“We have such sights to show you”, said the monstrous Pinhead in the 1987 movie Hellraiser. And just like Pinhead, so too do South of Salem, roaring into Blackpool, and showing a breathlessly expectant capacity crowd, just why they are such an electrifying and seemingly unstoppable force of nature.
Read MoreWe start tonight with Tarah Who? They are punky, indie kids with female vocals and a bass player with lovely hair. There's lots of movement and energy but not a huge amount of power in her voice and I find them a little bit uninspiring. I'm not really seeing anything new here and nothing really grips me - they weren't bad but they weren't brilliant either.
Read MoreIt transpires that the Great British Classic Rock revival has found a fresh stream of inspiration to draw from. The dense 70’s blues rock of Free and vintage Quo, has been abandoned in favour of pillaging the fertile vineyards of eighties hair metal. For South of Salem, it provides a veritable smorgasbord of stimulation and they are meticulous in their level of imitation. Their second track in is so shrouded in familiarity, that if you close your eyes, its’s 1982, you’re in the whiskey a go-go and Mötley Crüe are treading the boards in their moment of ascendancy.
Read MoreIt’s funny how this job/hobby/whatever goes. Sometimes you get to see bands you love, sometimes ones you’re not so keen on. Sometimes you are in a crowd of thousands, sometimes you watch a great act give their all to two men and a dog. The dreaded coof knocked us all for six and that, coupled with the current cost of living crisis, has apparently been having a devastating effect on ticket sales for live events with many gigs and small festivals having to cancel due to low sales.
Read MoreWhat a bill to be touring together. One established band with a great reputation, one new-ish band who are also building a solid fanbase for themselves on the club circuit and one (in my opinion anyway) of the most exciting new bands on the scene right now. I had to be there. You should have been there too! No seriously, although we are now “living with” covid the unfortunate aftermath of that is that an awesome bill like this at the Tiv was woefully under-attended. The crowd was enthusiastic, and a reasonable size, but for such a great bill in such a great venue it could have been better. I mean come on, the Tiv even has new post-lockdown carpets so you don’t stick to the floor any more – what more could you want?
Read MoreAcademy 3 for the third time in just over a month?! Yes but is this the last time for a while… Sigh...? I arrive fashionably late, as usual, and am greeted by lots of familiar faces, but the room is quieter than expected and I sense that some people are obviously keeping away, some are lurking at the back and there are lots more masks to be seen.
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