Artist: House Of Lords, Kane'd & The Black Stars

Venue:  The Corporation, Sheffield

Date:  6 November 2009 

After one of the most horrendous drives down to Sheffield I’ve ever had taking over three hours not our usual two I was hoping that the journey would be worth it and James Christian and the rest of the House Of Lords would make the journey just a brief discomfort.  And boy did they not disappoint, but more of that later.

After the longer that usual journey down this meant that we got booked into our hotel later and thus after a shower and change we missed most of the opening band The Black Stars set, which to be honest from what I heard I didn’t miss much.  The band had the looks and the moves but not the talent, they needed much more practice before they go on stage again me thinks. 

The same cannot be said about the second band on tonight Kane’d, a band that have a different dynamic in that they have three vocalists in the form of the sisters Steph, Stacey and Chez Kane.

This is more Loud Girls than Girls Aloud and to be honest these three sisters have more talent in their little fingers than all of Girls Aloud.  Their sassy rock chick stage persona’s were just that, because these three girls certainly can sing and with the backing of a great band behind them of Hazza - Lead Guitar, Nige - Rhythm Guitar, Josh Raw - Bass Guitar and Bom – Drums, these guys and girls have a great future.

They rocked from the off with great songs like ‘Don’t Be Stupid’, ' Frozen’, 'Lonely' and 'Falling', with the band really making their mark on the audience, with a real 

professional performance and one that reminded me very much of Aussie sister band Cheetah, but with an extra voice.  They are definitely worth catching if you see them advertised playing at a venue near you.   

Next up are a band that give 110% every time I’ve seen them and tonight they did it again. A notable absence from the band tonight was guitarist Jimi Bell who couldn’t make this tour due to family commitments, but standing in for him was none other than Danger Danger guitar wiz Rob Marcello, who more than filled Jimi’s boots tonight.  As the band hit the stage our fellow writer Brassy handed James a bottle of wine, well he'd never had time to drink it before the show so thought why not give it the band, who seemed to enjoy it.

Even though the show was put into the smaller room at the Corporation, James and the band put on a show worthy of an arena, as they opened up the night with ‘Sahara’ and then went straight into ‘Talkin Bout Love’.  Both James and the band were in sterling form from the off.  Again no introductions were needed as the band went into ‘S.O.S.’, a great up-tempo rocker that’s great on album, but live that’s were this band really excel.

The first of the songs from the excellent new album ' Cartesian Dream' was next and what better way to introduce the new album live than with the title track, which again was just storming, with James voices was just 

superb as always and Marcello was just ripping it up on the guitar like he’d been in the band for years, and making it look so easy.  

The set featured some sterling House Of Lords moment from the superb ‘I’m Free’, ‘Love Don’t Lie’ to the sublime ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ and ‘Come To My Kingdom’, and that was just the first half of the set! There was more bombastic rock moments like ‘Rock Bottom’ and one of my favourites off the new album ‘Bangin’, which quite simply rocked big style live.

Chuck Wright and Kan Mary may have left the band but Chris McCarvill and B.J Zamba are the new young blood in the band that really punch up a storm with Zamba giving us a real old school drum solo mid set. It was hard rock all the way, even Marcello was given a chance in the spot light as he cooked up a storm on the six string razor.

The set was rounded off in superb style with the excellent ‘Slip of The Tongue’ before a short step to the side of the stage for the crowd to show their appreciation for a great set and to cheer for more, and more we got as this great night was capped with ‘These Are The Times’.   

It pains me to read on forums the crying and moaning about bands in the Melodic Rock genre never touring in this country and when they do the lack of support from these so called fans of the genre just gets my goat.

When bands like the House Of Lords only sell a handful of tickets prior to their shows I often worry that these bands might just not tour in the UK again, or when they come only do one show here.  Yes tonight’s show was great and the band were on top form but come on people, come out and support live music.  If we can travel for three hours to see a band then so can you!  Get together with friends and car pool, or hire a mini van, because if the music dies then who's to blame?  Certainly not the bands because they're already giving up their time to keep the scene alive ... so why can't you? 

 

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