With the year almost at a close, what a fitting way to round off a superb year gig wise than with another great week that started off with The Wildside Festival the weekend before.  But now we have had two giants of the rock scene with back to back gigs, firstly the mighty UFO and secondly Thunder.

The first of these shows was the mighty UFO with an almost classic line-up, except for ... well you know, that Schenker person.

But first the formality of the support act.  Well what seem a little like de-ja-vu with the North East’s finest export Spike, minus just a few of the Quireboys, once again opening up for Mogg and Co.

I said just a few of the Quireboys because joining Spike on stage here tonight we had fellow Quireboys Keith Weir, Pip and Paul Guirin.

The set tonight gave Spike a chance to showcase his second solo album ‘It’s a Treat To Be Alive’.  With the Academy having a curfew on Friday nights because of the Revolution rock night, this meant that times were tight and when we arrived just 10 minutes after doors opening, Spike and Co were already on stage and kicking up a storm with their set.  However, I did manage to catch the majority of the show and as usual this home grown lad was in great form as usual and with songs like ‘She’s A Rolling Stone’, 'Be Good To Yourself’, and 'Have A Drink On Me’ all sounding great, and all standing strong alongside anything that the Quireboys themselves have put out.  All were receiving a good reaction from the nearly capacity crowd. But it was the final track that got things really warmed up for UFO as the band went into the Quireboys classic ‘7 o’clock’, a track which Spike had promised his mum (who was in the crowd) he would play, and this set things up nicely for Mogg and Co. 

As the time rapidly approached 8.20 pm anticipations were at almost fever pitch with the now capacity audience, who were just chomping at the bit for a little classic blues fuelled hard rock.

As the lights went down a euphoria came over the venue as the band walked on stage and immediately went into ‘Mother Mary’ and ‘When Daylight Goes To Town’.  It was plain to all that the band were ready for tonight, especially Mogg who bobbed and weaved about the stage like a prize fighter getting ready for the fight of his life.

It wasn’t long before the band went into the classic UFO material with ‘Let It Roll’ which really sent to crowd into a frenzy. The band continued with ‘I’m A Loser’ and ‘This Kids’ before ‘Hard Being Me’, the first of only two tracks taken off the bands latest release ‘Monkey Puzzle’.  Which I have to say slotted in very nicely with more classic material.

The band were obviously enjoying the show as Mogg partook of a beer between songs and Pete Way spun around the stage like a spinning top.  As for Vinnie Moore, well what can I say, this guy more than fills the shoes of Schenker as he gives a sterling performance on every song.  The set continued with another track taken from the new album, this time ‘Drink Too Much’, before going into ‘Fighting Man’ from the Sharks album.  But it was the classic tracks that really got things going.  The likes of ‘Only You Can Rock Me’, ‘Baby Blue’ and ‘Love To Love’, although the song of the show for me had to be ‘Lights Out’ where Moore was given a chance to really show his metal as one of most outstanding young guitar players today.  Fantastic!

The classics just kept on coming as time got on I looked at my watch and saw it was just after half nine and the band were due to be off stage by ten.  I was wondering whether the venue were going to pull the plug on the band, or whether they'd just let them play on over the curfew time.  Well thankfully it was the latter as the band did a fantastic rendition of ‘Rock Bottom' that went on for a dogs age and resulted in the band not leaving the stage, but carrying on with what was supposed to be the encore with the showstoppers ‘Doctor Doctor’ and rounding things off with ‘Shoot Shoot’.

This was another killer performance by the band that just seemed to run on Duracell batteries and will probably outlast a lot of their now more mature fans.