Category: Gig Reviews
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS (ALMOST) LIVE
No doubt, 2021 has been another traumatic and troubled year for the music industry, particularly on the live front. While festivals and gigs did slowly return as the year progressed, many restrictions remained in place for months upon end, with some form of “normality” only returning towards the latter part of the year. However, there remained, and still remain, inconsistencies in how the Government and the various devolved administrations handled, and continue to handle, the situation. Different regions “opened up” at different times, meaning that tour schedules continued to be disrupted and re-arranged to comply with local restrictions.
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InVisions/Blind Summit/Clashmute – Manchester, The Bread Shed – 18 December 2021
York-based metalcore outfit InVisions arrived in one of Manchester’s steadily more popular venues, The Bread Shed as unfortunately, due to a positive Covid test prior to the penultimate show of the run, Ghost Iris had to drop out and return to Denmark. The line-up for tonight’s show therefore was now local metalcore outfit Clashmute, local prog metallers Blind Summit as direct support and InVisions to cap the night off.
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Osiah/Godeater/Odysseus/Karma’s Puppet – Manchester, Star & Garter – 15 December 2021
Tonight’s show brought Jase W back to one of the staples for local dirty metal gigs in Manchester, Star and Garter. Sadly, Bound In Fear couldn’t make it so the line-up for the show is Karma’s Puppet, Odysseus, Godeater and Osiah, the headliner in question touring in support of their latest album ‘Loss’.
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Beach Riot/Jack’s Plan/Sweethearts/Desenser – Sheffield, Record Junkee – 7 December 2021
It was a wet and bitterly cold Tuesday night and Bona arrived at Record Junkee to watch Beach Riot and their support bands. It is the first time that been there for a gig and has to say it is a nice little venue of 150 capacity with a decent sound system. The staff are friendly and helpful too, which always helps…
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Myles Kennedy/Cardinal Black – Bristol, O2 Academy – 3 December 2021
David O’Neill braved the pending winter storms to forsake the Welsh valleys and head across the Brizzle Channel to catch up with Myles Kennedy on one of the first dates on his first full-band tour of the Über Kingdom…
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HRH Vikings III – Sheffield, O2 Academy, Sheffield – 5 December 2021
Hordes of drunken barbarians descended upon the streets of Sheffield this past weekend in a manner reminiscent of the origins of Yorkshire, and this time it wasn’t because of the Sheffield derby. No, instead they were making their way down to the O2 Academy for the third instalment of HRH’s Viking festival for a weekend of metal and debauchery and the ÜR team of Jonny B and Bona P simply couldn’t resist getting involved.
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HRH Vikings III – Sheffield, O2 Academy, Sheffield – 4 December 2021
Hordes of drunken barbarians descended upon the streets of Sheffield this past weekend in a manner reminiscent of the origins of Yorkshire, and this time it wasn’t because of the Sheffield derby. No, instead they were making their way down to the O2 Academy for the third instalment of HRH’s Viking festival for a weekend of metal and debauchery and the ÜR team of Jonny B and Bona P simply couldn’t resist getting involved.
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Lock Horns/Bakken/Skypilot – Belfast, Voodoo – 3 December 2021
It hasn’t taken long for life to start getting back to some semblance of normality in the last part of the Uber Kingdom to lift restrictions on audience numbers, etc., at shows. On the downside, however, the turnout for tonight’s show, which celebrates the relaunch of the Distortion Project Records imprint with co-headlining performances by the label’s first three signings, is slightly lower than one might expect, especially giver the calibre of the acts. But then, it is the first in an (un)holy triptych of gigs over the course of the weekend, with Alestorm and Gloryhammer bringing their particular bands on in(s)anity to town the following evening, hotly followed by the Chris Jericho-fronted Fozzy the next night. With both bigger league shows sold out weeks in advance, it was only to be expected that the local lads would be the ones to suffer… Not that stops any of them trying to rip the roof off our favourite rock club!
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Enter Shikari/Trash Boat/Nova Twins – Manchester, Victoria Warehouse – 5 December 2021
Another cold Manchester night saw Jase W return to Victoria Warehouse for Herts EDM-metalcore heavyweights Enter Shikari. Oddly enough this was actually his first time ever seeing them, despite having many chances in his hometown of Middlesbrough. Better late than never, eh?
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Leprous/Aiming For Enrike – Leeds, The Warehouse – 3 December 2021
Jase W traversed the Pennines to catch up with Leprous when they brought their 20th anniversary tour to a surprise stop off in Leeds…
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The Ocean – Phanezoroic I/Phanozeric II – 26 November 2021 (live streams)
Anyone who’s spent any reasonable amount of time in Jase W’s general vicinity will know that he is a huge fan of The Ocean, a truly interesting band hailing from Berlin, Germany, known for their extended length songs across several albums, each with their own narrative. So, imagine his surprise when he got an email dropped into his inbox asking if he wanted to review their ‘Phanerozoic’ live stream; there was not a chance in hell he’d pass up the chance to sit and listen to The Ocean for nearly two hours and gush about it…
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The Offspring/The Hives/Bob Vylan – Manchester, AO Arena – 29 November 2021
The Offspring, a mainstay of Jase W’s teenage days, hit his adopted hometown of Manchester on the penultimate night of a tour in support of their latest album, ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’. Jase reckons this is legitimately one of the best venues he’s ever been to in the whole of the ÜK: it’s bloody massive and the right venue to see a band like this…
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