GIG: Def Leppard/Whitesnake/Black Stone Cherry

It has been some time since my last entry! Forget reviewing albums for the meanwhile...it's live time. This was the first time I'd been to a proper gig at the Metro Radio Arena. Last night was amazing, as you'd expect from three of my favourite rock n'roll bands. I had been looking forward to this for many months, and was a little apprehensive beforehand as I didn't want to miss Black Stone Cherry open. As it happens I was standing at the door to the inner arena when I heard the familiar sound of Rain Wizard kick in, so I wasted no time in getting in there. I was immediately impressed, and while the crowd wasn't huge, they were fantastic and I was just craving to be nearer to the front. The acoustics were pretty crap for these guys unfortunately, but the guitarist was all over the stage, Chris Robertson's voice was unmistakeably good and the drummer (John Fred Young) was something else. He was a beast, it must be said. I've never seen a drummer so hyper! All drummers should be like this... The bassist (Jon Lawhon) has a great Kentucky drawl which made me chuckle a bit when he was chatting to us crowdgoers, and the dudes seemed really down to Earth and genuinely pleased to be on the tour, getting such a glowing reception. You don't get that often. With only a thirty minute spot, they had to impress and did so in style, finishing with Voodoo Child (Slight Return), complete with guitar-behind-neck-playing, and teeth-playing also. Just bloody awesome, what a warm up for the night! Wish they had played Crosstown Woman, though...that's a personal favourite.

BSC exited stage to great cheers, and pronounced that they would head towards the merchandise stand. Well, it was time for a beer and a t-shirt. There was no Lepp tees left, so I had to settle for a sweet BSC tee. I was determined to get in a good standing position to see Whitesnake kick off their shenanigans, so didn't hesistate long and therefore didn't get to meet the BSC guys. Another day!

A short wait, and the lights went down and on came David Coverdale. Talk about stage presence! Full hair and howl, Whitesnake opened with Best Years off their brilliant new Good To Be Badalbum. Coverdale was immense, talking the audience up and getting roses from the front. "Make some f***ing noise Newcasttteeeleee!" Hell yeah! I was surprised that they played a lot from the new album, but there was enough classics to please all. Love Ain't No Stranger was special. Coverdale and Aldrich did some acoustic stuff, with Aldrich sat on a special "Whitesnake" stool ("Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Whitesnake...have furniture!") doing Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City and the smooth The Deeper the Love. The best crowd reactions were saved for Is This Love, Here I Go Again..., and the absolutely stunningly frawkin' good Still of the Night. Not forgetting Fool For Your Loving, of course. Credit to the man, he gave equal part to each of his excellent musicians. Doug Aldrich and RebBeach are awesome. Who says they can't still do it? They did, and we all wanted more! The man was loving the crowd. Cov said, "It's good to be home" - I guess this is the closest the guy gets toYorkshire on tour these days. Ey up!

I made a wise move not to leave after Whitesnake left. This let me to move to the front a little more while others dashed to the bar...and I waited for Def Leppard to appear. After quite a while of Stones and AC/DC tunes over the speakers, the lights went down once more and the humongous screen lit up across the arena. This was a montage of Leppard since the beginning to some guitar build-up. "That...Was...Then..." it proclaimed, "This...Is...Now!", and to great roars, on came Def Leppard playing Rocket.

The place came alive once more. The vibration of the speakers was intense. Leppard proved immediately that they were no ordinary "old rock band". Joe Elliot still has a tremendous voice, and with guitarists Vivian Campbell (thought he was particularly skilful!), Phil Collen, and Rick Savage behind him, the place shook with the rocking souls of what seemed to be a few thousand people. One-armed Rick Allen is one heck of a drummer too. Leppard had more old hits to

perform this night, and the only ones off Songs From the Sparkle Lounge were C'mon C'mon, Nine Lives, and Bad Actress (in the encore). These tracks are sure to become classics in turn. Personal favourites were Animal, Hysteria (one of the best ever), Rock of Ages (superb),Photograph, and of course the legendary Pour Some Sugar On Me. They even did some great acoustic stuff when they came right to the front of the catwalk-type-strangely-setup stage. The lights went off, and a spotlight was shone on Rick Savage's Union-Jack-flag-bass. I didn't know it at the time, but this was a version of David Essex's Rock On, from the Yeah! covers album. It rocked, anyway. The encore was the best, however. They came back on to perform Bad Actress, and then Elliot said: "Do You Wanna Get Rocked?", and we all sang Let's Get Rocked. "We'll see ya next time - and there WILL BE A NEXT TIME!" Elliot shouted over the screams of the audience. There better bloody well be. Pure Rock N'Roll, nothing like it!!!!!

ALBUM: Year Long Disaster - Year Long Disaster (2007)

Due to blogging errors etcetera, this is a little later than I would have liked. Nevertheless...here it is. I've had an album overload lately, but this is probably the best one I've bought. Year Long Disaster are a fairly new band, one I saw live when they were supporting Velvet Revolver (see previous post), and they consist of Daniel Davies (guitar/vox), Rich Mullins (bass), and Brad Hargreaves (drums). I had liked them before, and seeing them live just intensified my interest in them. I was compelled to buy their debut.

So what's to like about this album? Well, for a start they're fantastic musicians and an excellent band to see live. Davies' gritty, raw voice does a hell of a lot of good to set them apart from other bands. Another thing is that every song on this album a) is different, b) has awesome riffs, and c) leaves you wanting more. The two opening tracks are very original rockin' songs which give way to a few slightly slower songs. While my favourite track is Sapphire, the very last song (apart from the hidden track), Swan On Black Lake, is just magical, honestly. A slow four-minute build-up suddenly drops for some stunning guitar pieces...

One other thing I must say about the album is the cover. Sure, covers don't matter much in these internet-downloading days, but I love this cover. The artwork and the band logo (under the CD) are great intricate designs.

If you buy one rock album today, this week, this month, this year even, get this. For me, it doesn't really sound like any other band. There's shades of 60s and 70s heavy rock there, but unlike many other bands today, they're pretty goddamn original!

ALBUM: Dire Straits - Love Over Gold (1983)

I've decided to do an album of the moment thing, cliched but there you go. Since I was probably two years old I've had Dire Straits music following me around...blame the parents. In 2005 I saw Mark Knopfler live, and he was just the best, including his solo material. But I still love Straits most and when I first heard Telegraph Road a few months ago I realised I didn't really know them. So the other day I found Love Over Gold in a small local record store (one day I'll own a record store just like it...High Fidelity style hopefully) for a bargain. I tried to buy Communiquetoo, but the CD was conspicuously absent. Sure, I may have heard 4 of the 5 songs on this album before, but unlike the majority these days, I still enjoy buying and owning CDs. The internet may have gave rebirth to the live gig thing, with people discovering artists so quickly, but CDs are still something to have. If I had it my way, vinyl would be bigger too. But then I wouldn't be able to rip it to my MP3 player, would I?

Love Over Gold is one hell of an album, not to mention great album cover. Telegraph Road and Private Investigations are serious songs with exquisite guitar pieces. Telegraph... is just one, epic 15 minute song really. You need to listen to understand. Industrial Disease gives way to the title song, and currently the last song, It Never Rains, is my current favourite. Knopfler's guitar at the end is almost haunting...a brilliant end to an underrated album.