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With Legends you
don’t know what you're getting from show to show, sometimes it's filled to
the rafters and other times you're rattling about like a fart in a
colander. Tonight I’m afraid it was more in favour of the later, but
those whose did manage to drag themselves away from the England vs. Brazil
match were in for a veritable treat as four bands for a fiver, well you
couldn’t ask for more.
First up were the heavy tones of A Thousand
Eyes, who were on stage as soon as the doors opened (something that is as
pet hate of mine. Come on give the band's a chance to play in front of some
sort of crowd and not just the bar staff, give at least 20 minute grace
from the doors opening to the first band so people can get to the bar and
get a decent spot to see said band. If the time scale is tight then don’t
book as many bands, especially on a club night!) So my apologies to the guys
from A Thousand Eyes as I managed to catch only the last two songs of
their set, but what I heard was decent old school metal with some fantastic
guitars.
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The next band on
tonight were like the headliners also from York. Tidal Fury led by the Janie Laine look-a-like frontman Graham got their set going with ‘Crazy Child’
and like A Thousand Eyes before them, had a top notch guitarist in the form
of Mickoss, who played like his very life depended on it.
Their short but
impressive set continued with ‘Fight For Freedom’, which followed a more
relaxed tempo than the opener, but just like the opener Mickoss really shined.
Then it was straight into the more up tempo rocker ‘Put Your Eyes On Me’,
which for me was one of the highlights of the set.
They continued
with ‘Perfect Solution’ which saw Mickoss play the guitar with his teeth
before being very
brave with the cover of AC/DC’s ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’,
which I must admit wasn’t the best cover version I’ve heard but give the
band their dues, the Stratocaster just doesn’t have the same bite as a Gibson
SG.
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The band rounded
off their set with another of the highlights of the set for me, the
excellent ‘Dance Like You Mean It’, which saw all members giving their all
and which ended a great but all to short set. Although it may have
been a short one, but it also made me want to
check them out again, so not all bad then.
Now to the
surprise package of the night Glasgow’s Rocketfox. This trio really set the
place alight with their no nonsense rock n' roll as they got things underway
with ‘Truth Or Dare’ and instantly I was hooked by the band, who brought out
the best in the usually sub standard sound of Legends. They
continued their set with
‘Hang Up’, another great song full of melody and with frontman Gary
Johnstone throwing
away his Glasgow accent for some fine vocals. The band carried on as it
was straight into the excellent ‘Safe And Sound’, which had a little Clapton-esq Leila riff thrown in at the end.
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It was finally
time for some words from Gary Johnstone who admitted the band were
different from what had gone before, “more Busted”, but they did captivate
the crowd with their Texas/Ash crossover sound as they continued with the
charming up tempo ‘Moomin’ and the superb ‘Start All Over’.
It was time for
bassist Fiona Crawford to show off her vocal talents as she took up the
mike for ‘Sarah’, a song that was actually about a girl called Vicki, so
only the names have
been changed to protect the guilty.
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The three piece
brought a huge sound with them which was impressive throughout their set
and continued with my favourite of the bunch the great ‘Thump’, then they
dedicated the next song ‘Tired Of Dreaming’ to the few of their comrades who
had made the trip down from Glasgow to support the band. The band
rounded off their very impressive Newcastle debut with ‘Revenge’, a great
set from a great band.
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Now for Kid Ego,
a band that before last years Wildside Festival I was a great fan of, but at
said festival I was a little disappointed by them as they had gone rockstar gung ho that night, so I was looking for a return to form from the
York boys who I must admit didn’t disappoint.
From the off it
was clear that this was a stripped down version of the band with all the
glam trappings of Wildside being left behind and although I saw the
infamous Glitter Kittens roaming around the venue, they weren’t immediately
present on stage, although I was sure they would make an appearance on
stage somewhere
along the set.
Well things got
underway with ‘Heartbreak Hooker’ and all my fears were diminished as the
band put on one of their most polished performances I’ve seen for a long
while, with a trimmer, more energized Zakk leading the way with his superb glam fused
vocals.
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The band kept
things going with ‘U.F.O.' and the heavy feel of ‘Eyes In The Dark’, before Zakk announced that the band had just returned from playing in Spain and
Denmark and it was good to be home, then it was back to what they do best
with ‘Running The Pink’, a song that I first heard at Wildside, only this
time it sounded 110% better.
They kept the
good times rollin with a new track for me ‘Death Row’ before they gave us
the title track of their debut album ‘Ignite The Tide’ and the great up
tempo rocker ‘Forbidden Tattoo’.
After the
obligatory band introductions it was back to the
rock as the set continued with on of my favourite Kid Ego tracks ‘Lady
Conniver’, which eventually saw the Glitter Kittens take to the stage
and which also saw the flood gates open as the management opened up
the venue to the clubbers who had been waiting behind the curtains,
and quick as a flash the venue was packed with eager party rockers who
were instantly into the band. |
The band
did a storming cover of Nazareth’s ‘Son Of A Bitch’ before ending a much
improved set and I’m glad to say that this is one of the finest
performances I witnessed to date from the band and one that washes away all the bad things I
said about them at Wildside. The band played it like they meant it and
hopefully the good times will still keep rollin for them. |