geetar interplay between the two was a joy to see. In fact the joy from them and all the crowd was incredible. The crowd sang the start to Sister Christian leaving the band to conduct and on at least 4 times I had goosebumps with Sentimental Street and Goodbye just incredible with its acoustic start and geetar led electric end. We were right at the front (as my Editor, NR has no doubt chipped in and mentioned by now) and as a result we were right in Jack Blades' eye line - when he asked NR if he had been practicing singing in front of the mirror all week. It took a while for him to register that Jack was actually talking to him. On stage. In front of everyone.. I thought he was going to die a happy man right there and then!

I really could go on and on. They say it won't be 26 years before we see them again but I would wait that long. I have once before!

Can't do a score - it was off the scale.

(Editor's Note again,again - OK I know this is Shazz's review but I need to chip in a bit too - Firstly: Well done to Airrace - A lot of difficulties to overcome and they pulled it off big time - I'm sure they've gained a lot of fans. I'm a big bloke in my forties, I've got a responsible, professional job  and things like this shouldn't affect me - I have seen hundreds of gigs, but given the adoration I had for these guys in my youth and the fact that, like most of their UK fans, I have never seen them - this was something special.  They only got to the venue at 7pm - the road crew worked constantly throughout the set to get the sound right as there was little or no sound check..and yet it was probably the best gig I have ever been to. No showy light rig, no pyrotechnics just talent. Just to be able to see Brad Gillis perform guitar miracles 3 feet from me was a dream come true. ..and yes I've been recovering all week from Jack actually talking to me. On a personal note, I was looking forward to this as a bit of light relief in a shit year - it was more than that - it was perfection. That is all. )

More photo's on our Facebook page (see link on the right --> ) and see here for our "Teaser" post with some You Tube footage of the gig.

Shazz (and NR)

All photo's credit Nige Robins - taken on an iPhone whilst singing at full voice hence the lack of focus!.

Whitesnake Hammersmith Odeon 20-06-11

First up The Union Luke Morley’s post Thunder band. Just about to release their second cd. Their 30 minute set was well received. In fact as the venue filled up by the end they had a hell of a send off.

Highlights included Step Up To The Plate, Black Monday, Watch The River Flow and the one new song played Siren’s Song which is the title track of their new cd and available to download free from here - www.fan.musicglue.com/sale/promoproducts.aspx?productid=6d50932d-c61c-41b4-a9ca-a00c5368adfe

Pete Shoulder is an engaging front man with a distinctive voice and with ex Thunder bass player Chris Childs and Geoff Holroyde on drums laying down a great beat it gives Morley a chance to show off although Shoulder also played a couple of solo’s too.

Very good and it will be interesting to see where they go from here.

It’s no secret here at Rockgig that I am David Coverdale’s No. 1 fan!

To a very full Hammy Odeon Whitesnake burst back with their first show in London since the co- headliner with Def Leppard 3 years ago.

In support of the excellent new cd Forevermore we had a near 2 hour set of old and new.

Here’s what they played

Best Years
Give Me all Your Love
Love Ain’t No Stranger
Is This Love
Forevermore
Love Will Set You Free
Guitar Duel
My Evil Ways with drum solo
Fare Thee Well
Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
Fool For Your Lovin
Here I Go Again with Bernie Marsden
Encore of Still Of The Night with Bernie Marsden
Soldier Of Fortune (David alone)

David is still the master showman. Now in his 60th year he still and poses and preens like a peacock in the mating season. He looks bloody good and sounds good too.

There are already enough column inches on the internet telling us off the condition of his voice. It isn’t like the old days but he still has plenty of power and he is clever as all the band can sing and he also lets the crowd do a bit too.
His guitar team have been together for 8 years now and are right at the top of the tree. Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are superb. Some of the solos from Aldrich were just incredible and with a complete new rhythm team of Briian Tichy on drums, Michael Devin on bass and Brian Ruedy on keys I have to say they were all incredible. Tichy on drums is a monster.

David is clever as his band can all play, sing and for the ladies look good too!!
With an excellent sound and arena style light rig and a superb crowd in (see recent Journey review) it was a superb gig.

With a guest appearance from Bernie Marsden who was greeted by the crowd like a returning hero it made for a very special evening.

You guys are awesome Pls come back soon.

20/10

Shazz

Dio Disciples Islington Academy 17-06-11

I entered a compo to win tickets as at £25 a go wasn't sure. Got an email from them to say you haven't won but I can put you on the guest list and you pay £5 to Ronnie Dio's Cancer Charity.
Ok I thought.

Arrived at 7.10 to see The Rods (Ronnie's cousin on vox/geetar) who at times seemed to play just a complete medley of songs.I did pick up on Wild Dogs, Nothin’ Going On In The City, Crank It Up and Power Lover. The sound wasn’t great but Feinstein can still play a mean geetar. Straight off and due to the 10 pm curfew The Disciples were on in 15 minutes.

Now I really couldn't make my mind up about the rights and wrongs of this band as I hate current Thin Lizzy's tribute act as they are all short of cash!! After seeing some footage of the first couple of gigs and the very positive comments over the net I went with an open mind.
But this really worked. Maybe as it is only a year since Ronnie's death it felt like a celebration of the great man's life.

Ripper Owens and Toby Jepson on vox, James Lomenzo on bass, Simon Wright on drums, Scott Warren on keys(still pissed and playing the odd note)and Craig Goldie on geetar. Dougie White did 2 song songs on vox too!

Here’s what they played

Stand Up and Shout (lead vox Owens)
Holy Diver (Owens)
Don’t Talk To Strangers (Owens)
Egypt (The Chains Are On) (Jepson)
The King Of Rock n’Roll (Jepson)
Catch The Rainbow (Jepson)
Stargazer (Owens)
Neon Knights (Owens)
Straight Through The Heart (Owens)
Children Of The Sea (Jepson)
Killing The Dragon (Jepson)
The Last In Line (Owens)
Long Live Rock n’Roll (Doogie White)
Man On The Silver Mountain (Doogie White)
Heaven And Hell (Owens and Jepson)
Encores of Rainbow In The Dark (Owens)
We Rock (Owens and Jepson)

For 100 minutes we celebrated the great man’s life.

The vocals were split with Owens taking the harder edge songs and Jepson the ones with a more melodic edge. It really worked with on a couple one of instances one singer starting and finishing the song and the other taking the main part.

I suppose it shows how good Ronnie was if it takes 2 singers to do what he did on his own.

Owens was exceptional a real frontman with an almighty roar and it was also great to watch Craig Goldie in full flow. He didn’t miss a note all night.

It will be interesting to see how long and how often the band plays. Although they have the full backing of Ronnie’s wife Wendy (who was at the gig) will they over play it. I hope not, this gig showed it can work if done correctly it was just a shame it wasn’t in a larger venue which Ronnie deserved.

Finished at 9.50 only £4.50 in the car park.

A top nite.

10/10.

Night Ranger - London - first gig in UK for 26 years

...and we were there.. front row.. singing along...  Review to follow as soon as we recover.... (we have recovered now.. review is here)

Philip Sayce - Ruby Electric

I must admit that prior to Sayce's previous album, Innerevolution, I was unfamiliar with his work. That album really impressed though (you can read fellow Rockgigger ME's review here)

However his new album Ruby Electric leaves it standing by the roadside. Whilst not as polished as Innerevolution, this is a heavier, more stripped back album, almost sounding like top notch demo versions.

The album is split into two volumes: Volume I was recorded live in the studio in Hollywood by David Cobb - utilising  vintage recording equipment and instruments. Volume II was recorded on tour in Europe only a few months ago with legendary engineer Eddie Kramer (Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stones) twiddling the knobs.

Lead off track on Volume I is "Let the Love In" which has a fantastic Dan Reed Network feel about it and is a duet with Melissa Etheridge. "Set Us Free" continue in a similar vein - a track that you could easily imagine Lenny Kravitz covering. "Daydream Tonight" is a beautiful ballad which first appeared on last year's Innerevolution album - this could (and should!) be a monster hit for Sayce.  "King of New Mexico" ups the tempo once more, hitting the ground running with a frantic piece of drumming from Kenny Aronoff and Sayce goes into full on Hendrix mode. "Were you there" is a traditional song that Sayce makes his own; the guitar and vocals are exceptional.  The Hendrix vibe continues into the final track of Volume I - Ruby Electric

In fact it's worth saying right now, that Philip Sayce's vocals are superb throughout, but it's on the guitar that he really shines. The guy has killer riffs and certainly knows his way around a fretboard. His playing is superb throughout, it cannot be faulted. Which, given that both albums were recorded live (in the studio and on tour), only goes to show his class.

Volume II kicks off in style with a brief instrumental track (Helios) then we're off and rocking with "One Foot in the Grave" which goes into "Powerful Thing" which again has that wonderful Hendrix/Kravitz vintage funky vibe (I can't describe it any other way). "Slipaway" is a classic 8 minute rock blues number that shows just how good a guitar player Sayce is. Things slow down for the blues instrumental "Alchemy", but 6 minutes later he's rocking out with "Take You Away" and "Angels Live Inside" The album finishes with a great, seamless mash-up of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" and the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

A serious contender for my album of the year.

Ruby Electric is released on Monday July 11th on Provogue Records.

If you want to see Philip Sayce live (and I do ) .. he is touring the UK in July..

24 Hour Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 1101
www.seetickets.com     www.thegigcartel.com

Monday 25th July 2011
London Borderline 
Box Office: 0844 871 8803
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.kililive.com
Doors: 7:00pm
Stage Time: 9:00pm
Address: 16 Manette Street, London, W1D 4AR

Wednesday 27th July 2011
Bristol Tunnels
Box Office: 0117 929 9008, 0845 605 0255
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk 
Doors / Stage Time: 7:30pm / 8:00pm
Address: 2 Bristol and Exeter Mews, Lower Approach Road,
Temple Meads, Bristol, BS1 6QB

Thursday 28th July 2011
** Holmfirth Picturedrome
Special Guest: Joanne Shaw Taylor
Box Office: 0871 230 1101
General Admission: £15.00
Book Online: www.picturedrome.net
Doors: 7:30pm
Stage Time: 8:00pm
Address: Market Walk, Holmfirth, HD 9 7DA

Friday 29th July 2011
Manchester Band on the Wall 
Box Office: 0161 832 1111
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.bandonthewall.org
Doors: 7:30pm
Stage Time: 9:00pm
Address: Swann Street, Manchester, M4 5JZ

NR.

Loose Covers become Cover 2 Cover

A while ago  I held a charity show which featured the talents of local pop and rock covers band Loose Covers. At the end of last year frontman Tim played his last show with the band. The band have now recruited a new singer/front man in Pete and have retitled themselves Cover 2 Cover. I recently had the pleasure of seeing them play at the Duke William in Shelf near Halifax and can report that everyone who came along had great night out.

Check out Cover 2 Cover at one of the following venues in 2011.

Saturday 18th  June - Cross Keys, Old Snydale

Saturday 9th  July– Boot & Shoe, Ackworth
Friday 15th July – Cross Keys, Skipton
Saturday 16th July - Rodley Barge, Leeds

Saturday 6th August – New Roscoe, Leeds
Saturday 20th August - Corner House Club, Moortown, Leeds

Saturday 10th September - Rose & Crown, Cleckheaton
Thursday 15th September - Birstall IDLC Club (charity night)
Saturday 17th September - Hoagy’s Bar, Leeds

Saturday 1st October- Duke William, Shelf, Halifax
Saturday 8th October – New Roscoe, Leeds
Saturday 15th October – Waterloo Bowling club, Huddersfield

Saturday 5th November - Kettlewell Village Hall

Friday 2nd December - Cross Keys, Skipton
Saturday 10th December – New Roscoe, Leeds
Saturday 31st December– Ripley Blues Club Party

All dates are correct at time of publishing, check with venue before travelling.

NH

Foreigner - Rockin’ the Ryman DVD

I have to say the Foreigner had totally dropped off of my radar until I caught some impressive footage of them at last year’s High Voltage festival. So this DVD was a great opportunity to bring myself up to date with what the band are doing. It is filmed at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, a quick search on the internet will tell you all about it, which is a small theatre type venue and really lends itself well to the filming of the DVD. Throughout the show is well lit and the camera work is good and benefits as well from being filmed in stunning High Definition.

The set has all the classics you would expect, plus a couple of tracks from the recent studio album Can’t Slow Down. For me the star of the show is Kelly Hanson who puts in a great performance as singer and all round front man, his energy seems to have really been captured on the DVD. Founding member Mick Jones put some real rock into proceedings that may catch a few people out if they are only familiar with the ballads. If I had to pick a couple of favorite tracks I’d go for Juke Box Hero, which really shows the band at their rocking best and Urgent which features the talents of multi instrumental, and Ben Stiller look a like, Tom Gimbel on Saxophone, brilliant.

As well as the main show there are four songs recorded during the PBS concert series Soundstage, which includes the highlight of the DVD for me Say You Will, featuring a great arrangement by bass player Jeff Pilson.

You also get three promo videos from the recent album and an interview with Mick Jones and Kelly Hanson, which is short and snappy but informative.

If you were lucky enough to see Foreigner in UK recently I think this DVD would be a good memento of the current version of the band and if like me you didn’t get to see them it’s also a good way to see what you missed.
NH

Journey, Foreigner & Styx - MEN Manchester - 8 June 2011

Styx, Foreigner & Journey at MEN Manchester, mmmm where to begin? I know £45 for 3 top bands, take note Rush!

First up were Styx who I have to admit are one of my favourite bands so I'm a bit biased. First saw them way back in 1980 then last time a couple of years ago at the Apollo in Manchester where they really rocked and got the house jumping. Sadly, although they tried, they just couldn't pull it off this time. Being first up and in such a big arena and also what I'd call a very un-Styx crowd i.e. lots of women waiting for the copious ballads on offer (more about this below) they struggled to get the crowd involved. However they weren't helped by coming onto a virtually a half full arena, lots of people I assume late due to the early 7pm start, although they also didn't help themselves by coming on over 5 mins before the scheduled time. Even I missed the opening bars of Grand Illusion! Anyway Tommy (General Custer), JY & crew belted out 8 classic songs which were performed with, lets say gusto. They even wheeled out Chuck Panozzo half way through. Set list included in no particular order (sorry I dont take notes its just from memory, I'm usually just enjoying the music):

The Grand Illusion

Blue Collar Man

Too Much Time on my hands

Lady

Come sail away

Fooling Yourself

Miss America

Encore, Renegade

And thankfully no bloody Babe!

After an impressively quick 20min turn round it was Foreigners turn. Again a band I'd seen before but this time not for many a year. I must admit I was seriously worried about the lack of Lou Gramm as I'd not heard anything they've done since Agent Provocateur back in the 80's. However I needn't have worried as Kelly Hansen was excellent, even if he does look like a cross between Steve Tyler & Joey Ramone! This time a 9 track set of absolute classics were dished up in style backed up by plenty of fancy stage lighting & animations. Kellys vocals were top drawer, never missing a note, even during his impromptu tour of the audience and Mick Jones switched from guitar to keyboards and back again like the consummate professional he his. The top top sax solo during Urgent also deserves a mention! Sadly a lot of the crowd only seemed to 'wake up' during the two killer ballads. So much so that you wonder if thats all they actually came to hear. Again in no particular order tracks were:

Double vision

Cold as ice

Urgent

Waiting for a girl like you

Hot blooded

Feels like the 1st time

Head games

I want to know what love is

Encore, Juke box hero

And finally Journey. Again another of my faves but due to Mr Perrys aversion to all things English didn't get to see until a few years back. Had yet to see them with Arnel but having heard what he came up with on Revelation I was looking forward to it despite some of the reports I'd read about bad sound on previous nights... open mind and all that. Opened up with Separate Ways bang on 9.30! Sadly I didn't recognise it until Neals guitar came in as Jonathons keyboard intro was inaudible. Arnel then decided to sing the first verse twice, not a good start methinks! Anyway into track two, honestly cant remember what it was but noteable for the 2 bum notes from Neal. Yes you heard that right, 2 bum notes from Neal. Now I'm no expert and my hearing is suffering after 30 years of loud concerts but I am familiar enough with Journeys music to know when somethings not right (bugger I wish I could remember the track!). Anyway from that point on there were no more slip ups and the 90 minutes stormed by. Don't ask me what tracks were played, I can remember some as shown below but certainly not all. Especially as I don't own or have even heard Eclipse yet! On a personal note I think the choice of what seemed about 5-6 tracks from their new album let it down a bit as nowadays few of what I'd call the older bands actually tour to promote record sales. Most of them realise its a nostalgia trip for us 40 and 50 somethings who want to be treated to a relentless onslaught of back catalogue tracks to sing along to. But thats just me and whilst I can understand why they did it I felt I'd missed out a bit.

Tracks included:

Anyway you want it

Be good to yourself

Butterfly (she flies alone)

Faithfully

Lights

Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

Open arms

Send her my love

Wheel in the sky

City of hope (didnt know any of the others off Eclipse)

Curiously no 'Whos crying now' and the Deen Castranovo sung track I'd been expecting never materialised. However as I thought the biggest cheer was for the “glee” resurrected Don't stop believin, to me proving the fact that what seemed the majority were only there for the ballads/famous stuff! Lets face it Journey have much much better songs that they don't play live.

Overall certainly worth £45 to see 3 top bands but I think trying to cram all three into a 4 hour hour session, including changeovers didnt work and in future I'll stick to seeing fantastic bands such as these as headliners.

Journey, Foreigner & Styx - LG Arena, Birmingham - 5 June 2011

So at last we get a similar 3 band line up like the US has been getting for years, with this stellar line up so would it all be Glee fans or AOR aficionado's? A bit of both if I'm honest with plenty of sitting down and early exits including the guy next to us in row 2 who spent half his time out of the arena and the rest sat down!!!

First up Styx a band I've never seen but always enjoyed the rockier side of them. Always wanted to see Tommy Shaw (vox/guitar) (ex Damn Yankees) and he didn't let us down with some excellent guitar and vox. In fact the band were very interchangeable with Lawrence Gowan on keys also taking lead vox and James Young also on vox / lead guitar.  The rhythm section of Ricky Phillips on bass and the excellent Todd Sucherman on drums held it all together. 

We also had an appearance from original bass player Chuck Panozzo too. For 50 minutes to a rapidly filling arena they were excellent with great sound too. Leaning on the heavier side of their catalogue and with Gowan and Shaw covering every inch of the stage they left us wanting more and a well deserved standing ovation.

They played the following set

The Grand Illusion

Too Much Time On My Hands

Lady

Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)

Miss America

Blue Collar Man

Come Sail Away

Renegade

Next up Foreigner. The light rig increased and with the use of some LED screens the whole experience went up a notch. But the sound was disappointing for the first song with Kelly Hansen on vox which was very quiet. Not that it stopped him covering every inch of the stage and some of it including a trip out into the audience to get everyone stood up!!  

The best front man of the night playing to all corners and looking more like Steven Tyler every time I see him. Excellent vox too and no one misses Lou Gramm! Sadly no new songs from the excellent new cd Can't Slow Down just an hour of greatest hits with a setlist of 

Double Vision

Head Games

Cold As Ice

Waiting For A Girl Like You

Feels Like The First time

Urgent

I Want To Know What Love Is

Hot Blooded

Juke Box Hero

Not that it bothered the crowd who adored them with I have to say the best reaction of the night. Yes we got the 2 ballads but with a rocking end with Hot Blooded and a stunning Juke Box Hero with a great storyboard on the screen they brought the house down.

So with the release of the stunning Eclipse cd Journey finally make the jump into arenas in the UK with the help of a certain TV show too.  This was the 6th time of seeing Journey back to 2005 and with 3 different singers, so great we now have a solid line up and the cd the band want with plenty of guitar.

An enormous light rig backed with 4 levels of LED screens set the back drop.

To start with Deen's drums sounded like a dustbin but 3 songs in a complete loss of sound for a second and it all came together.  The 100 minute show consisted of 14 hits and 4 newies off the new cd. The only band on the night to play new material and although we loved the heavier end and all songs came across superbly live with Neal's guitar at the forefront of it.  A lot of the crowd didn't know it so the show dipped. In fact the thrashy ending of City Of Hope with some stunning drumming from Deen and solo from Neal was met with a lot of apathy apart from the diehards.

They played 

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Only The Young

Edge Of The Moment

Ask The Lonely

Send Her My Love

Resonate

Neal guitar segway/Stone In Love

City Of Hope

Lights

Mother Father(Deen on vox)

Open Arms

Chain Of Love

Wheel In The Sky (with extended heavy middle and solo)

Be Good To Yourself

Faithfully

Don't Stop Believin'

Anyway You Want It

Encore Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

Arnel Pineda on vox was a real livewire and is starting to show his class. The Perryisms are still there but on all the slower songs especially "Faithfully" his vocals were stunning. His between song banter struggles but his enthusiasm wins you over. 

Neal was Neal soloing and shredding to his hearts content and from row 2 a joy to see. Yet we still had people sat down (the miserable sods) with this visual and audio arena treat.  By moving into arenas there was something lost with the audience. For the diehards no but overall yes. Don't Stop Believin had everyone up as did most of the ballads but there is so much more to this band than that and Neal and Deen are 

certainly enjoying the heavier end of the musical spectrum as are we.

So a wonderful gig 3 excellent bands for £45 but as a long time Journey fan a strange one.

Get rid of the hangers on who like Glee and play to the fans only but I can't see that happening.

Bands 10/10

Crowd 5/10

Shazz

New album and UK Tour for Philip Sayce

Monday July 11th sees the release of “Ruby Electric” - Philip Sayce’s latest album on Provogue Records.  The album showcases previously unreleased studio and live tracks, and includes the single “Let The Love In” featuring a duet with Melissa Etheridge.

The album coincides with a short UK tour in July that includes London Borderline (July 25), Bristol Tunnels (July 26), Holmfirth Picturedrome (July 27) and Manchester Band on the Wall (July 28).  See below for more details.

“Ruby Electric” includes a collection of songs divided into two different volumes.  The songs were recorded with Sayce’s favourite musicians and friends.  Currently #2 in Amazon UK’s official Blues pre-sale album chart, "Ruby Electric" features Kenny Aronoff (drums), Joel Gottschalk (bass), Fritz Lewak (drums), and Fred Mandel (piano, organ).

Volume 1, recorded at Sunset Sound and Lion’s Share, Hollywood, was produced by Dave Cobb and mixed by Mark Rains.  The songs were recorded live using a collection of vintage equipment and instruments, complemented by Cobb’s signature recording and production techniques.  Volume 2, recorded on tour in France, Germany, and Holland in 2010, was mixed by the legendary recording engineer Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin) in April 2011.

“I'd been looking for the right circumstances to release all of these songs,” says Sayce.  “The studio tracks on Volume 1 remained unavailable internationally.  We remixed and re-mastered the tracks, picked some alternate takes, and included a live version of “Daydream Tonight” (the latter originally appeared on Sayce’s 2010 album “Innerevolution”).  As soon as we paired the songs up with the recent live recordings from last year’s European tour, the album became Ruby Electric.”

24 Hour Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 1101
www.seetickets.com     www.thegigcartel.com

Monday 25th July 2011
London Borderline 
Box Office: 0844 871 8803
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.kililive.com
Doors: 7:00pm
Stage Time: 9:00pm
Address: 16 Manette Street, London, W1D 4AR

Wednesday 27th July 2011
Bristol Tunnels
Box Office: 0117 929 9008, 0845 605 0255
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk 
Doors / Stage Time: 7:30pm / 8:00pm
Address: 2 Bristol and Exeter Mews, Lower Approach Road,
Temple Meads, Bristol, BS1 6QB

Thursday 28th July 2011
** Holmfirth Picturedrome
Special Guest: Joanne Shaw Taylor
Box Office: 0871 230 1101
General Admission: £15.00
Book Online: www.picturedrome.net
Doors: 7:30pm
Stage Time: 8:00pm
Address: Market Walk, Holmfirth, HD 9 7DA

Friday 29th July 2011
Manchester Band on the Wall 
Box Office: 0161 832 1111
General Admission: £12.50
Book Online: www.bandonthewall.org
Doors: 7:30pm
Stage Time: 9:00pm
Address: Swann Street, Manchester, M4 5JZ

Dream Theater announce "A Dramatic Turn of Events" released on 13th September 2011

The recent announcement that Mike Mangini would be joining Dream Theater, replacing departed drummer Mike Portnoy caused such fanfare that  Mangini was a trending topic on Twitter, second only to England's Royal Wedding. Now, the band is revealing more information about their upcoming album. The new album is titled A Dramatic Turn of Events. The much-anticipated platter, which marks Mangini's recorded debut, will be released via Roadrunner Records on September 13^th and will be supported by a massive world tour.

 "I'm incredibly psyched with the way this album came out and can't wait to share it with everybody," guitarist John Petrucci, who also serves as the producer for A Dramatic Turn of Events, said. "We are currently in the mix stage with the great Andy Wallace and it's all sounding amazing!"

 "We have poured our hearts and minds into the creation of this album," keyboardist Jordan Rudess offered. "All the life changing events that surrounded us before,  as well as during the whole process, fueled our desire to dig deep within ourselves and create the best music we possibly could."

Vocalist James LaBrie said, "In the grand scheme of Dream Theater's career, the last several months have been such an incredibly positive, fulfilling and rewarding experience. The new songs and sound has never been so spirited or rejuvenating. I cannot wait for every one of our fans to sink their audio senses into this batch of tunes."

The track listing for A Dramatic Turn of Events is as follows:

 1. On the Backs of Angels 

2. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

3. Lost Not Forgotten 

4. This is the Life 

5. The Shaman’s Trance 

6. Outcry 

7. Far From Heaven 

8. Breaking All Illusions 

9. Beneath The Surface 

Black Country Communion - New Video "Man in the Middle"

Styx - Babe: The Collection - CD Giveaway !!

Thanks to those nice people at Universal Music we have 3 copies of the latest Styx compilation (see our review here) to give away.

All you have to do is go to our brand new Facebook page and click "like",   then we will choose 3 lucky winners from that page on Monday 13th June.

So, to be in with a chance of getting your hands on a free copy of the album, go to our Facebook page.

Good luck!

Styx - Babe: The Collection

Once upon a time there were 3 giants of AOR - Journey, Foreigner and Styx.

Over here in the UK, Journey were a mythical creature: a rarely seen American vision of long hair, high pitch vocals and wonderful guitar solo's.  Foreigner were more frequent visitors to our radios and tv screens, maybe because they had one of our own in the band (Gawd Bless 'im)  - but Styx, they were just plain weird - weren't they?

As one of America’s most iconic and successful bands of all time, Styx is so much part of the national consciousness in the US that their songs appear in mainstream TV shows and films on a regular basis.

To those of us raised on Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, Styx seemed to be a bizarre combination of Prog Rock, Show Tunes, Radio Rock and blistering guitars.

Styx rose to fame in the late 70s and early 80s as pioneers of the pomp rock genre. This is what happened when American bands took prog rock influences from the likes of Yes, Genesis and ELP, and added in a melodic feel to make the music more commercial. They were the first band in the States to have four consecutive albums from 1977 - 1981 selling over two million copies each.
This album is a  significant collection of the band’s most prolific and golden era, featuring various styles from power ballads like ‘Babe’ which reached number 6 on the UK charts in 1980 and #1 in the US in 1979 to US hits ‘Lady’(#6, 1975), ‘Come Sail Away’ (#8, 1977) and ‘Show Me The Way’ (#3, 1990) to rock gems
including ‘Renegade’ (#16, 1978) and ‘Too Much Time On My Hands’ (#9, 1981).

There are some absolute classics on this album - yes you have to get past some of the cheesier moments and of course Mr Roboto - but then apart from the tracks already mentioned there is Snow Blind, Blue Collar Man & Shooz.
Styx are on tour in the UK with Foreigner and Journey right now :
4th June - Wembley Arena, London
5th June - LG Arena, Birmingham
7th June - Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne
8th June - M.E.N Arena, Manchester
9th June - SECC, Glasgow

The CD is available now via Spectrum Audio and the track listing is:
1.  The Best Of Times (Album Version)
2. Too Much Time On My Hands
3. Babe
4. Boat On The River  (Album Version)
5. Come Sail Away (Single Version)
6. Mr. Roboto
7. Fooling Yourself  (Album Version)
8. Lady '95
9. Crystal Ball  (Album Version)
10. Renegade (Album Version)
11. Lorelei  (Album Version)
12. Mademoiselle  (Album Version)
13. Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (Album Version)
14. Heavy Metal Poisoning  (Album Version)
15. Shooz  (Album Version)
16. Snowblind  (Album Version)
17. Show Me The Way
18. A.D. 1928
19. Rockin' The Paradise  (Album Version)

Look out for our competition to win one of 3 copies that we are giving away...

NR

Black Country Communion - 2 Album Review

Joe Bonamassa must have invented a 48 hour day. His solo albums just get better and better and more and more frequent, he's touring both on his own and with BCC and now from somewhere he's found time to get involved in the second Black Country Communion album.  Released a mere 9 months since their wonderful debut album (see review here), Bonamassa, Hughes, Bonham and Sherinian have come up trumps once again (although frankly they obviously saved a bit of time on the sleeve design and album name!)
I've played this album a few times now and to be honest I have to say that, as with the first album, it doesn't initially hit you with that "WOW factor"...and that's not me being tactful, it's just that when you first play it, it's impressive but nothing really leaps out at you. But then on subsequent plays, you notice the fine work that Derek Sherinian put's in - he seems much higher in the mix this time around, and the overall sound benefits from that. Glenn Hughes' vocals are top notch and as with the debut album, Bonamassa takes lead vocal on a couple of tracks that benefit from his more refined, smooth vocals. Jason Bonham is a powerhouse throughout the album which once again bring Led Zep comparisons on a couple of tracks. Personally I don't think that there is anything on the album that compares with the remarkable "Song of Yesterday" from the debut, but this album is a grower - ask me again in a week or so and I may have changed my mind as there are some monster riffs on here. Smokestack Woman rips its way out of the speakers, the track "Cold" has another masterclass guitar solo from Bonamassa and the longest track on the album , the eight minute No Ordinary Son is sublime. Repeated plays prove that this is an album of technical and artistic brilliance - each play uncovering a subtle nuance that the listener may have overlooked initially. I suspect that this is destined to become a classic - it just might take a few plays to convince everyone.

2 is released in the UK on Monday 13th June via Mascot Records, and on June 14th in the US on J&R Adventures.

NR