Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2007.
One thing you can guarantee at a Thunder gig is that you will be joined by some of the most vocal and dedicated fans in rock today.
By opening the set with Dirty Dream from last year’s Robert Johnson’s Tombstone album and the excellent Last Man Standing Thunder set their stall out to entertain.
They continued to huge applause from a capacity crowd with The Devil Made Me Do It and the love song I’ll Be Waiting.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2007.
From the pulsating, atmospheric opening of Splintering Heart to the emotional, heart jerking ending of Easter, a near-capacity audience was treated to a heady mix of songs from Marillion’s new album Somewhere Else and a selection from their extensive back catalogue.
The band treated the audience to a sample of the new album with the tracks The Other Half, Somewhere Else and single Thank You Whoever You Are.
These were deftly intertwined with classic songs such as the sublime Afraid Of Sunlight, You’re Gone and the hauntingly beautiful Fantastic Place.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. April 2007.
For a while there seemed to be a dearth of young talented singer/songwriters who would struggle to stay the course but thankfully one man defying the trend is Damien Rice.
Welcomed by an enthusiastic capacity crowd, he immediately got fans in the right mood with the stunning Me, My Yoke and I from his latest critically acclaimed album, 9.
He then launched into a set full of moody, though provoking and atmospheric songs such as Woman Like A Man, Accidental Babies and the Incredible Volcano.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. October 2006.
Modern acts could learn a valuable lesson in endurance from the evergreen David Essex, who spurned his advancing years to give a stunning performance.
An appreciative audience cheered and clapped throughout the two-hour show that opened with Beautiful Day from the album of the same name.
After the song Dust To Dust he thrilled the crowd by going back to his roots with Silver Dream Machine, set against a montage of scenes from the film, and perennial favourite Rock On.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2005.
For the past 18 months Marillion have been on the road touring with their critically acclaimed album Marbles.
With another set of dates announced, cunningly called The Not Quite Christmas tour, they were in the Midlands to entertain a capacity crowd once again.
With a set combining songs from Marbles and an eclectic mix of tracks from the past 15 years, the audience were treated to a thrilling performance by frontman Steve Hogarth whose energetic efforts on stage would have made younger acts green with envy.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2004.
Marillion are one of the most under-rated bands of the past 20 years and they had the crowd at the almost sold out Civic Hall still with anticipation and longing.
During the first hour of the set, which revolved around the current album Marbles, they played the moody and atmospheric Invisible Man, their recent top ten single You’re Gone and the next release Don’t Hurt Yourself.
Heat is on
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2008.
It was a sweltering June day but Queensryche still strolled into town and turned up the heat. As the show kicked off with the opening bars of Anarchy X, from the critically acclaimed Operation Mindcrime, it was soon apparent that Queensryche and vocalist in particular, had lost none of their passion and ability.
These were the traits that had pushed the band to the very top of their genre over a decade ago, before regretfully being largely forgotten by the music buying public. As the set list continued through tracks as diverse as Speak, Spreading The Disease and the Haunting Suite Sister Mary the band seemed to step up several gears before coming to Eyes Of A Stranger.