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It's
not often that you get the chance of seeing two titans of the rock world
on the same stage, let alone on the same bill, but that’s exactly what's happened
tonight.
With a
total of nearly 70 years of musical experience between them,
both acts have seen out the changes the music scene has gone through over the
past 30 or so years, and still remain true to their roots.
I'd
barely found my seat when the house lights went out and Twisted Sister hit
the stage. Opening up with 'What You Don’t Know Sure Can Hurt You', the
first thing I noticed was the lack of crowd movement. I know it was a fully
seated event but that didn’t mean that you had to remain seated.
This was
after all one of the biggest names in 80s rock on stage.
The
effect of only a few fans standing had an obvious effect on the band as
they went straight into the next song 'The Kids Are Back'. The band looked a
little uncomfortable on stage and by the time they went into 'Destroyer'
it was obvious to Dee that something had to be said, and being a man who
has never pulled his punches, he made it obvious that this wasn’t the
Newcastle rock crowd he had known and promptly let it be known that unless
you were in a wheelchair, then there no need to be seated and with this
95% of the crowd finally got to their feet.
The
show continued and finally the crowd was behind the band and giving the
band the support they deserved.
The set
continued with a 'The Fire Still Burns' and the classic 'We're Not Gonna
Take It' and this became a show at last and the band seemed more relaxed
and started to enjoy the show themselves.
Before
'Under The Blade' JJ French took the mike and told of the failure of music
industry to promote hard working bands, and the fact that they would rather
give record deals to people who appear on the likes of pop idol, who have
only been in the public eyes for a matter of 15 or so weeks, than give a deal
to a band who have worked hard and never got a break. Sentiments that I have to
agree with whole heartedly.
Now back
to the show. The set continued with two of my favorite tracks 'Shoot 'Em
Down' and 'You Cant Stop Rock N Roll', both of which still rock to this day
and were great to hear live once more.
No Twisted
Sister gig would be complete without 'Burn In Hell'. If you haven’t
got a copy of the re-recorded version of the Stay Hungry album then check
out it out, because this track is immense on the new album. I say new album
because that is what it is, non of this re-mastered or re-mixed rubbish,
it's been totally re-recorded and is a far superior version of the original
release.
That’s
enough of my babbling and back to the live review. The final two songs of the
set are probably the most popular tracks the band ever released, 'I Am (I'm
Me)', and the anthemic 'I Wanna Rock'.
As the
band left the stage they left in a better mood than they were at
the start of the show. The crowd reaction was plain to all that they
had enjoyed them 100%, and with this the band returned to the stage once more
and just totally rocked the place with their version of
'Its Only Rock 'N' Roll'. Which to be honest nearly
brought the house down.
Twisted
Sister may be a little long in the tooth but tonight they showed that they
can still rock with the best of them. They warmed the crowd up like no other
band could.
With
the spectacle of Twisted Sister behind us it was now time for the master
of the rock spectacle to take to the stage, Mr Alice Cooper. |
