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Originally
billed as Sheffield's Night Of Rock a sort of mini one-day festival and
containing five bands including Pride, Double Cross, Deadline, Rocket,
and Statetrooper as headliners.
Due to an over zealous promoter the night nearly didn’t come about,
having just read something on the news section of Melodic Rock.Com just
a few days before the gig saying that Pride and Rocket had pulled out of
the day due to problems with the promoter but the other bands would
still be playing.
On arriving at the venue one thing that was blatantly obvious was the
lack of numbers inside the venue. I don’t know if this was
anything to do with the promoter or the fact that Sheffield Wednesday
were playing in the playoffs, but the numbers were definitely low. But
the few of us that did attend got our moneys worth from the three bands
that soldiered on without a promoter who I had heard had left town in
rather a hurry so the remaining bands carried on the show themselves.
First up was Double Cross who delivered a set of pure AOR, although it
has been said that they are clichéd and unoriginal they still put their
heart and soul into every performance and singer Rick Chase has a great
voice for the genre and the guys behind him all are great musicians but
I think that they could benefit from another guitarist to beef up their
sound a little and give them a bit more bite.
But despite my opinions the still delivered the goods by playing tracks
from their new album 'Time After Time' and 'The Longest Day' off their
second album. The highlight of the set was 'Lost And Lonely' a track
that on the album the mighty Bob Catley lends his vocals talents to a
service, which he is said to have provided for beer money.
Next
up was Deadline a band that I have dismissed in the past as
they seem to have stuck in a rut and haven’t managed to get
very much good press over recent years even though they must
have supported more bands than any other.
But tonight there is a change in the Deadline camp after
original vocalist Steve Lunn decided to call it a day and left
the band only recently. His replacement is what can only be
described as a complete opposite persona wise, this
replacement comes in the form of former Tikaboo Peak front man
Dale Radcliffe.
This new front
man has put a new lease of into a band that had become a bit
of a whipping boy to music journalists, as they seemed to be
the band that would support anybody and put out a vibe as a
band for hire will play anywhere for any cost or no cost at
all and seemed to be on a downward spiral.
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But the
introduction of this new vocalist has a new spin on the band and if they
stick it out the future looks rosy for Deadline. The set list might have
looked familiar to Deadline fans, but the sound wasn’t, each song
seemed new and fresh. The tracks like Losing Myself, Out of Reach and
One Touch all were given a new lease of life and the introduction of new
track You Don’t Give A Damn was well received by the somewhat meagre
crowd. The difference one guy can make to a band is amazing and now I
wont cringe when the name Deadline is mentioned and would definitely
make a point of going out of my way to see them again with this current
line-up.
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And
now for the main event to this somewhat shortened event. Gary
Barden's Statetrooper, being a great fan of Mr. Barden for many
years it was a joy for me to see him on stage once again opening
up the set with 'The Calling' off last year's album of the same
name this was followed by the immense 'Casablanca' a track that
is full of big guitar sound and big vocals.
Although the
crowd wasn’t as large as had been expected, the band played as
if they were in a huge arena playing to thousands. They
really gave it their all. With a set that included tracks
like 'I'm Alive', 'Shape Of Things To Come', and the awe
inspiring 'Americasian', the hard hitting track about the
Vietnam war off the bands second album.
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highlight for many had to be the inclusion of two MSG tracks.
'Cry For The Nation' to which guitarist Martin Mikkels surpassed
one Mr. Schenker with ease, and ripped up the guitar like a man
possessed, and the final track 'Armed And Ready'. Another
equal to the original with the star once again being Mr. Mikkels
on guitar.
All in all I was
very impressed by the band indeed. To those of you who
didn’t turn up for whatever reason, be it the reduction of
bands or the fact that Sheffield Wednesday were playing in the
playoffs, you missed three great bands who gave their all in the
name of rock n’ roll. What more can you ask for?
Cracking good stuff, I'll have some more of that if you don't
mind!
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