Live Review : After The Burial + From Sorrow To Serenity + Ghost Iris + Where Oceans Burn @ Satan’s Hollow, Manchester on 4th August 2019

It's my first time in Satan's Hollow for a gig, and I’ve got to say it's weird seeing bands on the dancefloor! It's certainly intimate though, and as I know tonight is pretty much a sell-out I'm expecting it to get even more intimate. I leave Johann down the front and set-up shop by the stained glass windows at the back of the room…about five people back from the front of the stage still. It's a great line-up secured by Tapestry Promotions and I wait for local lads Where Oceans Burn to start things off for us tonight.

Live Review : Living Colour + Wayward Sons + Jared James Nichols @ Academy 2, Manchester on July 26th 2019

It probably seems like I start most of my reviews with either a travel or weather report...but seriously when trains are delayed and cancelled due to melting overhead cables and buckling train tracks, then it’s worth mentioning! Right? With the journey to Manchester finally completed, I stroll down to the Academy 2 for doors. Now, Academy 2 is sweltering at the best of times, but tonight I'm early enough into the venue that it hasn't filled up yet, and so it's cooler than outside, bizarrely (spoiler – that doesn’t last!).

Live Review : The Body + Black To Comm @ Soup Kitchen, Manchester on July 23rd 2019

Somewhere in the outlying stretches of our world is a thin expense entitled alt-metal, experimental drone and Blackgaze. Its that forbidden zone where Metal and hipster collide. Tonight I stand on that exact apex as this may be classed as a metal gig, but the audience as one looks like they should be running organic beaver milk cafes in Shoreditch. It really is trendy à gogo; the beards are neatly trimmed, the beer extra hoppy and every t-shirt is of bands that you will never ever hear of. I miss Caina completely. Its too hot and I had a paddling pool to fill, so sue me.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas27 July 2019Soup KitchenThe Body, Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 2019Comment

Live Review : Crobot + Wolf Jaw + Blind Haze + Electric Rebels @ Rebellion, Manchester on July 23rd 2019

Today has been an absolute scorcher. I'm sure half my face is now melting in my cleavage as I battle through the heat and humidity to make my interview slots with Crobot and Wolf Jaw. Being a fat bird in this weather is never fun.

At least Rebellion is surprisingly cool tonight. I'm grateful for the colder air as the evenings festivities kick off.

Live Review : Danny Vaughn + Edd Case @ The Tivoli, Buckley on July 20th 2019

I was a bit meh tonight when the support act came on. I mean when you have come to see an acoustic show by a very famous bloke with a good voice and a guitar it would really make sense to have something different supporting right? Maybe a woman? A skiffle band? A dog act? I mean, KISS had a painter recently on their arena tour and if it’s good enough for Gene and Paul…..

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby25 July 2019The TivoliDanny Vaughn, Tyketto, Waysted, 2019, The Tivoli, Buckley, Live Review, Jo CrosbyComment

Live Review : The Obsessed + Bong Cauldron + PIST + Alunah @ Rebellion, Manchester on July 19th 2019

It's been a rough week for Rebellion and there is still an air of dazed and confused about the place. However, there is also a very British aesthetic of keep calm and carry on. In a remarkably short time, Rebellion has become a second home for many of us and tonight the scene has rallied around to ensure that it is business as usual.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas24 July 2019RebellionThe Obessed, PIST, Bong Cauldron, Alunah, Rebellion, Manchester, 2019, Live ReviewComment

Live Review : The Wildhearts + The Lazys + Last Great Dreamers @ Liverpool Grand Central on July 18th 2019

A night out in Liverpool is quite a rare thing for me, and with two of my favourite bands on the bill plus another that I’d heard good things about I was looking forward to a good night, tonight.

With 3 bands to get through, Last Great Dreamers hit the stage early, and the room was a little more empty than I think they deserved. They powered through a short but wonderful 8-song set of their power-pop-tastic songs, starting with ‘Primitive Man’ from their most recent album “13th Floor Renegades” and ending with ‘Oblivion Kids’ from the previous one “Transmissions From Oblivion”.

Live Review : Mushroomhead + Waltari + Familiar Spirit @ Gorilla, Manchester on July 17th 2019

So.

I feel like I need to apologise for this review before I have got started. It's probably going to be a bit vague in places...

Things have been a little bit hideous of late, and I needed to let my pink hair down. And let it down I did! My life was ruined for a full 24 hours after the gig finished, but I needed it and the spectacular Mushroomhead delivered me an escape from the stresses of my life at present. Also, they had water drums which has to count for something.

I like Gorilla for gigs, there's something cosy about it, so I'm intrigued as to how all 8 of Mushroomhead will fit on that small stage later on.

Live Review : The Obsessed + Bong Cauldron + Pist + Alunah @ Rebellion, Manchester on July 19th 2019

Gig ReviewJohann Wierzbicki20 July 2019Bong Cauldron, The Obsessed, PIST, AlunahComment

Live Review : KISS @ MEN Arena, Manchester on July 12th 2019

I spent a considerable part of my childhood in Norway. In the late seventies, there was a craze amongst the Norwegian kids to collect KISS trading cards. I was transfixed by these otherworldly comic book like characters. Resplendent in leather, steel with black and white face paint, they captured my imagination like nothing before. They didn't look like the drab rock stars I was used to seeing on telly, they felt more like super heroes. Pretty soon, I had developed a life long obsession with the band. I stayed true during the lean non-make up eighties (Hell! I even bought “Hot in the Shade”).

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas14 July 2019MEN ArenaKISS, MEN Arena, Manchester, 2019, Live Review, Stewart LucasComment

Live Review : The Infernal Sea + Necronautical + Burial + Ba'al @ The Outpost, Liverpool on July 11th 2019

I know Black Metal has an obsession with Satan and his dominion, but the authenticism seems to have been taken to another level tonight as the Outpost is so hot that you truly feel like you are in the very bowls of hell. This evening the smoking area has become a place of sanctuary where heat exhausted revellers go for air, before diving back into the all-consuming unbearable cauldron of undiluted heat that is the performance area.

Live Review : Tech-Fest UK on July 4th and 5th 2019

As I jump out of the taxi at Newark Showground it immediately feels like I’ve never left from twelve months earlier. This is only my second trip to Tech-Fest UK, but already I can say it feels like returning home when you enter through the main entrance. It’s a festival that genuinely creates a feeling of welcoming, inclusion, passion and dedication. And lots of technically impressive Metal musicianship. Lots. Add in some great on-stage performers, enough merch to sink a battleship, plenty of booze and you’ve got what is now my favourite festival. First seen in 2012 (and at Newark Showground since 2014), the not-for-profit festival has only been possibly thanks to the tireless devotion of founder Simon Garrod and his annually returning group of volunteers.

Live Review : Carach Angren + Wolfheart + Thy Antichrist + Nevalra @ Rebellion, Manchester on July 3rd 2019

Black Metal was always about bringing the theatrics and the mysticism back to Heavy Metal. In many ways, it was a reaction to how the stripped back nature of Grunge temporarily took away our Music’s escapism and other-worldliness. The Norwegian founding fathers were brought up on KISS, Merciful Fate and Celtic Frost, they wanted to create something that was far more immersive and engaging than four guy in jeans and t-shirts playing instruments. This was about world building and atmospherics, sculpting an entire alternative reality that their music could exist within. Tonight in Rebellion, we have a tour package that presents the best in wide-screen Black Metal. This is the real deal, larger than life performances, corpse paint all over the shop and enough Satanism to put even Alex Crowley off.

Live Review : Gojira + Rolo Tomassi + Dead Label @ O2 Apollo, Manchester on July 1st 2019

I fell in love with Gojira back at Bloodstock 2010 and from the moment that I first clapped eyes on them I knew that they were doing something really rather special and that they should be huge, stadium huge. Nearly a decade later it feels that my premonition is finally becoming a reality. Tonight feels like the moment that they transcended into the big league and show that they are the ordained successor to Metallica’s crown. There was something so confident and so masterful about this evening’s performance, very much the hallmarks of a band completely in control of their own destiny. The Apollo is heaving, absolutely heaving and even though they were part of the same touring cycle, there is a clear difference between tonight and their 2017 Manchester Academy show. I had been worried that at the Academy that they were stalling, that the fevered audience reaction that I had expected for a band that had created one of the greatest Metal albums ever (“Magma”) was not materialising.

Live Review : Primordial Presents.... Those Damn Crows + Ravenface + As Sirens Fall + Sertraline @ Rebellion, Manchester on June 29th 2019

Music, gigging and writing about the first two for ROCKFLESH are my escapes from work. However tonight was a bizarre experience that saw my two worlds inexplicably collide. You see this is no gig, this is a celebration of the dynamic community of like minded individuals that has been created by the fledgling Primordial radio. As part of the celebration, and also evidence that us, metalheads wear our hearts on our sleeveless battle vest, this is also a charity fundraiser on behalf of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and Manchester Mind, the latter of whom I work for. All of which leads to the bizarre experience of being able to head to a work event in my Slayer shorts.

Live Review : Combichrist + The Alacrity + Sinnergod + Auger @ Academy 3, Manchester on June 28th 2019

Hay fever sucks. Well technically, having a grass pollen allergy is really awkward and annoying. It’s especially true when you’re off to an early doors four band gig. Ok, ok, just a fortnight ago, I was moaning about the rain in the North West, but I wouldn’t be British if I wasn’t moaning about something, right? The joy of a muggy, humid night is that Academy 3 is only as sweltering as outside tonight, rather than being a crazy sweatbox of its own making. I don’t know if it’s my imagination but this venue doesn’t seem to be used as much as it used to be, which is a shame as it certainly has its own unique layout, capacity and atmosphere.

Live Review : Ryan Hamilton & The Harlequins Ghosts + Bad Dog @ The Tivoli, Buckley on June 21st 2019

There’s a very famous comedy show that gave us the now immortal line “and now for something completely different” and that’s what I’m expecting tonight.

First up, we have local band Bad Dog, who I have seen several times before but not recently. So the different thing about them is that they have improved. Immensely. I recall a young band whose enthusiasm way outstripped their talent, and what I got tonight was a badass blues-rock band with a distinct twinge of Southern boogie about them.

Live Review : Magnum + Theia @ Parr Hall, Warrington on June 13th 2019

I’ve known Theia for a while now, but I have a confession to make – I’m still not 100% certain of the correct way to pronounce their name! Thay-a? Thee-arh? Thy-ah? Nope, not a clue. Which makes it a bit difficult to tell people in person how good they are if I’m honest. They are a young 3-piece outfit from the Midlands. Guitarist Kyle and bassist Paul have been the mainstay of the band over the last 7 years, because they have a bit of a Spinal Tap thing going on with drummers. There have been a few, although to the best of my knowledge none of them have actually exploded yet.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby20 June 2019Parr HallMagnum, Parr Hall, Warrington, Live Review, 2019, Jo CrosbyComment

Live Review : Bad Wolves + RedHook + In Search Of Sun @ Academy 2, Manchester on June 13th 2019

Doing gig reviews in the North West of England does mean that travel and the weather are frequent battles, but not even I expect to be nervously checking the National Rail website (other train information websites are available) in June. It finally stops raining though and, unlike at the Heart Of A Coward gig the previous week, I turn up to the venue resembling a human rather than a drowned rat.

Live Review : Midnite City + Devilfire + Atlas @ Eleven, Stoke on June 6th 2019

I love Eleven as a venue, it’s a cracking place. Total pain in the bum to get to in time for a gig start on a week night though! However, I persevered and best efforts of the M6 notwithstanding, I managed to get there in time to see all the bands. This was just as well, as tonight’s bill was a bit of an epic.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby17 June 2019ElevenMidnite City, Devilfire, Atlas, Eleven, Stoke-On-Trent, 2019, Live Review, Jo CrosbyComment