So Covid and its scheming ways forced many bands to reschedule or even cancel gigs and tours over that cursed couple of years when life was plunged into the dark world of uncertainty and skin of your teeth leadership.
This is the first trip of 2023 together for myself and fellow ‘Old Muppet’ MPM Tog ‘Statler’ Manson. We’re heading west, towards the bright lights and traffic jams of Birmingham.
It seems like an age since I have seen Anchor Lane live but today is the Call This a Reality album launch and everyone is buzzing to see these songs live.
After a late start out to Nottingham I eventually get parked up and to the venue in time for the doors opening. I manage to get my pass and up the stairs behind an uber fan, we’re the first two to climb the stairs to the tiny venue, so have the pick of were to go.
A three year wait is finally over as Twilight Force touch down in Glasgow and bring the adventure metal, the fantasy and a whole lot of fun.
It has been three and a half years, let me say that again...three and a half years in the making but Imperial Age finally made the UK tour and kicked it all off in Glasgow and boy was it worth every second we waited.
Sunday evening in Belfast and what’s going on? Thrash !!! That’s what’s going on … we have four hefty bands on the bill tonight wrapping up with UKs finest Evile and it’s great to have them back in the city once again.
Tonight has been in the diary for quite a while, two legendary US Punk bands gracing the stage of a venue In Belfast, something tells me tonight is going to be total carnage.
Experimental Metallers ‘SLEEP TOKEN’, have me heading back to Birmingham’s O2 Academy on yet another school night. My third trip to the West Midlands in a week. 2023 has kicked off with some great gigs and it looks like this is going to continue moving forward.
We seem to spend a lot of time at one gig or another in the South Wales area. From the likes of Man and Budgie via the Manics and Stereophonics to the latter day likes of Those Damn Crowns, Florence Black, and Scarlet Rebels it’s always been a fecund region for a wide variety of rock music.
My first live show of 2023 and the bar is set high as I make tracks to The Asylum, Birmingham. Another killer show put on by the guys over at Surprise You’re Dead - who tirelessly work to keep the metal scene on the map in Birmingham with new, modern and ongoing genres of metal to submerge yourself in.
Back to the familiar grounds of Birmingham’s o2 Academy and the first sight surrounding it within the last two years, of hundreds of people queuing to get into one of the biggest shows that kickstarts 2023.
There’s just one choice to be made today. Shall it be diving headlong into the annual festive of last-minute retail panic or shall we indulge in the diversity and splendour of an eight-band selection from the finest pick n’ mix that the underground rock scene can offer? Well, it’s not a difficult one to be honest and one that we don’t apply much time to.
It may have been winter and a cold wet wind was stirring up, but inside the Telegraph Building it was heaving with people in a state of heated anticipation. The sold-out show was proof everyone was ready for an incredible musical ride of a lifetime.
There’s mixed emotions all around at The Button Factory tonight. Originating from a promise Smiley Bolger made to Phil to “do a vibe for me sometime”, as has now become customary all have congregated tonight the 4th January to remember the anniversary of Phil Lynotts death
A packed Ulster Hall welcomes the return of Trivium to Belfast for the first time since 2017. The Florida metal legends have been teasing us on social media with wildly different setlists from the previous 2 nights in Dublin so no one knows quite what to expect tonight.