Category: Live Reviews

Carling Islington Academy
06.08.06

Powered by penniless music-loving volunteers, Uxfest is a charitable way of supporting local music. With proceeds being donated to Youth Music, Natandy Fund (helping Tsunami victims), Yeldall (for the Homeless). An ultimate festival for lovers of ska to death metal, and everything in between. The only thing that would have made it Rock Harder is hosting it on 06-06-06!

I arrive late and miss the first few bands. Once you in, you aint allowed out, and a gals gotta eat! So I missed opening acts No Warning Shot, Sylosis, OutCryFire, Inner Rage, Profane, Shellshock, French Eths and Forever Never.

I make it in time to catch the one of the best local hardcore bands PDHM. With drums so loud they drown out your own heart beat, the 2 front men bounced around the stage giving an energy injected performance. A husky, rusty metal voice complimented with AFI-like vocals, make the match almost as perfect as chips and mayonnaise!

Over to the Mill stage to catch the last couple of songs from the jazzy ska tracks of Mumrah. A six-piece surfer set, with a guy that does a disturbingly high screeching soprano.

Sacrificing seeing Head On, next up are one of my personal favourites The Blackout. Replacing Captain Everything they still jam-pack the room with adoring fans. Looking like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths they blow your hair back with their hard as rock set. Seasoning in a new track called Death Angel, their new album ‘The Blackout The Blackout The Blackout ‘ is bound to be a hit.

The most photographed band was definitely the Architects. Missing Engel from Sweden, I walk into a raging hot-box. It may be the smallest stage, but the excited vibe from the crowd make up for it. Whipping up a moshpit of mayhem, the photographers hit their own scrum in front of the stage! A four-piece from Brighton, with a rocking bassist delivering solid Pantera-esq riffs. With the singer Matt, bending back to fully open his Death Metal screams. Catch them on their insanely full diary in and around the UK till mid-October.

Hot new favourites Exit Ten are definitely a room filler, with devoted fans singing along to every word like a Thrice mantra. They play their highly addictive hit track ‘Resume Ignore’, which they have just launched a new music video for. With the finely tuned voice of Ryan this is definitely a band with lasting power which is inching closer, and closer to stardom every second you spend reading these lines.

I change stages to fulfil my curiosity of the Alice In Chains sounding B-Movie Heroes, and hope to stumble across them for more than 2 songs sometime soon.

Kingsize Blues rocked out with the singer doing vocal acrobatics, you cant help but be damn impressed! Singing almost 2 parts simultaneously, Tom Hennessy offers a flawless stage performance. Promoting their fittingly titled album ‘Live Fast and Die’, a slogan they share with Viking Skull, This band is no doubtedly going to have a successful tour in October.

Lighting up the up the Mill Stage are Fireapple Red. Blazing punk giving the political lyrics of Propagandhi some stiff competition, they have already toured with the likes of Bad Religion, Pennywise and Anti Flag! With the singer rocking facial expressions like System of a Down, these punkers are a photographers dream! Don’t be fooled by this humble-looking four-piece, their sound will eat you alive, and have you begging for more. More of which can be found on their latest EP ‘The First Drop’. Their up and coming revised line-up is mostly for charity. Punk ‘n Roll with a big heart…the way it should be!

Big in China, Biomechanical grace the Main Stage with their perfectly rehearsed stances. Describing themselves as ‘British Steel’ metal they play with a similar line-up to Uxfest in the Damnation Festival in Manchester later this October. Demanding the attention of Kerrang, Classic Rock, and Terrorizer magazines Biomechanical successfully appeals to Iron Maiden and Pantera fans alike. Switching between melodic keyboards to metal mayhem they strike the balance between new and retro.

Well known and loved Murder One are back to share their Metal antics. With quirky duo John and Paul giving the crowd their all. Dripping in sweat they squeeze out a back-to-back explosive set. Screaming words of angst from tracks ‘It was Lies’ and ‘Where the Body Lay’, they promote their hot new release ‘Somethings Are Better Left Unsaid’. They are playing a few odd gigs over the next 2 months, so catch ’em while you can…you never know when they likely to disappear into the cracks again…

Boasting not quite heavy rock or metal, Skindred offers a fresh forward thinking sound. The South Wales eclectic four-piece has enough personality to fill the crammed room on their own. With Benji Webbe’s humor, Daniels’ tight basslines, and Mikey Dee and Dirty Arya holding it together in the background, their talents are on the same plateau. In their multi-cultural sound you can hear influences of The Clash, The Specials, and Sublime.

Swinging his dreads about Benji interrupts his own stage performance with lines like ‘Isn’t music exciting!’. Being short of girls throwing their bras at them, they throw a found ‘Clutch‘ badge into the crowd, only to get it thrown back in distaste of it not being a Skindred badge. With fans showing their loyal dedication, it might be time for them to get some made up to silence their next up and coming crowds over the next 2 months. Rocking their encore with the lines ‘Nobody gets outta here alive…’ it plays in my head the whole way home.

Niki Kova’cs
Photos by Niki Kova’cs

Twickenham Stadium
Sunday 20th August 2006

I’m one of thousands of people making their way to Twickenham Stadium and I’m hit by a cloud of greed surrounding the stadium that actually included paying £25 to park your car in a Church Car Park! – “Money goes to charity” says the tubby bloke at the gate as I reverse in disgust – even Jesus’ followers are cashing in on the mighty Rolling Stones tonight but ‘oof, take that Jesus‘ as your nut jobs are getting nothing from me tonight! £25 to park my arse!

Feeder open up tonight’s show with bags of confidence and handle the stadium like it’s the Dublin Castle as they crack out hit after hit but people are waiting for one thing and one thing only and as The Stones step out onto the mammoth rig, 70,000 people go insane to the sounds of ‘Jumping Jack Flash‘ and has me leaping out of my seat with everyone else.

The stage looks like a hotel or even an ocean liner has been dumped into the middle of the stadium. Lights hang from every nook and cranny and people who paid £1000 for exclusive tickets are waiving from the stage either side of the monstrous screen so that people in Row Z don’t miss a thing. As rain pours out of the clouds above, Mick Jagger that has to be careful of where he dances – roadies with towels are soaking up the water as ‘Start Me Up‘ follows the opener and the band are looking good, in fact they are looking amazing! The rain stops as ‘Sway‘ drops over the speakers from Sticky Fingers, although Jagger has to ask the band members which album it was from, then a slower track followed by the classic ‘Ruby Tuesday‘.

The orange and electric blue lights fill the stadium, and I’m sure it looks like a ship, I go with this thought as Mick takes a guitar and performs ‘Streets of Love’, one of the lead tracks from the new album ‘A Bigger Bang‘ that will be released this September – the first studio album from the band since Bridges to Babylon in 1997 but all I want tonight are the classics. I’m a virgin to The Stones live and as I crave for ‘Paint it Black‘ and many more I have to remind myself that these guys have been playing for over 40 years and I should just be patient because you know they are gonna go out with a bang.

Keith Richards has a solo moment and just about makes it through ‘Slippin’ Away‘ and then through the fluorescent bulbs and smoke comes the chicken run! Oh yes, the entire band and keyboard player are moving towards us on a floating platform! The atmosphere reaches a new height as we all sing ‘Get Off of My Cloud‘ at the tops of our voices followed by ‘Honky Tonk Woman‘, and the incredible ‘Sympathy For The Devil‘ where the entire crowd is singing ‘Woo Woo!’ so loud that the local ambulance station must have felt slightly insecure of their technology as this noise was far more superior accompanied by flames the height of a house. They were 100 ft away and felt like they almost burnt your eyebrows off! Add the infectious ‘Brown Sugar‘ to this moment and a party massive was going on here, it was absolutely amazing.

As this was happening you felt like you were at a small gig with the band right there in front of you, and when they were not stranded on the chicken run, Jagger was running full length of the field all night long, amazing really for a man his age. Saying that though, we were invited to this show by one of the crew who has been working with them for 20 years and he said to me that he had not seen the band this hungry for shows in a long time. He said that they were on fire and have a new lease of life in them, so much so that they extended this tour for another year, but he said that this could also mean that it could be the end of an era and they may be going for it for the last time – only time will tell on that note.

The encore exploded with the monumental ‘Satisfaction‘ which literally shook the earth and as this song bit the dust tens of thousands of people stood there with the same hat on. For these cherished moments are what we live for, that split second where you know you have witnessed something special, something so classic that you could not replace it with any other artist.

I didn’t get ‘Paint It Black‘ or ‘Wild Horses‘ but what I did get was a feeling worth its weight in gold….something the Church may have forgotten about in this day and age…

Chuck Bangers

The Forum
07-09-2006

Being stripped of my photo pass the first night, this review stretches over 2 evenings…

With their admiration not only coming from fans, their following also stems from all their tribute albums dedicated to them by adoring bands. With Peter Murphy‘s fame he is an icon that demands respect, as he sways onto the stage. A come-back long in anticipation, with Love and Rockets and some solo acts in between.

Clad in flamboyant and at the same time seemingly understated dandy black shirt, and jeans-the standard Rock ‘n Roll uniform that’s painted its way through the decades. Peter, and gang may be showing signs of wear and tear, but their eloquent style has not faltered. He stands elegant, brimmed with German-like pride, as they enter immediately into ‘Double Dare‘. The crowd falls silent in complete obedience, a change from the punk-mosh-pit-mayhem I am used to. Peter Murphy is the staple diet of Goths and the Industrial revolution, as is legendary Ian MacKaye to Punk Rock.

The ‘Billy-fuckin-Idol’ looking bassist, David J, is strapped low, and finger strumming up a fury. You can almost see the smoke heaving off his bass guitar. If his flowing baselines weren’t enough for you, David is also set to be making a movie called ‘Control’ with Joy Divisions’, Ian Curtis.

Peter dances like a madman, getting lost in the moment, swinging his arms wildly, whilst not skipping a note in ‘Hair of the Dog‘. His sexy dance moves match his rough low Elvis-esque voice.

Daniel Ash’ semi-acoustic adds depth to the sound, and his stage theatrics are on par with Peter. He bathes in the main stage light as Peter moves (almost) backstage, taking a mysterious break from the all the attention by…dancing with a light? Peter is renowned for his stage theatrics, and his pedantic need for perfection. So dancing with a pole, and striking random model-esque poses is why you see them live and don’t just wallow in their CDs-it is a Live Performance after all.

Daniel takes a break from guitar, and sax, by playing violin with his electric guitar for ‘Hollow Hills‘. From this they break into one of their hit tracks ‘Dancing‘, whilst I spot a few middle-aged men in suits stirring up a Goth-mosh pit, with people dancing in the aisles.

They break their encore with an acoustic, and end perfectly with ‘Dark Entries’ . You wouldn’t expect anything more neat and tidy from a Goth rock band.

Words and pics: Niki Kova’cs

with Exit Ten and The Blackout,
London Metro,
14/8/06

The Blackout are an energetic bunch, to the extent that they’re not even halfway through their first song when blonde co-vocalist Sean Smith accidentally collides with the drumkit. Given that they hail from South Wales, comparisons to recent tour buddies Lostprophets are inevitable; but whilst songs like ‘Go Burn City Hall‘ and ‘You And Your Friends‘ are mining heavier territory than Ian Watkins’ crew’s recent output, the Blackout are on the lips of every rock magazine right now and righty so.

The drama factor increases with Exit Ten, who take the stage bathed in strobe lights before blitzing the front rows with some monolithically heavy thrash riffing. Originality isn’t their forte either, but the occasional Killswitch Engage-ism can be forgiven for a band with such a knack for a stadium-sized chorus; not least on ‘Resume Ignore‘ which is lifted by Ryan Redman’s soaring vocals to genuinely epic heights. Be sure to keep an eye out for this lot.

A bomb is most effective when detonated in an enclosed space, and as Winnebago Deal explode into life with a thunderous ‘With Friends Like These‘, it’s clear that small, sweaty clubs like the Metro are their ideal environment.

The Oxford duo inject a much-needed dose of punk rock aggression into the proceedings; whether ripping through ‘Cobra‘ like Motorhead on speed, or uniting the crowd for the shout-along chorus of ‘Did It, Done It, Doing It Again‘, these guys exude a wonderfully evil sense of purpose as they give our eardrums a thorough punishing.

This is rock n’ roll at its most visceral and intense, and tonight Winnebago Deal ensure that we leave feeling exhausted but satisfied. Job done.

WordsAlex Gosman
Photo’s by Niki Kova’cs

London – Mean Fiddler
25/7/06

Sonic Boom Six seem to have been supporting just about every band and their dog lately, but with performances as animated as tonight’s, they really ought to be headlining venues of this size by now.

Still, livewire vocalist Laila Khan and the boys don’t seem too bothered, as they serve up a gloriously colourful collage of rap, ska, dub and hardcore with an enthusiasm not seen since the days of their much-missed kindred spirits King Prawn. A welcome treat for the early birds.

Swedish quartet Two Point Eight provide the perfect soundtrack to a cider-fuelled moshpit with their raw street-punk anthems, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that songs like ‘Red Eye‘ and ‘Cop Kids‘
are virtual Rancid rip-offs, right down to vocalist/guitarist Fredrick Bjorck’s Strummer-esque drawl. For all the bile and conviction in their performance, there’s precious little to get excited about.

Flogging Molly, however, are a band to believe in; and as ‘Screaming At The Wailing Wall‘ incites mayhem amongst the sold-out crowd, it’s clear that the converted are out in force. Having been written off by many as a ‘bar band’ in their early days, Flogging Molly’s present popularity is a victory for authenticity and passion in the face of an increasingly cut-throat music industry; and the sense of celebration is almost tangible as Dave King and his crew rip through folk-punk crowd favourites like ‘Drunken Lullabies’ and ‘Selfish Man‘. Fiddle/tin whistle player Bridget Regan is the unsung heroine of the band; her studied presence a perfect foil to the chaos that surrounds her, and by the time they close with a barnstorming ‘Seven Deadly Sins‘, the floor is a sea of sweat-drenched smiles. A triumph, no less.

Alex Gosman

Gallows
Pickled Dick
Kingston Peel
9/8/06
(pics from The Barfly show)

There’s a group of guys who like they’ve been in a very serious car crash. There are remnants of fake blood capsules strewn around the toilets. Oh, and that goddamn craving for the taste of brains has come over me again. Looks like Leeds’ finest zombie-core export, Send More Paramedics, are back in town!

So, how best to start this most black-humoured of occasions? Probably not with Pickled Dick, a trio who play excellent melodic punk rock in the vein of early Snuff, but whom are met with little more than sparse applause.

Gallows are a different proposition entirely; the twisted hardcore rock n’ roll wreckage of songs like ‘Abandon Ship‘ and ‘Last Fight For The Living Dead‘ positively seething with all the rage and resentment you’d expect from a band whose existence has been dogged by countless misfortunes. Boasting a tattooed, wild-eyed lunatic of a frontman in Frank Carter, this lot are as compelling as they are unsettling; and on tonight’s evidence, they’ll settle for nothing less than your total devotion. Look out for this lot on the road as they have a live set that eats their record on In At The Deep End for breakfast and the record is a corker, so you work it out.

How far exactly can one band take their obsessions with 80’s thrash, hardcore and classic splatter films? Send More Paramedics have had their share of detractors, but tonight, the opening blast of ‘Nothing Tastes Like This‘ is enough to dispel any remaining doubts of the band’s potential.

Forthcoming album ‘The Awakening‘ is their most accomplished and varied record to date, and the sight of blood-splattered vocalist B’Hellmouth gleefully urging the pit to greater efforts is proof enough of SMP’s onstage confidence. The sweat is dripping off the walls of the Peel as new track ‘Blood Fever‘ whips the crowd into a mass of flailing bodies, and by the time the band finish with the anthemic ‘Zombie Crew‘, they’ve got a whole army of would-be-undead minions chanting along in unison.They’ve always been an entertaining band, but never before have Send More Paramedics sounded so essential. Never heard of them, you say? Well, get that nice juicy brain of yours over here!

BURRRP.

Alex Gosman

The Forum – London
Wednesday, 2nd August 2006

The venue is packed to the gills, and as I stand at the bar after waiting in 3-deep rows of tattoos my cold pint is poured in front of me and then as it floated towards my hands from the barman, a charge from a rampant fan steals the beer and legs it into the crowd! Welcome to a Ministry gig!

The last time I saw this band I was at the Brixton Academy 14 years ago tripping out of my head on acid and holding onto my best mate for cover, it was a proper kickin’ like never before! Tonight will be no different (but minus the LSD) and i’m glad to see that the the visual element to their live sets has not disappeared; fresh political content by the reel is lined up delivering some home truths: WAR, TERROR, RELIGION, AND DEATH….

Al Jourgensen is a master at providing Ministry with as much ammo as he can muster up, and these days Joey Jordison smashes the drums from Slipknot, Paul Raven drives the bass, from Killing Joke, and Tommy Victor cranks out the vicious guitar whose career includes the mighty Prong and Danzig. This collection of established heads could have been a nightmare to some but it seems as though Jourgensen has built the finest army to launch tonight’s aural assault.

Kicking off with ‘Fear (Is Big Business)’ the atmosphere is as big as the expectation and the juggernaut begins to roll, pushing out new tracks from their latest album ‘Rio Grande Blood‘ merging them with well known numbers as the crushing ‘N.W.O.‘ and the incendiary device that is ‘Thieves‘ (one of the best Ministry songs ever written?) – and how fitting that George Bush’ punchable face is plastered all over the screens mixed with DESTRUCTION, RIOTING and CORRUPTION as ‘Lies Lies Lies‘ blasts out of the speakers that are barely dealing to cope with such a forceful array of sinus splitting outbursts of razor sharp beats and noise.

Corrupt American bureaucrats and mindless patriotism fuel the projected charge of ‘Rio Grande Blood‘, it oozes into your brain cells like liquid napalm amongst the ghostly shouting voice of Jello Biafra that can be heard throughout ‘Ass Clown‘ from the new record, but you can’t beat the classics from Psalm 69, thankfully Jourgensen recognizes this but decides to leave out party track ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod‘ as we wait to the end of the set through the encore.

Ministry revisited the UK in style forcing a burning torpedo through ear canals across London…it’s just a shame this show could not be shown on BBC1 at 9.30pm so that they could plant the fact that political hypocrisy, greed and inhumane behaviour is about to finally kill our entire planet as countries turn on each other and others fuel bloody battles.

Two things to remember today kids, Ministry fucking rock and Bush is another word for Cunt.

Chuck Bangers

Abandon Ship
The Grosvenor, London
19.07.06

Help Us, we’re melting! We’re in the middle of a freak British heatwave and standing around in packed punk gigs gushing in sweat is probably not most people’s idea of a good time. But like the saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Except we’re not in a kitchen, we’re sweating our bollocks right off in the back room of a stale smelling Brixton pub and four lunatics from Brighton are rampaging around the venue with red mist in front of their eyes, completely and utterly immersed in the rapid-fire hardcore noise they pummel from their amps.

Abandon Ship hail from Brighton and have been popping up on DIY hardcore bills with alarming regularity for the last two and a bit years and they just get better and better each time. Tonight though, something inside them collectively clicks and they go utterly apeshit. It’s like watching a band play when you fast forward your DVD player. They are so fucking fast and fun they almost make up for the disappointment of missing female hardcore band Bitchslap who were on first. Almost.

Dutch quartet Restless Youth have been through a lot of changes recently. Their debut 2004 EP was a perfect distillation of the primal punk rage of Bad Brains and Black Flag and their first tour of the UK a couple of years back were high-energy, wild hardcore affairs. The new material, however, has seen the band mixing their love of classic seventies rock and garage punk in with their original hardcore sound to admittedly mixed results. When it works, it’s a brilliant crossover of styles and when it doesn’t, well, it’s a bit of mess. Unfortunately, the audience doesn’t take too well to the band’s new style and the slowing down of their older tracks and the hesitant reaction from the audience faced with the unfamiliar material sucks the atmosphere that Abandon Ship created right out of the venue like an industrial hoover.

Back to the drawing board then boys.

James Sherry

Old Blue Last
31.07.06

Picture the scene – An upstairs room full of trendy people. I’m talking about the Vice reading, stupid hair-cut wearing, tight trouser brigade. What the hell are they doing at a show for a grime MC? The answer is I have no idea. But regardless, we plonked ourselves right at the front of the stage whilst half of the trendy lot chatted away with their backs to the stage, and Marv The Marsh hit the stage.

Marv, a small fella, hopped on the stage with his giant hype man Jack Nimble [of Marv’s WhyLout? Crew] and immediately placed his props on the stage, the most prominent of which was an old phone that kept ringing throughout the set so he could link tracks with conversations to various people. It’s original and it works, big points for that.

The bass pounded immediately with Around The Way, the track that infamously samples a motorbike and my head was thrust back and forth by the sheer weight of the bassline, but I wasn’t complaining, it would’ve been rocking regardless. The sample led Reymell was another great part of the set, the guitars pumping out as the little and large team bopped around the stage rapping hard to be heard over the sound. And with lyrics about smacking your little brother for jacking your SNES, you know you’re in for a treat.

Stay Off The Kane, a track which apparently makes Marv the maestro of “Grindie” [ignore this, we don’t want to discredit the guy] comes along with another prop – this time an umbrella as Marv marches along Dick Van Dyke style around the stage and the biggest track that he has penned yet, I Don’t Go Alone brought the show to a great close. One minute the song makes him hang his head and shake his head, the next minute the MC is pumping his chest and blasting the verses out.

Zap Zap! The martian came from South London and he blew it up at the pub full of trendies. He keeps going on like that and he’s gonna be my new hero!

Abjekt
[Photo by Jen Saul]

O2 Wireless Festival
London Hyde Park,
25/06/06

It seems odd to be attending a ‘festival’ in Hyde Park; where tower blocks replace the traditional festival surroundings of fields and farmland, and where a plethora of public transport is only five minutes’ walk away. Still, that’s London for you. By all accounts, the O2 Wireless festival – now in its second year – seems to have been a huge success, and has drawn a near-capacity crowd for its final day.

“We’d like to thank James Blunt for opening up for us last night!” laughs Ok Go singer/guitarist Damian Kulash, his band’s infectious pop-rock anthems proving the perfect antidote to any remaining vestiges of singer/songwriter blandness. A cover of the Pixies classic ‘Wave Of Mutilation’ is a welcome surprise, but the real treat is saved for the finale, as the band down their instruments to recreate the synchronised dance routine from their ‘A Million Ways’ video. A superb start to the day.

Over on the Myspace stage, electro-rockers Suzerain manage to attract an impressively large crowd for a relatively unknown band, and reward the masses gathered with darkly anthemic songs like ‘Life On Film’ and ‘New Solution’. Definitely a band to watch. The Mystery Jets may not be to everyone’s taste, but they have a great sense of the bizarre, and the twisted art-pop of ‘You Can’t Fool Me Dennis’ wins them several new fans today.

Danko Jones appears to have suffered an eye injury, but it hasn’t dampened the Canadian motormouth’s resolve to put on the best, most foot-stompin’, ass-shakin’ riff-laden rock n’roll show in town. His band’s recent ‘Sleep Is The Enemy’ album is arguably their finest to date, and today they play with enough vigour and ferocity to get even the most tired and sunburnt of punters pumping their fists in approval. The lion may be injured, but he’s still the king of the jungle.

Unfortunately, due to the Xfm stage running late, we’re only able to see the first half of Gang Of Four’s headline set. A shame, as the veteran Leeds funk-punkers are on fine form, belting out classics like ‘At Home He’s A Tourist’ with the verve and stage presence of a band half their age. If you’ve ever enjoyed a Bloc Party or Franz Ferdinand record, then check out these guys for a valuable history lesson.

It’s strange to think that a decade ago, Depeche Mode seemed on the verge of collapse following frontman Dave Gahan’s much-publicised drug overdose. Fast-forward to the present, and the Basildon boys have found a new lease of life; with recent album ‘Playing The Angel’ hailed as their best effort in years. Surrounded by a stage set straight out of ‘Star Trek’, it’s clear that they can do no wrong tonight, as a remarkably youthful-looking Dave leads the band through a set bursting with old favourites. ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Enjoy The Silence’ are still synth-pop perfection, boosted by Martin Gore’s superb guitar work and the crowd’s voices, whilst ‘John The Revelator’ and ‘Precious‘ are proof enough of the band’s rekindled creative flame. As they close with ‘Never Let Me Down Again’, it’s evident that the location of this festival matters little, when it boasts a bill of this calibre.

Alex Gosman