Artists:  FM, Moonlight Valentino & Under The Gun

Venue: O2 Academy, Newcastle  

Date: 6 October 2010   

It was in 2007 at Firefest that after numerous attempts to get FM back together, the band members finally buckled under the mounting pressure from fans and promoters alike and the band made a glorious return the live arena, and so the next chapter in the bands career took fruit.

The promise of a new album didn’t come to fruition until this year when the fantastic 'Metropolis' hit the streets and once again FM took back the crown of Britain’s finest Melodic Rock band.

With the new album came a few shows earlier this year with more promised.  The band held up their promise and three dates were named, the first of these being tonight here in Newcastle, the others are Manchester and Buckley, with appearances to follow in December in London before performing at the now prestigious Hard Rock Hell IV festival in Prestatyn, Wales.

But it's tonight’s show that is the main focus of this review.  The smaller of the two rooms at the O2 Academy Newcastle was almost at bursting point tonight with a tremendous turnout indeed.  It's been a long time since the bands last appearance in Newcastle was at The Riverside venue many moons ago, so to say the Newcastle fans were up for tonight’s show was a bit of an understatement.  Many here tonight were convinced had more folks purchased their tickets in advance of tonight, instead of paying on the door, then this show would have been moved to the larger of the two rooms as there wasn't an inch to spare once everyone crammed in.

First up tonight in the opening support slots were two bands whose sound was very much in the Classic Rock vein.  First up were Under the Sun who were on stage before I’d even had time to get a pint in.  They delivered a short sharp set filled with old school groove with Russell Brand look-a-like frontman leading from the front.

I said the band did a short set that was only four songs long, which didn’t really give you a chance to get into the band if you like me hadn’t heard anything from them before, but the likes of 'Rags To Riches' and 'Castle in the Sun' were the two stand out tracks from the band.  Like I said short and to the point rock n' roll with classic rock overtures, the perfect choice of band for the older mature rockers, which dominated tonight's audience. 

The second band were local band Moonlight Valentino, who despite not having their keyboard player till the end of their set, gave a great showing for themselves and like UTG before them, gave a short but equally impressive showing.  Again short and to the point with highlights being ‘She’ and ‘Lonely Time’, before the keyboard player turned up for the final track ‘Do I Feel’, which I have to admit was song of the set for me.  Just like UTG before them I would have liked to have heard more from them to give a fair judgment, and like UTG before them, they hinted at having great promise for the future. 

Now as the venue reached capacity it was time for British Melodic Rock legends to hit the stage to an almighty cheer, as Steve Overland and the rest of the band rocked the night away with a set consisting of both classics and tracks taken from their excellent new album ‘Metropolis’. It was from said new album that the band got things started with ‘Wildside’ and right from the off it was clear that Overland and the rest of the guys had the audience eating from the palms of their hands.  This was quickly followed up with one of their all time classics as the band launched straight into ‘Face to Face’, taken from the bands 1986 debut 'Indiscreet'.  A song that could easily have been written yesterday, because it still sounded as fresh as it did twenty four years ago (was it really that long ago?!?). But it was ‘That Girl’ that really got the crowd jumping. Overland's job was made easy as the Newcastle crowd sang along to every word.  The classic's kept coming as the band turned to their second album 'Tough It Out' for the stunning rendition of ‘Don’t Stop’.  The band were definitely making up for lost time as they continue to rock on through with ‘Only The Strong Survive’ and ‘Blood and Gasoline’.

It was back to the new album for the sing-a-long anthem that is ‘Hollow’, one of my favourite tracks off the superb new album, which when it's played live sounds even better than on CD.

There was little time for chat between the songs as the band let the music do most of the talking tonight, with the instrumental and title track 'Metropolis' leading into ‘Over You’, before another of my favourites from the new album, the single ‘Flamingo Road’.  By this time the crowd we in total raptures and were totally in awe of the free flowing Melodic Rock that was coming from the stage. The band once again rolled back the years as they went back to the 'Aphrodisiac' album to bring the tempo down a touch for ‘Closer To Heaven’.  However, things were soon rocking once more with the larger than life hits ‘Burning My Heart Down’ and set closer ‘American Girls’ which followed, and had the whole room simply bouncing off the walls in musical ecstasy.

The band left the stage to rapturous applause and cheers of "MORE!" "MORE!" from the crowd.  Luckily we didn’t have to wait long before the band returned to the stage and opened up the encore with the song that got it all started ‘Frozen Heart’, then it was straight into what else but ‘Bad Luck’, before putting the icing on the top of a great night of British Melodic Rock with ’I Heard It Through The Grapevine’.

This was another great set from a band that never seemed to receive the fame (and fortune) they deserved in the hey day of the scene, but one thing that tonight's performance more than showed is that you can't keep an old dog down and that FM still have what it takes and then some.  Like a vintage whiskey these guys and their music just get better with age.  Rock as a genre needs more truly gifted British talent to take it forward, and if it takes the likes of FM to come back and show the young guns how it should be done then so be it.

Drummer Pete Jupp gave a special mention at the end of the band's performance to singer Steve Lee from Gotthard who was tragically killed the day before in a motoring accident.  Many of the fans here tonight are also fans of Gotthard and really appreciated this tribute to one of rock's finest vocalists.

I went home after the show tonight with my feet aching, ears ringing and feeling totally exhausted because I'd actually had one of THE best nights out at a live show in a long time.  Just like the "good old days" FM came and rocked our little socks off ... and long may it continue!  Hope to see you all again soon lads!

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