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The Manchester Apollo was absolutely heaving for the Disturbed show tonight. Not just busy, but absolutely jam packed full of rock fans. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the venue as full as it was for the first of their two nights in the city to close the Evolution World Tour. It was full right from the get-go too due to the support act tonight being the one and only Skindred, who are, in their own rights a massive draw. |
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Papa Roach's set began with 10 of the most iconic and recognisable words in rock with the explosive intro to ‘Last Resort’, and playing ‘Last’ first was a bit of a masterstroke getting everybody going from the outset. |
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Slash, Myles and the Conspirators turned the Doncaster Dome into the Thunderdome for the night with a two and a quarter hour set of exquisite RnFnR. |
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It’s been a while since I’ve been completely blown away by a support band, and actually the last Clutch support that really did that was Clutch when they supported themselves as The Bakerton Group, but tonight both supports managed to do exactly that. |
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25 years ago a 16 year old version of me found a band call The Wildhearts and nothing was the same again. I lost count of the amount of times I saw them live, and ‘Earth vs the Wildhearts’ still remains one of my fave albums of all time. So it was with great excitement I trotted along to the Mill in Digbeth to see them smash through their debut with the original line up. |
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Their t-shirts say ‘Too Country for Rock, Too Rock for Country' which may be true about Blackberry Smoke on record and may be the reason I have never properly given them an opportunity further than listening to an odd track now and then. Live though they are much closer to one of my favourite ever bands, fellow Atlantians the Black Crowes. |
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I’d heard mixed things about Greta Van Fleet from ‘they’re just a Zeppelin covers band’ to ‘absolutely incredible stuff' but I’m usually not one to just take other people’s word for it so I had to check them out for myself. I love the album Anthem of the Peaceful Army, and yes, it is very Zeppelin-esque - but who cares - I love Zeppelin. |
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MC5 were a massively influential band predating and inspiring the New York punk scene with their blues infused garage rock. A fact evidenced by the calibre of the all-star collection of musicians who have joined original member Wayne Kramer to play this 50th anniversary tour celebrating their music. |
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Three Days Grace are one of those bands that I've binged from an early age. After first discovering them in 2004 watching the film Raise Your Voice (and proceeding to begging my mum to take me to Virgin Megastore to buy their self-titled debut album), they've been a band that I've had in my playlists for the last 14 years, but never managed to catch live. |
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About 8 years ago I was completely blown away by a voice that captured everyone inside an arena within 30 seconds - completely acapella. It gave everybody goose bumps and stopped them in their tracks - and the performer wasn’t even on stage yet. It was an offstage intro from Lzzy Hale from Halestorm and it had everyone mesmerised from the get go. 8 years and 4 albums later and they have lost none of that ability to instantly capture a room full of people. If anything, that ability is even stronger now with a catalogue of incredible tracks to choose from. |
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Apparently, tonight’s gig is billed as a warm up for The Wildhearts before they head off to Japan and Australia, let's hope they enjoy similar size crowds out there as they are doing here in The Plug in Sheffield. Just as a side note, it has been rumoured that this pretty decent venue is soon to close and become a golf superstore – what a damn shame if it's true, OK not a classic Sheffield venue along the lines of The Leadmill, but all the same a great live music outlet. Another One Bites The Dust (if you needed a musical reference). |
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Just as a near post-apocalyptic heatwave is coming to an end, what’s the best idea for something to do – I know, cram yourself into a sweaty club in Wakefield and watch some bands. The only thing is the main band tonight is not just a band, they are the dying embers of the most magnificent Thin Lizzy. Now as a life long Lizzy fan, well since I was about 12, I had of course been very excited when they reformed, albeit without their master frontman, and as they gently morphed into Black Star Riders, the omens and the albums promised much. Let’s hope tonight that my first experience of them live lives up to my anticipation. |
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Having already played a couple of festivals around Europe this summer Stone Sour are now ready to hit the UK with a few dates, first up is tonights gig at the Manchester Apollo. Arriving at the venue there is a buzz around and fans are here in their numbers with the que reaching far into the distance. |
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Seattle legends Alice in Chains paid a flying visit to the UK for two shows in the run up to the release of their new album due later this year and before they spend the whole summer on a huge run of festival shows. We were lucky enough to catch them at Leeds Academy, the first of the two nights. |
