After EDGUY’s support set with DRAGONFORCE at Rock City in January 2006, frontman Tobias Sammet promised the crowd that the band would return to the city for a headline show. 4 years later, that headline show finally arrived, and a sold out audience at the Rescue Rooms welcome the band back to the land of Robin Hood.

The Rescue Rooms is an extremely intimate venue for a band of EDGUY’s stature. In Europe, they’re used to playing to crowds ten times the size of this one, but for some reason, tonight seemed to have a special atmosphere, and the effervescent Tobias seemed to love the crowd interaction at such close range.

A large section of the European press didn’t take too kindly to EDGUY’s latest release ‘Tinnitus Sanctus’, but judging by the reaction of the crowd to the three songs played from the record tonight, the opinions of the fans doesn’t match the opinion of the press. The quick fire double shot of ‘Dead or Rock’ and ‘Speedhoven’ whirled the set into action, before classics like ‘Tears of a Mandrake’ and ‘Lavatory Love Machine’ had everybody singing along.

One thing you can’t help but enjoy at an EDGUY show is the quirky sense of humour the band has, chiefly provided by that man Tobias. Tonight, he introduced the brilliant ‘Vain Glory Opera’ as a EUROPE rip off (referring to ‘The Final Countdown’ of course), and then heartfelt ballad ‘Save Me’ was introduced as ‘Shave Me’, with reference to guitarist Dirk Sauer’s pubic hair. Aside from the humour element, EDGUY are a great heavy metal band, and songs like the 9 minute epic ‘The Piper Never Dies’ and the majestic ‘Sacrifice’ show the band are capable of producing more serious metal classics.

After a quick run through a verse of IRON MAIDEN’s ‘The Trooper’, the set came to a climax with the EDGUY national anthem, ‘King of Fools’. This was a suitably brilliant end, to what was a brilliant metal show. Roll on Bloodstock 2010 when EDGUY are sure to woo the British metalheads once again!

WHITE WIZZARD Setlist: Over The Top / Out Of Control / Iron Goddess of Vengeance / White Wizzard / High Speed GTO / 40 Deuces

EDGUY Setlist: Dead or Rock / Speedhoven / Tears of a Mandrake / Lavatory Love Machine / Vain Glory Opera / The Piper Never Dies / Ministry of Saints / Superheroes / Save Me / Fucking With Fire / Sacrifice / Babylon / King of Fools

Ratings:

Photography by Alexander Shaw

(Click here for photos)

Opening up tonight were Scottish rockers ATTICA RAGE whose brand of hard rock come traditional metal warmed up the crowd nicely with the likes of ’36 Insane’, ‘Contradictions’ and ‘Altered Reality’ all impressing, while the definite standout track of the set had to the sublime ‘Dark City’. These guy gave a solid performance of some good quality material that should gather them an ever increasing fan base, and with them playing a slot on the main stage at next months Hammerfest II, they are sure to pick up more if they perform like they did tonight.

After catching their impressive performances at last years Bloodstock Open Air and more recently Hard Rock Hell III, DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER were back once again on UK soil playing a few select shows at intimate venues like tonight for what was to be an evening of fun, laughter and of course, metal. Opening up with the impressive ‘Wir Sind Das Licht’, the party got going with headbanging unity.

It wasn’t long before one of the props got used with a massive flag, which pretty much encompassed the entire crowd, for ‘Revolution’ and with Fuchs also being raised on a jack of sorts towards the ceiling, I thought it wasn’t going to stop in time! The awesome ‘Riders On The Storm’ also featured and besides the obvious mosh and circle pits breaking out, there was plenty of what I can only describe as a sort of ballroom style dancing going on to the more melodic sections of their songs in the crowd tonight, which just showed how much everyone was enjoying the gig.

Let’s get one thing straight, DIE APOKALYTISCHEN REITER are by no means a one trick pony with all their props and antics on stage. They actually have got a lot of very good material and the likes of ‘Adrenalin’, ‘We Will Never Die’ and ‘Licked By The Tongues of Pride’ all went down an absolute storm with the crowd, while a mass drum outbreak appeared on stage also aided this effect.

While Dr Pest didn’t run about on stage like he has done in previous performances I have seen, he did get to ‘punish’ a ‘naughty’ female audience member with his whip and then making them his ‘prisoner’ by taking them to his den of sorts. A cracking rendition of ‘Metal Will Never Die’ closed the main set, before more fun ensued in the encore starting in the form of a crowdsurfing inflatable dinghy containing another female audience member for ‘Seemann’. As the closing tracks of ‘Reitermania’ and ‘Unter Der Asche’ were played, there were no qualms that nobody got value for money tonight as another top notch performance ensured that The Apocalyptic Horsemen rode into the distance firmly as one of the best live bands on the metal circuit!

Ratings:

Photography By Alexander Shaw (click here)

The sleaze’n'roll four piece have some good songs, and are certainly an enjoyable live band who are full of energy, and boast no shortage of talent. Frontman AJ doesn’t have the most memorable of voices, but his no frills style fits the raw edge of the band’s music rather well. Songs like ‘Come Over’ and ‘Rock’n'Roll Overload’ went down a storm, both being as good as anything you’ll hear from the current crop of up and coming UK rock bands. With a style that could appeal to a range of rockers, NEW GENERATION SUPERSTARS could well be set for a bright future – just as long as they can ride out the tough times. Let’s hope they do!

San Fransisco glam metal heros VAIN rarely venture to European shores these days, so it was a great pleasure to get the chance to see them. The 1989 album ‘No Respect’ is very close to perfect, and certainly one of the very best in the glam rock / hair metal genre. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the 75 minute set was made up of songs from that album, and with all bar one of the original lineup intact, VAIN played a storming show.

In an unforgiving music business, VAIN never managed to capitalise on the quality of the ‘No Respect’ album, and through various strokes of bad luck and bad management, they have unfortunately faded into hair metal obscurity. Still, a decent 100 strong crowd will have really enjoyed the intimacy of tonight’s show, as did frontman Davy Vain. Although strangely bare footed, the brilliant singer pranced all over the stage as he belted out note perfect renditions of ’1,000 Degrees’ and ‘No Respect’.

Although big anthems like ‘Beat The Bullet’ and ‘Who’s Watching You’ were obvious highlights, album tracks like ‘Icy’ and ‘Smoke and Shadows’ were also thoroughly enjoyable. The infectiously catchy ‘Love Drug’ was the best of the three songs that weren’t from ‘No Respect’.

Overall, tonight’s gig was a great night out, with both of the main acts putting on memorable performances. Although dubbed a farewell tour, I for one will be keeping my fingers cross that VAIN keep on going. They’re too good a band not to!

NEW GENERATION SUPERSTARS Setlist: I Won’t Stop / Nothin’ To Lose / Own Sweet Hell / Way Back Home / Bleed / Addictive / Dopefriend / Come Over / Save Me / Do It ‘Cause I Can / Beat ‘Em Down / Rock ‘n’ Roll Overload

Photography by Alexander Shaw(Click Here)

ANVIL’s 40 minute set tonight was thoroughly enjoyable. The likes of ‘School Love’ and ‘Mothra’ are fine examples of true old school, NWOBHM influenced heavy metal. Frontman Lips loves every minute of being on stage, and his smile instantly rubs off on the audience. The guitar playing with a dildo may be a little over the top, but hey, if there’s one band who shouldn’t be taken too seriously, it’s ANVIL.

SAXON’s reputation as a killer live band just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Only a few years ago, Rock City on a Monday night would have been half full for this gig, but tonight, the place was bursting at the seems. Frontman Biff Byford lead out his troops to a rapturous response, as ‘Battalions of Steel’ roared out of the PA system at extreme volume. ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ offered no chance for a respite as a hungry SAXON literally did thunder into action.

As voted by the fans, the setlist threw up a few rare gems, including a quite unbelievable performance of ‘Back On The Street’, a song that hasn’t had the dust blown off it for at least 20 years. The 80′s cheese of the song was the closest SAXON came to matching the comical performance of ANVIL earlier in the piece. ‘Ride Like the Wind’ also got an airing, as did the more up to date metal right hooks that are ‘Are We Travelers In Time’ and ‘State of Grace’.

SAXON are known for rarely delivering short of 2 hours, and with an encore kicked off by the anthemic ‘Live to Rock’ the clock did tick towards that 2 hours mark. With the rest of the encore filled with huge crowd pleasers such as ‘Denim and Leather’ and ‘Princess of the Night’, SAXON left the stage with a well deserved bow to the hordes.

Some would have been upset at the exclusion of ‘Motorcycle Man’ and ‘Crusader’, but with SAXON touring as often as they do, it’s always nice to see a few different songs in the setlist. SAXON are a band who never fail to disappoint, and tonight’s gig was yet another example of why the band has such a live legacy. May the battalions continue on many crusades to come.

SAXON Rating: 4.5/5.0

Photography by Alexander Shaw(Click Here)

On the back of a very strong performance at Bloodstock Open Air this year, it was nice to see they reworked the set for this upcoming tour, as so many bands just leave it the same, and even the new album has been out for over a year now, this is the first headline UK tour they have done in promotion of the new album, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the new material get the majority of the set.

Opening up with ‘Twilight of The Thunder God’, followed closely by ‘Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags’, these were two of the tracks on show from the latest album. Other tracks on show from the new album were ‘Varyags of Miklagaard’, ‘Guardians of Asgaard’, and ‘Live For The Kill’ (complete with APOCALYPTICA backing tracks).

There were also a couple of surprise inclusions in the form of ‘Hermod’s Ride To Hel’ and an awesome rendition of ‘Where Silent Gods Stand Guard’, which were both well received by the crowd tonight who were lapping up every second of this rather intimate show, and needed no persuasion from Johan Hegg to mosh and headbang whenever necessary. It would have been nice to hear some more old school material than the few songs we got, but that didn’t detract from what was an thoroughly excellent and energetic performance.

Other crowd favourites made up the set tonight with the likes of ‘Death In Fire’ and ‘Asator’ went down an absolute storm while everybody was singing the chorus to ‘Runes To My Memory’. A special dedication to the untimely passing of Mike Alexander was made for an apt song in the form of ‘Fate of Norns’. With the closing of the main set with the usual ‘Victorious March’, the encore followed with two songs which AMON AMARTH have become known for, ‘Cry of The Blackbirds’, and the usual closing song of ‘Pursuit of Vikings’ with all of the crowd pumping their fists in the air.

This closed another outstanding performance from the Vikings, and everytime I have seen them, they have performed at these extremely high levels, and for the past couple of years, they have been getting the recognition they deserve in the UK as they do in Europe. Lets pray to Odin that it isn’t too long before they are marching back again to our venues taking us to metal heaven in Valhalla.

AMON AMARTH Setlist: Twilight of The Thunder God / Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags / Valkyries Ride / Asator / Varyags of Miklagaard / Hermod’s Ride To Hel (Loke’s Treachary Part 1) / Guardians of Asgaard / Where Silent Gods Stand Guard / Live For The Kill / Fate of Norns / Death in Fire / Runes To My Memory / Victorious March / Cry of The Blackbirds / Pursuit of Vikings

Photography By Alexander Shaw (Photo gallery)

Arriving at venue, we were just in time to catch the last couple of songs by KEEP OF KALESSIN, whose black metal with thrash tinged style seemed to be going down a treat with the crowd. From what I heard of the likes of ‘Ascendant’ and ‘Kolossus’, both of which come from latest album ‘Kolossus’, they definitely warrant further listening, and probably seeing again sometime as this brief viewing was enough to wet my appetite for more.

After being impressed by their technicality and caliber of their material at last years Bloodstock Open Air, I couldn’t wait to see Canadian Death Metallers KATAKLYSM again. From the off, you could tell the band were loving this intimate atmosphere, as well as the crowd as the pit got going for the first of many tonight. Ripping through a brutal 40 minute set, the sound was crisp and clear and a pummeling performance by Max Duhamel on drums was awe inspiring as he produced numerous trademarked blast beats and together with the rest of the band were intent on total annihilation of the venue.

Given the back catalogue of KATAKLYSM, they tried to give each album a run out, with their set being full of their best work to date. Highlights included the impressive ‘Crippled & Broken’, ‘Let Them Burn’ and ‘As I Slither’, as well as the awesome ‘Taking The World By Storm’ from latest album ‘Prevail’. As the set closed with ‘Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)’, the crowd were chanting for more, which shows you the positive reaction they left on the crowd. KATAKLYSM also announced they would be returning to the UK early next year for a headline tour. If you love death metal, get your ass to one of their shows, you won’t regret it. I, for one will definately be there!

The last time Bay Area Thrashers DEATH ANGEL played Nottingham, their set didn’t last that long as they ran into technical difficulties. Thank god that was not the case tonight as they delivered a truly superb 75 minute set full of thrash classics both new and old. Mark Osegueda was in fine form as were the dual guitar attack of Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany as they blistered through tracks like ‘Voracious Souls’ and ‘Buried Alive’.

The new guys to the band, Sammy Diosdado on bass, and Will Carroll on drums have fitted in very nicely to the band and were extremely tight with the rest of the other members tonight. Also, a bit of a jam session being performed in the encore between songs highlighted this as they produced some quality entertainment. Pits were a plenty tonight, and it was great to see both the band and the crowd having an absolute storm as Osegueda on more than one occasion handed the microphone to the crowd to sing along with him, and plenty of banter was passed between both crowd and the band which made for an even better evening.

One of the highlights of the set was probably one of the songs they haven’t played since before the band first split, ‘Road Mutants’ and it was nice to here even if a couple of set pleasers had been sacrificed to make way for some of the older stuff they haven’t played for ages, which was perfectly fine with me. Other highlights obviously included ‘Thrown To The Wolves’, ‘Seemingly Endless Time’, ‘Stop’, and ‘Carnival Justice’ along with encore duo of ‘Lord of Hate’ and ‘Kill As One’. This capped off a wonderful night of metal, where both the bands and the crowd had an awesome time and one that won’t be forgotten for a while.

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Review By Adam Fredericks