All About Rock & Metal

It was a sold-out show and there was an amazing atmosphere buzzing around the auditorium. The band took to the stage with the minimum amount of fuss. The crowd erupted.

“Once more unto the breach dear friends”, or more precisely, the O2 Forum in Kentish Town. This is one of my favourite music venues. It has a good photo pit, and the Showsec security are generally accommodating. Their policy allows photographers to shoot from the crowd after they have finished the standard three songs from the pit. This means you don’t get thrown out onto the street like a piece of trash in between the sets of each band, something that happens at venues like

Ginger traditionally has a show in London this time of year, close to his birthday, this time it’s in Islington and the Christmas spirit is well on its way!

One of the many things I like about being a music photographer is that I get to see bands I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to. On this particular occasion, I knew of the headline act, and had heard one of their songs, but knew absolutely nothing about the first two bands on the bill, Block Of Flats, and special guests, The Funeral Portrait. So once again I make my way into central London for the privilege of watching musicians perform.

Even though I had been to the O2 as a fan on countless occasions, this would be my first time there as a photographer. I had been pre-warned by some of my peers that this venue was a slightly hostile environment, but I always try to keep a sense of optimism. So, on a cold Wednesday night, I made my way to the East End of London wearing multiple layers of clothing, something that turned out to be an extremely wise decision, as I soon found out.

I will confess that I knew absolutely nothing about two of the bands on the bill, including the headliner. My review will be written from the perspective of someone who has walked in off the street, which is pretty close to the truth.

Nocturnal Affair from Las Vegas opened proceedings. They have toured with Wednesday 13 before and so it obviously works. They are generally pretty heavy, straightforward Hard Rock with strobes and a few death growls, but behind this lies a lot of traditional skill.

There’s no doubt that New Model Army is an appropriate choice for support for this gig in terms of their vintage and likely cross over in terms of fans. While they have always been in a bit of a class of their own, they were always more Goth than Rock and this expresses itself in lyrics about bodies, war and death. These days they very much look like a Rock band and they are very loud, but the haunting storytelling nature of their songs persists.

I wouldn’t have necessarily put The Spangles in the same breath as The Electric Boys, but there’s no doubt that the former were very pleased to be on the same bill. Full of beans from the off, they are lively and engaging. They play Punky Rock ‘n’ Roll right up my street, so a win for me. Not far into the set Ben Marsden on guitar and vocals declares “We don’t give a f*ck we’re not in Wembley... Might be selfish, but I’m here for a good time too!”

The 100 Club is a historic venue that has hosted many greats over the years and on offer tonight was a great roster of acts, starting with opener Kirris Rivière and The Delta Du Bruit who brought a lovely helping of Ol’ Black Blues, a mixture of originals and covers such as Muddy Waters’ ‘Can’t Be Satisfied’. The fact that they sat beside one another so easily is a testament to their songwriting and chops.

I still remember my first Bryan Adams concert very well, especially given it was my first concert in general. He was the main support for ZZ Top at the Milton Keynes Bowl on a hot sunny July day in 1991. There is even a very nice, wide-angle photo of that day in the program that I bought later that year during the continued ‘Waking Up The World’ tour. Since then, I have seen him somewhere between the late twenties and early thirties.

There has been much excitement about this Scandinavian Sleaze orientated festival with every band being from Sweden. It’s all the nicer for me, as one of the promoters is a lady I used to go clubbing with back in the day, someone I know is passionate about the music and not doing it for the money.

The Frontiers Rock Festival in Italy provided a nice opportunity for Canada’s Harem Scarem to take a quick flight across Europe for a headline show in London (amongst a handful of others that followed). In addition, the Saturday and Sunday festival openers – Seventh Crystal and Cassidy Paris – made up the rest of the triple bill.

To dry ice flowing like a river across the stage and into the audience, The Darkness came on stage triumphantly with their first song a

Skin bounced on stage in an oversized overcoat and enormous Balenciaga bovver boots as big as her head.

I’m sure I am like many of us who go to gigs regularly. More often than not, a gig is just that, a gig… a band/artist I have seen several

Support Yaki Dah (meaning Cheers! In Welsh) from Swansea are a shouty Punk band like the Beastie Boys, with some Nu Metal and Thrash influen

The Quireboys have always cheered me up when I see them. Despite the cost of living crisis, the crowd are here to have a good time

CJ Wildheart opened with his own band, following the split of the classic line up of The Wildhearts. It’s Punky, trashy Rock ‘n’ Roll

On almost the exact anniversary of her gig at the Palladium last year (which was the fiftieth anniversary of ‘Can The Can’) Suzi Quatro