I don’t know about the Chinese Calendar but 2008 is readily becoming the year of the Tyger or should I say Tygers.  With a new album out and numerous festivals and shows scheduled throughout the year, the band are at their busiest since they first came hit the metal scene all those years ago.

Yes the band have seen many changes over the years but as I’ve said on numerous occasions, this line-up of the Tygers is the strongest for a long long while, with old stalwarts Robb Weir, Dean Robertson and Brian West the old war horses of the pack joined by the young blood of Craig Ellis and the newest member of the pack Jacopo Meille, this is the new and for me the best Tygers line-up to date. 

I’ve now seen this formation of the band on numerous occasions and time and time again I’ve been telling people to check the band out, because seeing really is believing.  With that we once again took a 200 mile round trip down to Bradford’s Gasworks to check out the guys.

But before the Tygers took stage it was Voodoo Six that got the night underway to a fine start.  They are one of those bands that I’ve heard much about on the grapevine, but have never actually had the opportunity to catch them live, so tonight would finally be that night.

As the band hit the stage it was clear they had a certain swagger of a band who knew their stuff and with Henry Rundell on the mike, the band did have the vocal credentials.  Joined by Tony Newton on bass, Gray on Drums, Matt Pearce and Chris Jones on guitars, the band set out their impressive set with some hard hitting rock n' roll.

They opened up their account with ‘Crawl’, a great full on hard rock song that really grabbed the attention of those onlookers, as a few of them came stage front to watch the painted faced Rundell strut his stuff, as Pearce and Jones traded fiery licks.

The set continued with Rundell introducing guitarist Pearce as he ripped into the intro for ‘No Friend’, where Rundell head-banged along to the sounds of the fret burning Pearce.

The band carried on their impressive set as they continued on with the old school rocker style going by the name of ‘Nails’.  Again showing what a great set of pipes Rundell has, then after a quick merch plug the band carried on with their latest single ‘Faith’, which just happens to be the opening track off their 'First Hit For Free' album.  A song that features some great old seventies rock vibes mixed with the more modern guitar sound.

'Feed My Soul' was next again from the FHFF opus.  Again the band were showing us their versatility with this heavy bass laden thumper, with Rundell given his vocals a more darker, deeper feel.  The band were just getting better and better as each song came round before brining the tempo down just a touch with ‘Shine On’, another track heavily based around that Doors, Hendrix sound.

Now for the Tygers, a band as I said at the beginning that I have seen on numerous occasions over the past couple of years and I will keep on coming to see them if the keep on putting together a high class rock n' roll show as they did this night. 

The band casually came on stage as the curtain lifted (rather slowly I must say) with them well into the intro of the opener ‘Hellbound’.  Again the band were as tight as a fishes whatsit and again as the gigs I’ve seen perform before, Jac really brings out the best in the band as Robb and Dean bounce licks off each other with ease knowing the Jac is well up the job of frontman leaving them to do what they do best.

The set continued with ‘Rock Candy’ the first of the songs from the bands new album ‘Animal Instinct’ this is pure rock n roll gold with Jac’s great vocals and the great guitars of both Dean and Robb.

This was a set of something old and something new, as they continued with the first song the band wrote together, and one of my favourite new songs ‘Live For The Day’ before returning the classic 'Crazy Nights' album for ‘Raised On Rock’.  Again Jac shows he able to put his own stamp on the classic Tygers material and with the new arrangement Robb and Dean have made to the guitar parts, they old stuff sounds better than ever.

As Robb urged those glued to the bar to come down to the front as the band went back to 1980 to the 'Wildcat' album for one of Robb’s personal favourites, the Tygers song ‘Suzie Smiled’.  This seemed to inject some considerable life into the now dancing crowd as the hands began to be raised aloft and merrily clapping along and why not, the band were on top form yet again.

The band were definitely having fun on stage as Robb and Dean found time to muck around with each others mike stands as the ripped into another classic ‘Don’t Touch Me There’.  As I’ve said in previous reviews I was never a fan of the original version of this song but with Jac at the helm, I look forward to this fresher more vibrant version.

It was straight into the excellent ‘Silver and Gold’ as Robb and Dean again trading licks on the intro to this one.  The classic’s just kept on coming as they just rolled back the years for ‘Slave To Freedom' and ‘Euthanasia’.  Two songs that really have been brought back to life by the vocals of Jac and the new fervour the band has found over the past two or three years, even Brian West can manage a few smiles on stage.

As Robb asked where are all the rock n' roll men and women were tonight the cheers went up as they well and truly let themselves be known.  This was as good an intro as you could get for what else but ‘Rock n' Roll Man’, the crowd even managed to join the band in a sing-a-long. Then it was time for Deano to really shine as he whipped up a storm with a
guitar solo to make even Malmsteen bow down before the band went into ‘Easy Come Easy Go’, which rounded of another superb set.

The band were only off stage a few moments, then Craig Ellis pounded out the intro for ‘Running Out Of Time’ with the rest of the band getting in on the act as the track built up momentum.

The band finished off another great night with what else but ‘Love Potion No.9’.  A song that once again brought out the best in Jac’s vocals, with Robb and Dean showing they still can whip out the riffs and have no need for fancy gadgets to bring out the best in their guitars.  A sign of a great guitar player, or players as is the case in this instance.

Put simply, I really can't emphasize how great the band are now and am really looking forward to catching them at Rock Of Ages in September this year.  If you like good no nonsense rock n' roll then you’ll be there too.  As far as Friday night's go, the entertainment doesn't come much better than this to kick-start the weekend off in fine style.