Roy Wood celebrating Christmas at the Bilston Robin. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. December 2009.
Fresh from his triumphant support slot on Status Quo’s U.K. tour, Roy Wood arrived in Bilston to headline his now annual Christmas show.
He wasted no time in warming up everyone who had braved the sub-zero temperatures by opening the set with the infectious California Man.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2009.
An altercation with a fan over a camera flash left a packed house briefly in fear that Hugh Cornwell would not return for the second of a set of two halves featuring songs from his latest offering Hooverdam and re-visiting The Stranglers’ 1977 debut album Rattus Norvegicus.
However, Hugh returned to bring the house down with the old favourites, kicking off with Sometimes, followed by the entire album including Goodbye Toulouse, Peaches, Hanging Around and Down in the Sewer.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2009.
New Model Army have gone through so many different genres they could almost appeal to every live music lover,
Whether it is the rock/folk era that the fans like or the early punk days, during which they enjoyed critical success, every taste was appeared to be catered for.
Touring on the back of their new studio album, Today is a Good Day, NMA mainstay and frontman Justin Sullivan wasted no time getting down to the business of making as much noise and good music as possible.
Nick Beggs and Steve Hackett at the Bilston Robin. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by the Birmingham Mail. November 2009.
Thanks to the popularity of his latest album, Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth, Steve Hackett is enjoying success once more where it matters, in front of audiences who never stopped believing in the prolific musician/songwriter.
Steve and his band kicked off with the maniacal Mechanical Bride before heading straight into the childlike but message-heavy Fire On The Moon from the new album. An array of other songs from his long solo career followed.
Bob Catley in action. Photgraph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. October 2009.
They opened the show with material from their new album Into The Valley of the Moonking, including the fantastic Cry to Yourself but Magnum soon reminded the audience of their past work with Brand New Morning and the effortless When We Were Younger.
The biggest cheer of the night deservedly went out to the thought provoking Les Morte Dansant,
Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. October 2009.
It might be hard to get past the idea of comedian Adrian Edmondson being on stage with musicians playing folk versions of punk classics but after opening with The Clash’s I Fought The Law they had the near-capacity crowd in the palm of their hands.
Other songs getting the Bad Shepherd’s treatment included The Stranglers’ hit No More Heroes, The Jam’s Down In The Tube Station At Midnight and Talking Heads’ Once In A Lifetime.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. October 2009.
It is easy to see why Bowling For Soup remain firm fan favourites on the punk-pop circuit.
At Birmingham’s o2 Academy they tore up the rule book and played outstanding music with little or no pretensions and seemingly took a bucketload of pleasure from seeing the capaicity crowd enjoy what was on offer.
By opening the set with I’m Gay from the Great Burrito Experiment album and Almost from a Hangover You Don’t Deserve the Texas foursome set the standard for the evening.
Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail.October 2009.
Some might baulk at the idea of a gig with a set list containing just a handful of songs but with The Enid what you lack in quantity you more than make up for in quality.
Starting the show with the wonderfully dynamic Apocalypse…Judement Day was a masterstrokea as it enraptured the audience and set the tonefor the rest of the evening.
Much praise must go to lead guitarist Jason Ducker whose presence at the front of stage was equal to the founding father of the band and superb pianist Robert John Godfrey, as he proved elegantly on the tracks Chaldean Crossing and Riguardon-The Dancing Lizard.
Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. September 2009.
It Bites arrived on stage with a mission to prove that last year’s critically acclaimed tour with John Mitchell at the helm was not a one-off success.
By starting the evening with the barnstorming Ghosts and All In Red, any fears were put aside as keyboard player John Beck, bassist Lee Pomeroy and drummer Bob Dalton blew the fans away with the edginess of the music.
The night was more about celebrating the 21st anniversary of the album Once Around The World and the guys played every song from the record.
Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. September 2009.
Hot on the heels of the release of their third album, Aussie foursome Jet treated their fanatical audience to an evening of strong riffs, fine lyrics and the occasional bit of crowd banter.
They opened with Get What You Need from 2003’s debut album Get Born before going headlong into the superb She’s a Genius, the band’s first single from the new C.D. Shaka Rock.
Despite some derogatory comments from a tiny section of the crowd, lead vocalist Nic Cester kept his cool and let the music do the talking with Beat On Repeat, the radio hit Are You Gonna Be My Girl? and the foot stomping Seventeen.