Artist:  Bullet Boys, Pretty Boy Floyd, Fatal Smile & Britny Fox

Venue: Rock City, Nottingham  

Date: 4 October 2008  

The rock n' roll freight train of The Mayfair Mall Zine steamed into Nottingham once more, this time to relive those heady days of 80’s Hair Metal with not just one but three bands from that era and one bunch of young pretenders out to steal a little thunder.

As we turned the corner to the venue we were a gasp at the massive queue outside the venue, but being on the guest list and having already arranged to catch up with Fatal Smile for an interview we sharply moved towards the doors.  It wasn't until we entered the building that we found out there were actually two shows on tonight in different rooms. 

We made our way into the basement room which I was surprised by the small number of people there, but all became clear as I soon found out that due to poor crowd management, the fans for both shows were mixed together into one massive line outside.  Perhaps not a problem for those in the main room which started at 7 pm, but those who has come along to catch the bands in the basement with a 6 pm start were left high and dry and still standing outside when the first band hit the stage.  As a result while filtering in from the masses many fans missed the majority of the opening acts set, which was a shame because they really kicked started the night off in true rock n' roll style.

Opening up tonight were Britny Fox and although only one original member bassist Billy Childs remained from the bands frills and glamour days, the band he has mustered around him were more that equal to the bands original line-up.

With The Eden Projects Greg Polcari on lead guitar, Henry on drums, Childs on bass and the powerhouse vocalist Jamie Fletcher, the band set about a tremendous set opening up with ‘Long Way To Love’ and instantly those 80’s days came flooding back, with Fletcher excelling in the vocal department.  His powerful vocals must have been heard up stairs and as far as I was concerned who needed Dean Davidson when this guy is such a better vocalist.

The set continued with another classic ‘Hair Of The Dog’, with Fletcher once again reaching ear blistering heights and Polcari ripping up a storm and enjoying every minute of it.  The good times just kept on with ‘Closer To Your Love’, then it was time for one of my all time favourites from the band the storming ‘Six Guns Loaded’, which sounded even better live than I could ever remember.

Before the band went into the next song I looked to my right as one young fan who must have been overcome with excitement (or perhaps it was the drink?) threw up all over the floor and missed the rest of the night, shame because the band were in full flow by now and the crowd had swelled somewhat to near capacity as they went into ‘Louder’ and ‘Long Way To Love’, two more great classic songs.

The glitz and glam may have gone but this stripped down and dirty look was more in tune with the fans and the bands as a whole, and this new version of the band reigned supreme for me over the past members, especially impressive was Fletchers vocals.

It was time to bring it down a notch with the fantastic ‘Dream On’, but it was the final two songs that really whipped the now capacity crowd up the hard rocking ‘Midnight Moses’, followed by what else but ‘Girlschool’.  This rounded off a great set and really set the mood for a great night of old school rockin’. 

Next up were Stockholm’s own Fatal Smile, a hard rocking quartet that were about to turn the place upside down with their ballsy hard hitting rock.

As entrances go frontman Blade made his a biggy, as the rockin set got underway in big style with ‘Neo Natural Freaks’ with Blaze working the crowd from the off and Y just ripping it up on the six string razor, whilst Alx and Zteff provided a rock solid rhythm section.

The hard rocking intensity was kept at the max as the band went into ‘S.O.B.’, the powerhouse opener from their new album 'World Domination'.  This all out rocker is great on the album but live it's just fantastic, with Y and Blade dominating centre stage.  In Blade the band have one of most natural frontmen I’ve seen since Jorn Lande.

The band were holding back no punches tonight as they went into ‘Out Of My Head’ with Blade’s vocals rising above the streaming guitars and thunderous back beat. The band continued with another song from the new album, this time the excellent ‘Run For Your Life’, which lit up the stage before the kick ass mother fucker that is 'Learn Love Hate', from the bands tremendous debut 'Neo Natural Freaks'.

The bands short but impressive set was ended as they started, all guns blazing with ‘Stranger’, which rounded off an all too short set but short as it was this band not only left an impression on me, but also on the majority of the crowd, who gave their approval with a rousing applause and the buzz around the venue after the set was quite impressive with many of the crowd buying merch.

Next up were Steve Summers and Pretty Boy Floyd, the bands intro was just the start of something big from Summers and the rest of the band as they whipped straight into ‘Electric Boys With Electric Toys’, an instant crowd pleaser and with Kirsty Majors back on the guitar the band were hotter than ever.

Then it was straight into ‘Toast Of The Town’, the Motley classic which the band made their own was just tremendous and great to hear with Majors on the guitar.

After Summers took a few pics of the crowd for prosperity it was on with the show (because this was what it was, a rock n' roll show) with ‘Rock n' Roll (Is Gonna Set The Night On Fire)’, another great Glam track from the band with JK Famous just outstanding on the bass, while Kari Kane was beating the skins like there was no tomorrow.

The up tempo Glam just kept on coming as the consummate frontman Summers whipped the crowd up with his usual banter before rocking the house with Your Mama Won't Know’ and the highlight of the set for me the glamtastic ‘48 hours’.

The pace was brought down a touch with the ballad ‘I Wanna Be With You’, which gave me and the rest of the crowd time to get our breath back, but this was just a short reprise as things heated up once more with ‘Saturday Nite’, before rounding off another great set with ‘Rock n' Roll Outlaws’, again finishing off the third of three fantastic sets.  I’ve seen this band on several occasions now and I must say tonight was without their finest sets to date and long may they continue to rock.

Now with three fantastic sets before them The Bullet Boys would have to come up with something rather special and what they did was indeed the icing on tonight's Glam cake.

Well there was no doubting the band were up for the task as Marq Torien and rest of the band got things underway with a stunning version of AC/DC’s ‘Riff Raff’ and from here on in Torien had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

It was at this point I noticed Nottingham’s own Rob Lane on bass duties who was loving being in the spotlight and pounding the bass as if his very life depended on it.

The band went for the jugular early on with the classic ‘Hard As A Rock’, which showed Torien’s vocals hadn’t lost any of their edge over the years and the crowd loved every minute of it.

The night just got better and better as the band rolled back the years once more with ‘Hell On My Heels’ again Torien was just superb. It was them time for something of the 'Freakshow' album with ‘THC Groove’, a really great track that I hadn’t heard for years and made me want to dig out my old vinyl and give it a spin one more time.

It was at this point that Torien introduced Lane and those who knew him gave out a few heckling remarks that Rob took in the good humour as they were (I’m sure) were meant, then the good times continued with ‘For The Love Of Money’.

And what Bullet Boys set wouldn’t be complete without the two closing tracks, firstly ‘Kissing Kitty’ which went down like free beer as the crowd just exploded with excitement and then they nearly took the roof off with ‘Smooth Up In Ya’, which rounded off not only a great set but one hell of a night of good time rock n' roll that was well worth the 400 plus mile round trip, which I would gladly do again if the same bill was on again next year.

 

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