GIGGING IN 2009 - MARCH

MARCH

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4^th – PROTEST THE HERO/The Human Abstract/The Arusha Accord/The Chariot – Rio’s, Leeds

7^th – IT BITES/Plastic Gun Alliance – Academy 3, Manchester

8^th – PURE REASON REVOLUTION/Palmstruck – MOHO, Manchester

13^th – EXIT TEN/Forever Never/Ashes Of Illusions – Barfly, Liverpool

17th - ELOHYMN/This Is Not A Dead Transmission/Deceived- Roadhouse, Manchester

19^th – GONE TIL WINTER/Awaker/Before Autumn Falls- The Music Box, Manchester

22^nd – EXIT TEN/Forever Never/Appolyon/The Hollow Earth Theory- Central Station, Wrexham

24^th – KAMELOT/Serenity/Toxic Federation- Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

27^th – FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND/We Are The Ocean/People In Planes – Rio’s, Leeds

28^th – KAMELOT/Pantheon - Rio’s, Leeds

I’d been waiting to see PROTEST THE HERO since I got into them in late 2008, and boy was it worth the wait. Great set with perfect sound quality in front of a surprisingly huge crowd too. Enjoyed all three supports too. Since they returned to the scene in 2006, IT BITES have become something of a touring machine and they always get a good reaction from a Manchester crowd. Don’t think this was quite up there with last years shows but still very enjoyable. The following night saw PURE REASON REVOLUTION playing at a new (for me) venue in town called MOHO. I’d been really struggling to get anything at all out of their new album but they put on a fine show despite a dodgy sound system!

EXIT TEN were out on a headline tour this month – the Liverpool gig was excellent, though the sound at Wrexham was so bad, it was hardly worth being there. FOREVER NEVER were out with them promoting their new album and they are always a good watch.

A chance to catch up with Preston's favourite instru-mentalists ELOHYMN is always welcome and they were in good form at the Roadhouse tonight. Couple of other good bands tonight in the shape of headliners THE DECEIVED and the rather quirky THIS IS NOT A DEAD TRANSMISSION.

GONE TIL WINTER pulled a decent crowd into the stange little venue that is Manchester's Music Box. The occasion was the release of theirr first single. This cwas a really good performance too- a lot looser and more relaxed than when I last saw them.

KAMELOT were back in the UK for a run of shows and we managed to catch two of them At Wolverhampton they were pretty good, at Leeds they were absolutely stunning. Surprisingly, they seemed to revel in the smaller stage and ‘in your face’ audience. The only down part of the Leeds show was that support band SERENITY couldn’t play as the singer was ill- they were fantastic at Wolverhampton too. Instead we got the truly woeful PANTHEON.