GIGGING IN 2009 - JANUARY

10^th - FROST*/Magenta – Montgomery Hall, Wath

15^th – HOSPITAL OF DEATH/See Red - Grand Central, MAnchester

17^th – ARCHITECTS/Mysery Signals/A Textbook Tragedy – Academy 3, MAnchester

21^st – KING'S X/To-Mera/Haken – Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

30^th – GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT/Solus Locus/I Concur – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

The gig year started off at the Classic Rock Society ‘BOTY’ (Best Of The Year) evening. MAGENTA kicked things off with a fine run through of their ‘Metamorphis’ album then after the awards ceremony-presented by Steve Hackett- FROST* played a decent if error strewn set-back to the rehersal room guys! The Grand Central might sound like a rather ‘Grand’ venue… it isn’t.. it’s a sweaty pub in central Manchester – not a place to be when you feel like crap to start with but. HOSPITAL OF DEATH managed to put a smile on my face as usual but I gave up on the rest of the night and headed home for my nice warm bed! Feeling better, a couple of days later I ventured out to catch rising Brit metallers ARCHITECTS play an intense, but altogether too short set – Canadian support bands A TEXTBOOK TRAGEDY and MISERY SIGNALS were both excellent as well but 40 minutes does not a headline set make.

Next up was a trip down the M6 to catch up with a long lost favourite of mine – KING'S X. It’s been far too long since they played in the UK, but this show left me dumbstruck – they were truly awesome on the night – great setlist, perfect sound, and a crowd that was well into it too. Saw a mate on the way out and we both said the same thing ‘Will we see a better gig all year?’ ….you know, I don’t think we did…. Though GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT all but matched it a week or so later. The Brudenell in Leeds was packed to bursting for this one after their epic performance at the same venue a year earlier. If anything this was even better – sound was spot on and the projections were much clearer and really added to the overall effect.