Festival:  Nick Aid Festival

Artist:  Shy, David Lee Wrath, Dizzy Lizzy, Hanging Doll, Buckshee, redline, One Eyed Jack, Yel Piracy, Moonshaker, ETA

Venue:  The Asylum, Birmingham

Date:  22 march 2009 

From time to time the music world gives a little back and on the 22nd March ten bands did just that as part of Nickaid 09.  Nickaid was created after the tragic death of Emma and Nick O’Brien who left behind two young children, the sole purpose of the event was aimed at raising funds to provide these two young lives some sort of financial assistance for the future.

Organized by friends of the pair, notably the hard work of Paul Docker, everyone involved and the bands were giving their services here today for free and with a cover charge of just five pounds the day was marked out to be something special. 

We arrived at the venue a little before 1.30 and unfortunately we missed opener E.T.A who by all accounts went down really well. Today’s bands were picked to provide something for everybody and mixing tribute bands, cover bands and original bands was the order of the day, worked quite well and overall was well received by the crowd present.

The first band we caught were Moonshaker, a cover band who mixed modern classics with some popular songs from the past.  Mixing the likes of Lenny Kravitz with Bon Jovi, the Killers and Green Day, all of which all went down well with the crowd who had soon swelled in numbers.  They certainly managed to get our feet a-tapping and would make a great band for an outdoor festival in the Summer. 

The next band on the bill were a band that really impressed me Yel Piracy, who delivered a hard rock punch into the days proceedings.  Opening up their account in impressive style with ‘Heads I Win’ with frontman Si Bunford delivering a punchy vocal very reminiscent of Joe Leste of Bang Tango and with Gary Ettrick as guitar partner, the pair threw out more shapes than Legoland.

They continued the harder side of rock with ‘No Other Love’, a mighty rocker that reminded me very much of The Almighty’s first album and this continued with the likes of ‘Unbeliever’, ‘Hijack’ and ‘Do You Want It Now’.  This is definitely one band to look out for in future if you’re into the harder more guitar-fuelled rock. 

Next up were another cover band One Eyed Jack a band rekindled for one more show after 12 years to play today.  Bringing with them covers of the likes of the Beatles, Poison and even Cameo (Word Up) to the stage and even the bands version of Dan Reeds 'Rainbow Child' was impressive, but the apt song of the days was 'A Little Help From My Friends', which seem more poignant than any other song today. 

Up next were another original band Redline, who just like Yel Piracy before them were really impressive.   I remember seeing this band last year when they performed at this very same venue for the Z Rock Festival and thoroughly their set then.  Opening up their old school heavy metal set with ‘Black Sky’, before going all out on ‘Some Kinda Mean' and the excellent ‘High Price To Pay’, before rolling back the years to their 'Ignition' album for ‘Cold Silence’.

The band really took the bull by the horns and rocked big style with ‘The Edge Of Falling’ before the excellent ‘King Of The Mountain’ with guitarist A.D. really shedding like a man possessed.  It's no the wonder this song became the anthem for the Isle of Man TT!

The band rounded of their set with ‘Straight Between The Eyes’ and really left us wanting more with the excellent rocker ‘We Came To Rock’.  Again another band to look out for. 

Well if Redline delivered Old School rock then the next band Buckshee were so old school we're talking slate and chalk here.  The band came across as a mix between Janis Joplin and Jethro Tull with frontman Burt looking like Fagan, which compare Sid, also noted on with japes of "OLIVER! OLIVER!".

But the band did put on one hell of an enjoyable show despite the years and threw together a great set mixing Ike and Tina Turner with Georgia Satellites to great effect and rocking up a storm in the process. 

Well by now it was time for the crowd to be introduced to the real reason heroes of today, that being Callum and Joel, Emma and Nick's two young children, who came on stage accompanied by babysitter Melissa, with young Callam throwing out the metal horns to the crowd in appreciation for their participation and attendance to today's event.  It was hard to keep a dry eye when you looked at these two young innocents who had been so sadly left to face the future ahead without their beloved parents.     

Lifting the mood back up again on to lighter notes we had one of my favourite bands of the day, the excellent Hanging Doll, led by front woman Sally Holliday, who herself is due to give birth in just seven weeks time, not that you would have guessed by her almost doll-like figure.  

The band opened up in impressive style with ‘Sweet Retribution’ and from this point on I think everyone in the audience was mesmerized by the band, who just were miles above anything else that had featured on the bill beforehand and could have featured higher up the bill, such are their skills as musicians.

They continued to stir the crowd with ‘Hope Springs Eternal’, another massive slice of Symphonic Metal from the band with Dan Leddy just exploding from the blocks on guitar and with the added vocal of Kev Wilson giving this a darker more heavier edge, this had to be one of the bands finest performances I’ve seen and now the count is four.

Following that with more excellent vocals from Sally with ‘Iniquity’, which features a more reflective sound to this one while again the band were on top form as always, as the venue was filled with echoes of magnificence from Britain’s premier Symphonic Metal band.

I can't express how impressive this band are, as the set continued with ‘Echoes Of Sorrow’ and my personal favourite ‘Blood Ridden Skies’, both splendidly performed, then is was ‘Twist Of A Diety’, again Dan was just superb and the thunderous rhythm section of Wilson and Alex Cooper sending powerful vibrations throughout the venue.  Backed by the haunting keys of Aryan Amoli who just adding that extra piece of class to things, this was just such an awe inspiring performance from the band.

The set was rounded off with ‘Forlorn’, a more mellower affair that ended another superb set from a band that I don’t get tired of seeing and are destined for greatness. 

Before the next band came on stage compare Sid announced the event had raised some £4,800 so far, which got an almighty cheer and a lively round of applause from the whole venue.

Well after the spectacular Hanging Doll is was on to the tribute bands, first up it was the excellent Thin Lizzy tribute band Dizzy Lizzy, a band I hadn’t seen before but had heard great things about.  The band gave us some of the best Thin Lizzy had to offer in a jam packed set full of classic Lizzy.

Opening up with ‘Jailbreak’ the band really had that Lizzy vibe about them as the pounded through the likes of ‘Waiting For An Alibi’, 'Dancing In The Moonlight’ even the 'Cowboy Song' got an airing.

But it was the likes of ‘Roselea’, 'The Boy Are Back In Town’ and 'Rocker' that really got the crowd going and by this time there was a crowd probably the biggest I’ve seen at the Asylum and they were treated to the best Thin Lizzy band around. 

We gave a one minutes silence as a mark of respect for Nick and Emma then it was back to the bands

After Lizzy it was David Lee Wrath, that is the band that boasted organiser Paul Docker as guitarist, wig endowed.  The band's tongue-in-cheek tribute to Van Halen and Roth was entertaining if nothing else.  Opening up with ‘Living Is A Luxury’ the band really didn’t look the part apart from the frontman who had gone all out Diamond Dave style with cowboy hat, chaps, shades and waistcoat.

The set continued with classic Roth/Halen tracks like ‘Running With The Devil’, ‘Somebody Get Me A Doctor’ and ‘Panama’ all getting the seal of approval from the now well liquored up crowd.

The band might not be the best Van Halen tribute around but they sure had fun doing what they did and after ‘Just Like 

Paradise’, 'California Girls’ and ‘Jump’, the bass player took over with a pummelling rendition of Motorheads ‘Ace Of Spades’ before the band went into a song a favourite of Nick and Emma Kiss’s ‘Strutter’, before ending the set with ‘Ice Cream Man’.   

After the auction and raffle, which took today’s total over the £6,000 mark, it was finally time for the headline act of the day. 

To be honest Shy without Tony Mills wasn’t Shy in mine and many others opinions.  Not to say Lee Small was a bad singer, I mean I loved his solo album but he didn’t have the range Tony has.  To be honest nobody has the range Tony has!  So when it was announced that Mr Mills was going to be returning to singing as part of Shy for one more time in aid of this worthy cause, it made today's performance a definite show to see.

The band came on stage to rapturous applause and opened up in great style with ‘Telephone’ and I like many around were pleased to hear Shy performing once again with the main man back on board, and I 

have to say the band certainly seemed to have a little more edge to their sound than last time is perhaps somewhat of an understatement.

Just before the next one Tony announced that tonight was about two young children and not the band, so there had obviously been a few questions asked about his return during the day.

The band carried on with an obvious crowd favourite ‘Breakaway’, again featuring a much more grittier sound which I preferred as Mills belted out those familiar unmatchable tones of his.  This was continued with one of the bands finest songs ‘Emergency’, a real favourite of mine and by the crowds reaction, a few of them really liked it too.

The set was slowed down just a touch with ‘When The Love Is Over’, again with Mills in superb form as were the rest of the band and Roy Davies was really beaming on stage.

The tempo was picked up once more for ‘Can't Fight The Nights’, a song that really pushed the PA to the limits as Mills vocals cascaded around the venue, but song of the set for me had to be magnificent ‘Skydiving’.  This has always been one hell of a song but tonight it was just so expertly done by the band performing as tight as a fishes whats-it ... and that’s water tight!

It’s hard to believe that Mills has been away when you witness such tightness between the band.

The band really rolled back the years for the next two songs, yes all the way back to 1985 and their 'Brave The Storm' album for ‘Keep The Fires Burning’ and 'Reflections’.  Two massive Melodic monsters that went down a storm (as all the songs did to be honest).

It was back to the familiar favourites with ‘Break Down The Walls’ and the superb ‘Give It All You’ve Got’, before rounding off one of the best Shy sets for years with ‘No Other Way’, a song that’s quite apt because there is NO OTHER WAY for this band than with Mills at the helm.  Let's hope there are more shows before Mills returns to Norway to complete the TNT shows later this year because I’m sure all the fans would be out in force to see the band as it should be. 

This was a really great event well organized and went relatively smooth, I wish some of the bigger events we go to went as smoothly as this!  The changes between bands weren’t drawn out, everyone did their role and a big thank you must go the Jackie and all the staff of The Asylum for giving their services for free, and 12 plus hours on your feet and not being paid deserves thanks.  I don’t know if this is going to be an annual event but let's see what next year brings and lets' hope that plenty of donations keep coming in for those two young kids.  Once again a fabulous day at a fabulous venue with some fun bands for a brilliant and well worthy cause.

If you would like to make a donation to the fund for little Callum and Joel then you can do so here - http://www.nickandemma.org/  - at the official Nick and Emma O'Brien remembrance website.

 

All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated.