|
Artist: Thunder, Heaven's Basement & Get Vegas Venue: City Hall, Sheffield Date:
23 November 2008
|
|
Get Vegas First up at the unholy time of 7.15pm are Get Vegas and they were always going to be fighting an uphill battle going on this early to a mostly empty venue. Being a bunch of whiny indie nerks who are about as interesting as Coldplay on valium doesn’t help either. This is music at its absolute blandest and if it wasn’t for the polite clapping of the crowd, you could hear a pin drop in between Get Vegas’ songs. At one point it seems the band bore themselves as much as everyone else as they just stop playing part way through a song and then start again as if someone has just given them a collective nudge. Get Vegas? More like Get Day Jobs lads. Heaven’s Basement Now this is more like it. Following Get Vegas was never going to be too difficult but with a performance like tonight’s, Heaven’s Basement could have followed almost anyone. They are the sort of rock band that posers like Get Vegas wish they could be, with frontman Richie Hevanz doing a great job working up the crowd and getting everyone involved. Part Vince Neil and part Jagger, the guy is a revelation – an honest and energetic frontman the likes of which are rarely seen in 21 century rock bands. The rest of the band are top-form too with tight, pounding rhythms and blistering solos abound, hopefully performances like tonight will help Heaven’s Basement reach the level they so sorely deserve to get to. Unfortunately, this will no doubt be in spite of the indie and fashion obsessed music media, so it’s a good job the band seem well-equipped to overcome this. Thunder Given the title of their new album, Thunder appropriately start off with a ‘Bang!’ (literally) and waste no time getting everyone up off their seats with ‘Backstreet Symphony’ followed by new single ‘On The Radio’ – a witty swipe at the bias, trend-obsessed music media and its apathy that Thunder have battled successfully against since 1990. With a triumphant sing-along to the only recorded occasion of singer Danny Bowes actually swearing, it’s clear that the packed Sheffield City Hall (which is by no means a small venue) agree wholeheartedly. It’s an apt song choice given that a band so ignored by the mainstream music media for so long have risen to the levels of success that Thunder have and another example of how, in reality, the media can shove their charts where the sun don’t shine as they’re not needed, or indeed wanted, by anyone here tonight. Other new songs ‘Carol Ann’, ‘Stormwater’ and ‘Candy Man’ are greatly received, all the lyrics being sung back at the band with as much gusto as classics like ‘Low Life In High Places’ and ‘Empty City’ and this really is testament to Thunder’s song writing ability given that the album has only been out for a couple of weeks. The rest of the set is of course, the Thunder classics that we’ve come to know and love (‘Love Walked In’, ‘Higher Ground’, ‘Dirty Love’) and in this, Thunder are now a comforting fixture on the winter gig calendar and can always be relied on to entertain. Perhaps not the best time I’ve seen Thunder but still far more entertaining than most bands currently on the live circuit. Setlist: Backstreet Symphony, On The Radio, Carol Ann, Low Life In High Places, Devil Made Me Do It, Empty City, Dirty Dream, Love Walked In, Stormwater, You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down, Don’t Wait For Me, I Love You More Than Rock N Roll. Encore: Candy Man, Higher Ground, Dirty Love *Review by Adam G |
|
All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |