GIGGING IN 2009 - DECEMBER

DECEMBER

1st – PROPAGANDHI/Protest The Hero/Strike Anywhere/The Final Crisis – Rios,Leeds
3rd – SWALLOW THE SUN/Insomnium/Omnium Gatherum – Star & Garter, Manchester
4th – HARD ROCK HELL III – Pontins, Prestatyn
MONSTER MAGNET/Arthemis/Die Apokalypitschen Reiter/Eden’s Curse/Gun/Korpiklaani/Ratt/Remedy/Sonata Arctica/Sons Of Merrick/Voodoo Johnson/Waylander/Imicus/Black Spiders
6th – ALESTORM/The Rotted/Eden’s Curse – MOHO, Manchester
9th – MONSTER MAGNET/Karma To Burn/Lions – Academy 2, Manchester
11th – DRAGONFORCE/Sabaton/Sylosis/Glamour Of The Kill – Academy, Manchester
17th – HEAVENS BASEMENT/Sworn To Oath – Academy 3, Manchester
19th – AMPLIFIER/Charlie Barnes – Academy 3, Manchester
26th – FURY UK – Hark To Towler, Tottington
28th – ELOHYMN/The Laze/Chaotix/Bobby Peru – Mad Ferret, Preston

I wasn’t too familiar with PROPAGANDHI until I heard their latest rather good album ‘Supporting Caste’ but their melodic punk/metal crossover really hit the spot with a packed Rio’s crowd. The great shame for me was the rather poor performance by PROTEST THE HERO- they were the main reason I’d bought the ticket and they just didn’t seem into it- especially the singer… as the other shows of theirs I’ve seen have been good, I’ll put it down to a bad day at the office

I’d seen all three bands on the bill at Manchester’s Star & Garter at festivals this year OMNIUM GATHERUM opened the show and despite a power cut in mid set, they went down really well with the crowd. It seems most of the crowd were there for INSOMNIUM who were far more impressive than I remembered them at BOA. The crowd thinned a bit for SWALLOW THE SUN but they played a blinder. I really do like their new album and it translates really well to the live environment.

So, the final festival of the year . HARD ROCK HELL is in it’s third year at Pontins in Prestatyn. Having enjoyed Hammerfest there earlier in the year, I decided to get a day ticket for the Friday (The line up for Saturday held very little of interest for me). I arrived just in time to catch another impressive set from IMICUS. ARTHEMIS followed and their classic metal went down great with the packed out Queen Vic venue. My particular favourite of the early bands was REMEDY- a female fronted hard rock outfit from the North East. WAYLANDER got the second stage off to a good start with their celtic folk metal, followed by DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER . Great show- complete with huge flags and stage risers, though the crowd didn’t seem as into it as they were at Bloodstock. KORPIKLAANI stumbled onto the stage next. I’d never seen them before but had been told how great they were live…I’ll reserve my judgement as they were a bit of a mess today. Over on the main stage GUN played to a very receptive crowd. Toby Jepson has revitalised this band and it’s only when you hear them live you remember how many great songs they had from the first part of their career. Sadly, the new stuff they played tonight isn’t in the same league. Never really liked RATT and nothing I saw here changed that – a really lacklustre performance but the now very drunk crowd seemed to like it. For some reason, I’d never really listened to MONSTER MAGNET despite being told by friends that they’d be right up my street…. how I wish I’d listened to them now. I loved this- nothing particularly visual to get excited about but the sound they created…oh boy…. This is going to cost me a fortune grabbing their back catalogue!
Seeing MM meant missing all but ten minutes of BLACK SPIDERS, which was a shame as the bit I saw sounded great. The band I REALLY wanted to see was SONATA ARCTICA, though I was surprised they were at HRH rather than Hammerfest. It was after midnight when they hit the stage and the crowd had thinned a lot. They played well enough, but the sound was bit iffy and there were still too many drunken idiots trying to spoil it for everyone else.
A decent day, but it all took place against the backdrop of really awful atmosphere. It seemed 99% of those there were more interested in the bottom of a glass rather than the music.

ALESTORM were headlining a rather eclectic mix of bands at MoHo- first up were EDEN’S CURSE. I’d seen these guys get a really bad deal on two occasions earlier this year as far as sound goes so I wasn’t expecting much from the awful PA here..as it happens, it wasn’t bad, but I can’t say the same for the performance. Just didn’t enjoy it at all – especially the singer. THE ROTTED’s punk anthems seemed really out of place and they struggled to get a response out of the crowd. That wasn’t a problem for ALESTORM. Pretty much the same setlist they’ve been playing all year, but great fun as ever.
I told you I enjoyed MONSTER MAGNET at HRH, so I just had to catch it again to see if it was just me getting lucky… it wasn’t, they were fantastic again! Both support bands LIONS and KARMA TO BURN were good too- Lions were so good I bought their album afterwards!
The musical spectacular that is the current DRAGONFORCE tour rolled into Manchester- everything that I said about the November gig in Preston, repeat here for all four bands.. brilliant stuff, though slightly confused as to why the place was only half full.
A couple of Academy 3 gigs to close the pre-Christmas action. HEAVEN’S BASEMENT are creating a bit of stir these days and they were finishing off their nationwide tour. Surprised to see so many ‘oldies’ like me in the audience - the support slot they did with Bon Jovi last year must have done them some good! They certainly know how to put a good show on and they’ve got the tunes to back up their confident stage presence. AMPLIFIER at the Academy is becoming something of a Christmas tradition now- this years bash focussed on their ‘Eternity’ album.. I hadn’t realised that beforehand and as I don’t have it, the evening didn’t quite have the same impact on me that Amplifier normally does.
A chance to shake off the mince pies and turkey in the company of FURY UK seemed like a good idea. A good sized crowd were on hand for this one and what a good night it was too as they ripped through 100 minutes of their own material with a couple of fine covers thrown in as the encores..not bad for 3 quid!!!

The last show of the year…phew.. made it!! I’ve raved on here about ELOHYMN before and I’m going to do it again- a set full of new material that sounded truly epic with a couple of older tunes thrown in to close things off – they are promising an album in early 2010, that should be something to get excited about.