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Sheryl Crow’s mini summer tour taking in Birmingham, Gateshead and Nottingham, before a set at the Isle of White Festival, was billed as a Greatest Hits tour. So I was fully prepared for Sheryl Crow to walk on stage around lunchtime, play everything she’s ever recorded and leave the stage around midnight to a standing ovation. |
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There was a large crowd out in Nottingham on Tuesday to enjoy the musical prowess of Jungle a collective of musicians that captivated the ears of British summer barbeques and festivals just over four years ago. The night started with a queue bending around the Rock City venue. |
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Pittsburgh heavier-than-hell hardcore crew Code Orange are undoubtedly the breakthrough band in heavy music of the past year or two. Their third album, Forever, took them onto a major label and astonishingly found them being nominated for a Grammy for the title track. For a band who have been described as "nightmarishly chaotic hardcore”, this is no minor feat. |
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Having liked Embrace for over 20 years and only having seen them a handful of times I was more than a little excited. The older clientele in attendance would suggest that I wasn't alone in my 20 year love affair with the Leeds band, and based on the crowd’s reaction it wasn’t the first time many of them had seen them. |
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The band everyone had come out on this now very snowy night to see, American Death Metal outfit Cannibal Corpse, undoubtedly one of the founding fathers of the Death Metal genre we all know today. |
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Tonight I visited the rowdy Nottingham venue Rock City to see Black Symphonic Metallers Arch Enemy. First up as main support we had Wintersun, a band I was happy to realize were supporting as I was a fan in my teenage years. |
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So to accompany their recently released album 'The Spark' these eclectic musicians bring their tour to Nottingham, as part of a series of arena tours. Welcome to the Motorpoint Arena tonight, Enter Shakiri. |
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It’s sometimes hard to believe how long Papa Roach have been together. Halfway through tonight’s show, lead singer Jacoby Shaddix points out they formed back in 1993 which makes half of the crowd feel very old and the other half realise they weren’t born at the time! They released their 9th album ‘Crooked Teeth’ a few months ago which has received great plaudits from critics and fans hailing it as their best work in a long time! |
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Sometime in the mid-late 80s I entered Rock City for the first time for what I always maintained was the sweatiest gig I’ve ever been to (Georgia Satellites). Admittedly 19 year old me was front and centre and having a good old mosh. The older, more damaged, me was stood at the back for this one yet still ended the gig drenched with sweat. It was a veritable sauna in there. Admittedly one with bodies flying everywhere in a joyous celebration of one of the greatest proponents of Celtic/Punk there has ever been. I rather think the young me would have had a new sweatiest gig. Dropkick Murphys have brought their juggernaut of a live show steaming once again into a sold out Rock City. |
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So where to start with this one. Well the parental advisory message may be both apt and too late but nevertheless anyone of a sensitive disposition should probably look away now. Sometime last year Black Spiders announced they were to be no more. One last gig was planned and that was to be it. The fans clamoured for more and eventually Pete ‘Spider’ Spiby kicked in the door of their collective padded cell and unleashed his Spiders on the UK one last time. An eight date "F*** Off Black Spiders" Final Tour. |
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Tonight we are heading to Rock City in Nottingham for the first time ever, to see a six piece Irish Folk Rock formed in 1986, though with only two of the remaining members Leo Moran and Davy Carton, tonight's gig with The Saw Doctors made for an interesting night! |
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As the London based duo Bear's Den graced the stage they were met with an excited cheer from the packed out Nottingham Rock City crowd, and effortlessly chimed into first track 'Red Earth & Pouring Rain', closely followed by 'Emeralds'. The stage was alight with a warm golden glow that cast a misty haze across the band which had you believing you could quite easily be at a folk festival rather than cramped into a two tiered room in the middle of the East Midlands. |
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Wolfmother made their way onto the stage at the rather early time of 8 bells to make sure they finished in time for another modern phenomena, the 10pm curfew. Not that it mattered a jot as the now packed out Rock City greeted the band noisily and enthusiastically. |
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Blissfully unaware of Rudimental’s new album release, I felt somewhat ignorant turning up to Rock City as a follower of the band rather than a fanatic. Hitting the music scene in 2012 their drum’n’base rhythms remind me of my summer nights back at high school; times I cherish and was in hope of reliving at the gig. |
