Concerts I've seen

This was my first visit to JBs, and I have to say I was quite impressed with the venue. It's a decent size, and the tiered flooring means a good view of the stage can be had from even qutie far back. Panic Cell had performed quite a respectable set at Bloodstock, but had done nothing to particularly impress or stand out from the crowd. Tonight was an improvement, though, being more cohesive musically, and generally just presenting themselves to the audience better. There was nothing particularly memorable about the set, but they're definitely heading in the right direction. As at Bloodstock, Humanity just didn't do anything for me. Again, they did nothing wrong, but it was all just too bland and didn't grab me at all. Rise To Addiction are Wray and Slater's new band having left Blaze. To me, they were one of the key elements of Blaze's success, and having downloaded their first video and enjoyed it, I was expecting big things from them. It was somewhat of a disappointment, then, when they failed to live up to that expectation. The problem is simply their vocalist. He just doesn't have either the voice or the on stage charisma to do them justice. That's not to say the set wasn't without its highlights, such as "Alive" or "Kill and destroy". But I was expecting so much more. Edguy had been great at Bloodstock in 2003, and at the Underworld a few years ago. On top of that, their new album, "Hellfire club" is probably their strongest yet. So it was no surprise that they put on another great show tonight, with notable highlights being "Navigator" from the aforementioned "Hellfire club" album, the title track from "Vain glory opera", and a drum solo played to the Imperial death march theme from Star Wars. The first encore brought Avantasia's "Chalice of agony", and "Tears of a mandrake", and the second encore gave us "Mysteria" and "Out of control". An excellent night of metal, to round out the year.

This was the first time I'd been to Ocean, and was surprised to find a pretty decent venue. It's just a shame it's in the arse end of nowhere, and is such a pain to get to. I'd never heard Pro-jekt before, but from what I'd read, I was expecting them to be a cyber nu metal Kerrang! type band. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a quite reasonable goth industrial metal band -- for want of a better phrase. They didn't really fit into either of those categories, but had elements of all three, at times heading firmly into synth driven electronica territory, at others having crunchy guitars and solid bass dominating the sound. The crow on the monitor was a nice touch, and I enjoyed their set. One to watch out for in the future. The only thing I knew about Susperia was that they were formed by Tjodalv when he left Dimmu Borgir. Musically, there was some similarity between the two, but (and this may sound strange) the vocals were less accessible than Dimmu Borgir, despite being cleaner, and the music didn't have quite as much of an aggressive feel to it. That said, they still put on a very respectable set, and although I wasn't familiar with their studio output, I still enjoyed the set. As an encore, they played a cover of A-ha's "The sun always shines on TV". Which was a good prompt for the guy next to me to make me feel old by asking me what it was, as he didn't recognize it. I hadn't really heard much from Mortiis since his first album. Tonight's show was a reasonably competent show of industrial metal. Partway through the set, he declared that it was time to sacrifice an ear, and tore it off to throw into the audience. I have a couple of gripes though. Firstly I felt the songs were too repetitive, and by the end of the set, I was getting distinctly bored. Secondly, I think all three bands suffered a bit from the size of the crowd compared to the venue size. For the number of people that turned up, The Underworld would have been a more appropriate venue, and would probably have generated more of a buzz in the crowd.

Firebird were an above average guitar and drum driven pub blues band. Nothing special though. Although I'd been vaguely aware of Chariot, I wasn't familiar with any of their material, and only really knew them as being the progenitors of Dirty Deeds. Having seen no promotion for this gig in advance, I'd been concerned that it was going to be a rerun of the last Deeds gig here, where only a handful of people showed up. Although it was far from packed, tonight drew a more respectably sized audience. Although there are definite similarities, Chariot have a much harsher, and indeed heavier sound than Deeds, and there were obviously a fair number of people in the audience that knew the songs. I wasn't one of them, though, and although it was a competent performance, and Pete in particular was obviously enjoying himself, it was far from outstanding for me.

I'd arrived at the venue too late to catch the first band of the day, Rezin 69. Intense were thus the first band I saw on the Saturday. I haven't been overly impressed when I've seen them before, and although they're definitely getting more professional over time, I still feel that the vocals just aren't good enough to compliment the music, and until that situation changes, they're always going to be less than they could, and perhaps should, be. Still, a reasonable showing nonetheless. In the Darwin Suite, Seven Years Dead were a taste of something a bit heavier, playing a traditional brand of thrash. The vocals sounded a bit flat in a live environment, though, and the band didn't do much for me. I'd be interested to see if a studio setting would give an improvement though, as there's certainly some potential. Panic Cell had garnered quite a large following on the main stage. I'm not entirely sure why, though. Although they were quite popular with the crowd, to me they came across as an average pub rock band, and were a bit bland. Humanity were another band that didn't do anything particularly wrong, but did nothing to stand out from the rest either. They did show a marked improvement on a song introduced as "Serenity", though. I'd been looking forward to seeing Edenbridge, as I'd been quite impressed with their studio output. Again, although I enjoyed the set, they did little to make it a truly memorable one, and a lot of their songs came across sounding very similar to each other. Two exceptions to that were their renditions of "Wild chase" and "Cheyenne spirit", both of which were head and shoulders above the other material they played. I'd have liked to have seen "Sunrise in Eden", though.

I'd heard a lot of bad things about Nowhere Near The Garden before the weekend, and several people had complained that they weren't the style of music that should be playing at a festival like Bloodstock. So I was somewhat surprised when my low expectations were easily surpassed by what turned out to be quite a decent band. True, it's not a style that I'm particularly into, reminding me of bands like Finger 11. But they had strong musicianship, a great stage presence, and a frontman who did a great job of performing to the crowd, even if he hasn't managed to buy a pair of jeans that come up to his waist yet. They put on a good enough performance that I'd definitely go and see them again on their own should they be playing in London. Evergrey were the first of the big name bands. They have obviously been doing this for a while now, and came across as extremely professional, and put on a great set of technical metal, which went down very well with the crowd. They come across significantly heavier on stage than they do in the studio, too, and that seems to work well for them. The highlight for me was probably an excellent "A touch of blessing". Next up in the Darwin Suite, Gutworm were playing their warp speed death metal. The vocals were too incomprehensible for me, though, and I just didn't enjoy their set at all. They had an inexplicably large crowd, though, far larger than some of the more deserving bands on the bill. Balance Of Power have recruited a new vocalist since they last played at Bloodstock in 2002. This has been a big improvement for them, and they're a better band now than they were then. They are still a bit too bland and progressive for my tastes, though. I'd like to see them move in a heavier direction. The Prophecy were very melodic, with some Maiden-esque tempo changes mid-song. As is becoming common these days, they alternative clean and harsh vocals. However, I think they haven't struck the balance right, and they're not using enough clean vocals to provide variety to their sound.

So on to Primal Fear. Having stolen the show at Bloodstock '01, I'd gone out of my way to see them again, but the next two shows of theirs I saw hadn't lived up to their original promise. Furthermore, their two most recent albums haven't been quite up to the standards they set with their earlier output. So it was with mixed expectations that I waited to see them. Wow. I needn't have worried. This was a textbook demonstration of how to play heavy metal to an audience. Wisely opening with the awesome "Angel in black", they stormed through a set of classics. Although Ralf claimed they had 5 albums worth of material to get through, they concentrated on songs from only 3, with only "Final embrace" making the set list from "Jaws of death", and nothing from "Black sun". The highlights for me were "Nuclear fire", "The healer" and "Metal is forever". Even some minor sound problems resulting in Stefan's guitar being way too low in the mix didn't affect the enjoyment of a stunning performance from start to end, that I didn't want to finish. Cruachan were an enjoyable, but odd mix of celtic folk and metal, with electric instruments and a selection of traditional celtic ones. Sporting both male and female vocals, harsh and clean, they reminded me in places of various bands such as Clannad, Gary Moore, Inkubus Sukkubus and Steeleye Span. Highlights for me were "Brian Boru", and "Ride on", which although I'd never heard of it before was apparently a hit single for them. An awful lot of people were looking forward to Sonata Arctica in the main hall. It was a big disappointment, then, when they were essentially crippled by sound problems. Although they were going through the motions on stage, the guitars and backing vocals were literally silent through the PA, and the keyboards could barely be heard, being drowned out by the bass and drums. Vocalist Tony Kakko was visibly upset by this, and spent the first few songs heading over the to mixing desk and furiously trying to get the problems sorted out. Over the course of the set, the sound did definitely improve, but I'd say well over 50% of the set was marred by the sound quality. That's not to say the set wasn't without its highlights, which for me were "Still loving you" and "Replica". But the band obviously weren't enjoying it, and although they were trying their hardest, the sound problems definitely spoiled their set for me. Fourway Kill had a large crowd, but as when I saw them supporting Blaze, they simply proved that they are great exponents of making a lot of volume. There was simply too much noise and not enough substance or songwriting skills to sustain my interest. They also had by far the worst pit fiends of any of the bands at the festival. The security guards were standing and watching in amazement as they beat each other up while ruining the set for those who were trying to watch the band. Children Of Bodom have parted ways with their previous guitarist. This opening was thus filled by Alexi's partner in crime in Sinergy, Roope Latvala. The two of them are extremely technically competent, and together they have the potential to rival some of the great twin lead guitar pairings. I've always felt that they've been let down by Alexi's Dani Filth like vocals, though, and tonight was no exception, that being my only real complaint. Highlights of the set were "Every time I die", and an excellent "Angels never kill". Another Bloodstock over, then, and this time I managed to see all but two of the bands playing over the weekend. Of the 25 bands, only Invey, Gutworm and Fourway Kill produced substandard performances. The rest were all good and came up trumps with strong showings. Honourable mentions must go to Season's End and Nowhere Near The Garden, neither of whom I'd heard before, and who both put on strong performances. Of the big name bands, Sinergy and Evergrey led the way. But at the end of the weekend, it was clear that Primal Fear were simply in a different league to the everyone else, and easily took the honours of my band of the festival. Come back to the UK soon, guys!

I'd missed Infobia in 2002 due to being unable to find a parking space. They'd acquired quite a good reputation, and I was looking forward to seeing them this year. Hence I set off for Derby with plenty of time to spare. Fortunately, I only got 30 miles or so up the M1 before I realised that I'd left my ticket sitting on my desk at home. A hasty about turn, and a dash back to London followed, and I still thought I'd have just enough time to make it up to Derby in time for the first band of the day. I nearly made it, too, but around Loughborough, the M1 ground to a halt and I was stuck in stationary traffic. By the time I got to Derby, I'd missed Super Massive Object, and most of Infobia's set. I did manage to catch the last few minutes of it, though, and on that basis, came away very impressed. I'll definitely be trying to catch Infobia live again... hopefully for a full set next time! Next up were Illuminatus, who had done well last year albeit without being particularly stunning. This year they once again put on a good show, and with an extra year's experience, they came across much better this time around. Once again, the set was closed with a cover of "For whom the bell tolls". Having missed SMO, Liquid Sky were thus the first of the Femme Fatale themed bands that I saw. They were musically quite good, but I felt they were let down by the vocals which seemed a bit flat, in the same way that Sonia's from Mercury Rain sometimes are.

Although I'm a big Sinergy fan, I'd felt their latest album, "Suicide by my side" to be weaker than the first two, and their performance at The Garage had been nothing to write home about. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to see them step up a gear for this show, and put on a great performance. The whole band had more energy and enthusiasm, and I suspect the larger crowd also helped. Highlights for me were "The sin trade" and naturally, "The fourth world". The only real negative was that their set was cut short due to time constraints, and they had to skip the last 3 songs. Overall a superb performance, though, and one I hope to see them repeat in the UK soon. Invey sadly hadn't improved much since last year, and the vocalist needs to learn to sing, not shout. I appreciate that they're aiming for a different market than that, but it's just not my thing, and I found them dull and lifeless. Threshold were another band returning from 2002. After the horrors of Invey, they were pleasantly melodic. But for my tastes, they were perhaps a bit too progressive sounding, and for want of a better word, too nice, and were lacking in aggression. Season's End were the headlining Femme Fatale stage in the Darwin Suite. I'd intended to stay for a few songs to see what they were like and then return to the main hall to grab a decent spot for Gamma Ray. But they far surpassed my expectations, and were good enough that I ended up staying for essentially the whole set. They're still a little unpolished in places, but that'll come with time, and they show enormous potential for the future. They also came out with with best on stage quote of the festival: "Our album's for sale in the foyer - please buy a copy, we're really poor" (and yes, I did buy a copy). This is definitely a band for whom I'll be keeping an eye out. Headliners of the day were Gamma Ray. They'd been consistently good when I'd seen them before, so it was somewhat of a disappointment when their set seemed a bit lacklustre to me. There were certainly highlights, such as "Valley of the Kings", the obligatory "Somewhere out in space", and "I want out" in the encore. But overall I just felt there were a bit lacking, and I'm certainly pleased I didn't miss out on Season's End's set to get a better place for them. Despite that, though, a great start to this year's Bloodstock, with Sinergy being the band of the day, and Season's End being an unepxected hit.

Not the best start to a gig. I'd been at the Bulldog Bash earlier in the day, and had planned to ride into London for the gig, and park in my office car park, which is conveniently located a couple of minutes' walk from The Astoria. But a combination of me leaving slightly late, encountering traffic on the way meant I was running late by the time I got there. Then I found out that they'd closed the road to my office, and spent more time trying to find out how to get around to the back so I could get to the car park. When I eventually made it into the gig, I'd missed Viking Skull, which I'd anticipated, and also most of Dio's set, which due to the delayed release of his new album was effectively a greatest hits showcase. Still, what I did see showed him to have lost none of his stage presence, and once again he put on a great show, with "The last in line" and "Rainbow in the dark" particularly standing out.

I'd heard a lot of good things about operers Brainstorm, so I had high hopes. Musically, they were very good, reminding me a little bit of Savatage. But I felt they were being held back a bit by the vocals. They're not bad, but I think they're not necessarily as good as the music demands. Still, I'll keep an eye out for them in the future. I thought Nightwish were a little subdued compared to the last couple of times I'd seen them, but a subdued Nightwish is still a great live experience. This time around, the mid-set break for Tarja saw a cover of Megadeth's "Symphony of destruction" replacing "Crazy train". The new material from "Once" seemed pretty strong, but the highlights for me were "Phantom of the opera" and "Slaying the dreamer". I was a bit disappointed not to hear "End of all hope", though.

Viking Skull have sadly failed to live up to their appearance at The Monarch where I first saw them, and have been very mediocre when I've seen them since, and tonight was no exception to that. Alice Cooper had a much more minimalist stage set than at his other recent shows. Sure, there was still the sword with the dollar bills, and the balloons full of confetti, but gone were the props from a horror movie, and the show didn't even feature an execution of Alice! He put on a reasonable performance, but it did seem a bit lacklustre. Notable tracks were "Hello hooray" and "Under my wheels", and "Desperado", for which he donned a Spanish style hat. But he's been much better in the past, and I hope he returns to his previous good form next time he plays in the UK.

Another decent performance from The Quireboys got the evening off to a promising start. They've been better elsewhere, though. The last time I'd tried to see U.F.O., Michael Schenker had thrown his toys out of the pram a few days earlier and they've cancelled the rest of the tour. This time around, though, they managed to make it onto the stage. Phil Mogg was doing his best to look like Jonny Rotten, and Pete Way was like some kind of bizarre Pete Steel in pink. Anyway, they played a selection of tracks, the notable ones being "Rock me", "Too hot to handle" and "Rock bottom", and then "Doctor doctor" and "Shoot shoot" for the encore. Good, but nothing great.

Heart have been around for donkey's years, but have barely been heard of since their hits of the late '80s. Rumours had been going around that Ann had been doing a solo country and western album. Consequently, I had no idea what they were going to be like. I'd passed up a chance to see Queensrÿche on the same night as it clashed with this, and I've seen Queensrÿche many times. Was it going to be a mistake? Fortunately not, they turned out to be rather good. Highlights for me were "Magic man" and an acoustic version of "Alone". For the encore, they performed a couple of Led Zep covers, "Black dog" and "Misty mountain hop".

I wasn't sure what to expect from Devlish Presley, but the answer was not much. Two artists on stage, playing to a backing track, reminscent of The Venus Flytrap in that respect, playing musically simple songs. Nothing offensive, but nothing to interest me either, and I certainly won't be going out of my way to see them again. Adoration's John was suffering with a cold for this gig, and so his singing voice wasn't all it could be. This wasn't helped by a poor mix, so the live experience was definitely less than it had been at the Purple Turtle. Nevertheless, it was still a reasonable show, with the highlight once again being "Follow the thief", but I look forward to seeing them back to their earlier standards next time around.

Symphony Of Pain were uninspiring, and I don't remember much about them. Bob Catley was once more lacking a backing band, opting to use just a single guitarist instead, and once more he put on a pretty decent performance. Nothing special, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. I knew of Jeff Scott Soto from being the vocalist on Yngwie J. Malmsteen's first two albums. After that, he went on to play in Talisman and Eye (that I know of), and other things besides. One of those other things has apparently been appearing at Queen conventions, a fact reflected in his performing a cover of "Dragon attack". Although I was mostly unfamiliar with his music, it's obvious he's been doing this for a long time, and is a very accomplished frontman. His solo material is good enough to stand on its own merits, but it was his medley of Malmsteen songs that stood out for me, with an excellent rendition of "I am a viking" deserving particular mention. Throughout the set, and particularly in the encore, he played various covers, some mere snippets, and some whole songs. Apart from the aforementioned "Dragon attack", there were (that I could identify and can remember) "Staying alive", "Purple rain", "Play that funky music", "Enter sandman", "Kung fu fighting", "Red hot", "Crazy train", "Layla" and "Smoke on the water". I'm sure there were many more that I've missed, too. A great evening's entertainment.

Published openers Dyecrest didn't show, so the first band up was Dragonforce. This was the first time I'd heard them play any material from their new album "Sonic firestorm". Unfortunately, it was probably also the worst sound quality they've had of all the times I've seen them, so it was hard to gauge what the new tracks were like. Tonight's Spïnal Täp incident was Herman tripping up over the base of Blackie's microphone stand. To his credit, he landed on his arse and carried on playing, but the apalling sound quality really hampered enjoyment of their set tonight, with the drums and bass just drowning out the rest of the band. W.A.S.P. hadn't toured the UK for a while, and have seen an notable improvement in album quality with their last few releases, and this tour was in support of their latest effort, "The neon god, part 1". Blackie's aforementioned microphone stand is this time in the form of a hung skeleton. But with the exception of a backdrop of the new album, that was about the extent of the visuals this time around, Blackie apparently claiming that they were detracting from the music. I suspect the truth is more that it was too expensive to bring his full stage show. But whatever the reason, it didn't detract from another strong W.A.S.P. performance, opening with a furious medley of "On your knees", "Inside the electric circus", "Hellion" and "Chainsaw Charlie". I was somewhat disappointed that the band's mid-period wasn't covered. We had several tracks from the new album, plenty from the first two albums, but nothing from the albums from "Still not black enough" to "Dying for the world", with the exception of "Tortured eyes", taken from the weakest of those albums, "Kill fuck die". The strongest track of the main set was probably the closer, "I wanna be somebody". The encore started with just Blackie and a guitar, resulting in a surprisingly powerful version of "The titanic overture" and "The idol", which was for me the highlight of the evening, which was wrapped up by the obligatory "Blind in Texas".

I'd never heard Sengir before, but since they were playing at the Female Voices festival with Nightwish, Epica and Flowing Tears, I had a fair idea of what to expect. Musically, they were pretty reasonable. But sadly they were horribly let down by the vocals. Ellen's voice itself is fine, but she was constantly singing flat, and for someone with as little musical talent as me to be able to notice, that's saying something. Epica, on the other hand, were everything I could have hoped for. Living up to their name, they put on a near faultless show of epic power metal. As seems to happen to quite a few bands these days, they seemed genuinely surprised by the crowd response. The UK (probably due to the likes of Kerrang!) has got a reputation of being hostile to this sort of music. In reality, the exact opposite is true. The audiences may not be as large as in continental Europe, but the intensity is just as high. No doubt helped by the response from the crowd, he band were obviously enjoying themselves, and that in turn merely served to spur them on to even greater things. If I had any criticism of the album, it would probably be that it felt a bit watered down in place. In a live setting, though, the tracks had all the energy and punch you could hope for. Highlights for me were "Sensorium" and "Cry for the moon". I will definitely be going to see them when they return to the UK. An excellent performance.

Opening act Scissor Sisters sounded OK from the corridors outside the hall itself, but once I got inside, they quickly deteriorated. What had sounded like a reasonable dark electronic sound outside was just piercing disco inside. Two vocalists, one male, one female, and both of them sounding like Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees. But even then, I could just about tolerate them as a support band until their brutal massacre of "Comfortably numb". Oh dear. Having been unable to get a ticket for their reunion gig at The Forum, and even for their first few dates at Wembley, I'd managed to get one for tonight, one of three extra dates added due to high demand for tickets. It's easy to see why. "It's great be be back in our spiritual home, Wembley Arena", proclaimed Simon Le Bon, and if ever there was a band born to play arena sized venues, it's Duran Duran. They've been doing this for a long time now, and it shows. They've mastered the art of stagecraft, and put on a near flawless performance tonight. They may be getting on a bit now, but then so are the audience, and it was obviously full of women who'd been screaming at the band as adolescents, and some were still lusting after John Taylor. I'd forgotten how short Andy Taylor is, though :-) The set list was pretty much everything I could have asked for, and only the addition of "Hold back the rain" and "Edge of America" would have made it perfect. But we were still treated to everything you'd expect, plus the odd surprise like "Tiger Tiger". Highlights for me were "Planet Earth" and "Careless memories", but I could have picked many more. A great show, and I'll be seeing them again next time around.

No ticket for this one, it was just a case of turning up at the door, and hoping I got there early enough. I was somewhat concerned, then, when the traffic was solid for most of the way, and I arrived some while after the doors had opened. Fortunately, I was still just about early enough to get in. First band up were Desolation. I hadn't heard of them before, but they launched into quite a presentable melodic death metal set, albeit one not without technical problems. As the vocalist said, when you lose one guitar during a song, it's a bit worrying. When you get to the third one, it's time to stop the song and fix the guitar problems. But a decent enough showing, nonetheless. John Slater had left Blaze a few days before this gig for personal reasons (although he expects to rejoin them at some point soon, apparently). His replacement was Doro guitarist Oliver Palotai, who filled his shoes quite nicely, albeit without as much stage presence as I'd have liked. Blaze himself was sporting a beard, and looking disturbingly like some mutant cross between Charlie Andrews and Geoff Capes. But that didn't affect the performance, which once again was outstanding. Of all the bands I've seen, Blaze are the ones that most consistently deliver the goods in a live setting. Tonight's show was my first exposure to the new material on "Blood and belief", which sounds quite promising, even if it's not earth shattering. Another great showing from Blaze.

I knew virtually nothing about this gig. I was going on the strength of recommendations from others, plus the single Finntroll track that I'd heard beforehand. The Wake were musically very competent, and reminded me of how Children Of Bodom should sound if Alexi had a better voice. If I thought The Wake were musically competent, then Ensiferum were out of this world. Having never heard them before, I can't stress how impressed I was. Apparently, their vocalist had left the band, so the lead singer from Norther had been drafted in at short notice. It didn't show, though, and he looked very much at home here. Finntroll had a tough act to follow, and were good, but not outstanding. The highlight for me was "Trollhammaren", the aforementioned track that I'd heard before the show, but it was Ensiferum that took the honours tonight.

No support, just Kraftwerk. They were actually playing two gigs tonight in the same venue, one after the other. I went to the earlier of the two. The show opened to a projection of the band onto the stage curtain, which was then withdrawn to reveal the four of them, immaculately suited, each with a keyboard and laptop. Obviously, they had to rely on visuals to make an interesting show, and these were supplied in the form of projection screens behind the band. Opener "The man-machine" came with stark words displayed as if by early 1980s 8-bit computer. From there we moved to a 3D wireframe model and then onto some actual video footage. I'd forgotten how obsessed the band were with cycling, and the Tour De France in particular, a theme which was repeated several times throughout the evening. For the first of several encores, the curtain withdrew to reveal four robots in place of the band, who unsurprisingly performed "The robots". For the final encore, the band came out wearing suits with UV sensitive wire mesh frames to mimic the scenes being projected behind them. I won't be rushing out to religiously see the band every time they tour, but it was en enjoyable night; definitely a spectacle to experience, and I'm glad I went.

I don't remember too much about openers The Glitterati, other than that they didn't make a big impression. The Quireboys, however, were much better. They'd failed to shine supporting Alice Cooper, but redeemed themselves with an excellent end of tour show (as The Altar Girls) with Thunder at The Marquee. Tonight they were once more on top form, belting out all the hits with huge amounts of energy, and this is probably the best I've seen them. In terms of frontmen, they don't get much more legendary than David Lee Roth. So it was somewhat of a disappointment to find him less than inspiring. While there were certainly some high points of the show ("Runnin' with the devil", "Yankee rose" and "Just like paradise", for example), I just left with the feeling that it could (and should) have been been so much better. Still, James Lomenzo impressed on bass, and Toshi Hiketa proved to be quite a competent guitarist -- but "Yankee rose" proved that he's no Steve Vai...

Infrasound were quite unmemorable. Tuneless noise, and although the audience seemed to quite like them, they just left me cold. HIM had only played in London a couple of months earlier, so it was a bit of a surprise to see them back again so soon. They got off to an amazing start, from opening with "Wicked game", through the next three or four tracks. Had they kept up the same standard for the rest of the set, they'd be heading for a 5 star review. Sadly, though, they lost their initial momentum, and while I enjoyed the evening, it could have been so much better had it lived up to its early promise.

What's this? A sold out metal gig at the Underworld? It's been a long time since I last saw that! I guess that the release of their debut album and their slot at last year's Bloodstock have done wonders for Dragonforce's popularity. A welcome sight, certainly. I'd been underwhelmed with openers Heavenly when they'd supported Edguy and Gamma Ray a few years ago. Tonight might as well have been a different band, though. They had much, much more energy, their new material is much heavier, and it was all better presented. After the last show, I could take them or leave them, but on tonight's evidence, I'll be getting tickets the next time they play in London. I first saw Dragonforce when they were still called Dragonheart, supporting Halford. I'd already got their debut EP, and they put on a great show, full of energy and were very impressive. Since that time, though, they're been much less impressive, heading far too much into Spinal Tap territory. They haven't been bad, but have often left me wanting something more at the end of the set. Tonight though, was a complete reversal of that trend, and they were back on top form. Highlight as ever was "Valley of the damned". I suspect that tonight's good showing by both bands was helped by the huge crowd response, but whatever the reason, a great night of metal from two bands who were obviously enjoying themselves.

Events had conspired against me to ensure that I arrived late for this gig. The Voice had apparently cancelled for technical reasons, so in the end, I only missed one band, Automation. Thus for me, the first band of the evening where Voices Of Masada, who played a quite presentable trad goth set. Although I don't have a record of having seen them before, there's something familiar about them. I wonder if I've seen the band members in previous bands. Next up were Surefire. I'm not entirely sure what they were doing here. They were completely out of place on a goth bill, like this, being the only ones in the entire place not wearing black, and playing what I guess would be described as '70s rock. But they were actually very, very good, and the singer in particular has a great voice. I'll be looking out for them in the future. Brother Orchid started well, again playing vaguely traditional goth, but with a harder edge and crunchy guitars. Normally this would appeal to me, but their set seemed to tail off and not really go anywhere. Finally came headliners The Faces Of Sarah. Gone since the last time I saw them are Craig and Issy, and gone also is Craig's replacement, Chris. But none of that mattered, and the band were once more on top form, with Nick sounding as good as ever. The band just seem to be getting better and better with time, and indeed the new material was very strong. They're one of the most underrated bands of the moment.

So after collapsing on stage two months earlier and undergoing heart surgery, Meat Loaf had rescheduled the gig for ticketholders of the original show. Kasim Sulton opened again, and played more of the same background music as last time. Tonight's set seemed a little shorter, and fell even more into the elevator music category than it did last time. Meat Loaf opened the show in fine style, being wheeled onto the stage on a hospital trolley by his backing singers, dressed in nurses uniforms. Again opening with a very strong "Life is a lemon", he went on to perform a great show, with all of the expected tracks, culminating in the obligatory "Bat out of hell" in the encore. A good show, and it's good to see he's recovered from his surgery.