Christmas Maiden

No, its not a wish, it's all but official that Maiden will be playing at The Point in December - rumoured date is 20th December. Somone tell Spike quickly! On second thoughts no...but book the fucking tickets! (well we might have to wait until they're actually on sale!)

Lizzy's Dublin dates

Lizzy's dates for Dublin (that's the Thin Lizzy with members who were actually in the band with Phil) are scheduled for 11th and 12th April at the Olympia - ty Sylv for info!

Whisper softly, rock loudly

Whisper softly, but rumours are afoot that Belfast could have it's own metal festival in June. Nothing definite that I can confrm as yet, but as soon as I can I'll let you all know....And fingers and toes crossed it will be absolutely fucking amazing!

Aiden set for Belast

Seattle horror-rockers Aiden have signed up to play Belfast's Mandela Hall on May 10th as headliners in Bratmag's first ever live event. It's an all age show, but that's sorta a little bit of a fib as you'll need to be at least 14 to get through the no ranks of halfmad bouncers, not to mention clamber over the workers re-building the Student's Union...

Tinn Lizzy

Tinn Lizzy will be playing at the Spring & Airbrake on Friday, 17th March, 2006. Tickets are £11 each

Maiden slowly unveil tour dates

Iron Maiden are slowly announcing their autumn tour dates as they set to work on their 14th studio album (hell not only am I surprised they are going that long, surprised I am too!)

Bruce, Harris and co have announced Scandanavian dates throughout November so expect a December tour including Dublin - just doubt they'll manage to get Belfast in that list of dates.

Keep an eye on their site (just in case...)

Oxegen line-up

Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Who are playing Oxygen this year - so, who can afford all this And why the hell is the rest of the bill crap - ok The Strokes are (just about) tolerable after ten pints, but the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys! Apart from Placebo most of the rest of the weekend at Punchestown Racecourse will be complete and utter waste of time!

Actually truth be told wouldn't mind seeing Peppers and The Who, but on July 8th and 9th I'll still be trying to figure out how to cover the costs from Jovi, 'Tallica, Gunners etc!

Download line-up

The Download line-up is being firmed up slowly and surely (like they're pretending they didn't know months ago). As well as 'Tallica and Gunners, The Prodigy (no thanks), Bullet for My Valentine, Deftones, Korn, Clutch, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil and INME have been confirmed. Apart from 'Tallica and Gunners there's not much there for traditionalists - just have to see when they announce Crue, and see who apart from Korn 'Tallica are bringing to Dublin.

Reliable sources...

Ever reliable Belfast Metal Head Reunited sources (ta Sylvia) reminded me that I forgot to mention Motley Crue are supporting Guns 'n' Roses on their 9th June date in Dublin.

Time to start saving!

Wanna Laugh?

Wanna laugh? Guns 'n' Roses are playing in Dublin on 9th June. Or should that be Axl Rose and some others parading under the G 'n' R title, are playing in Dublin on June 9th.

So, all-in-all this leaves us with an interesting dilemma...'Tallica in Dub on 11th June or G 'n' R on 9th? Or both? Or go to Download and see them all.

Mmmm, well 'Tallica in RDS Arena is a definite, but G 'n' R? Dunno, depends who is supporting them.

Rubin 'Tallica producer

Legendary producer of such tomes as Reign In Blood, has signed on to produce 'Tallica's new album. At least the snare drum won't sound like a bin lid! Update is here.

Also. Korn hve signed on as one of the support acts for 'Tallica's June 11th gig in Dublin

Quo Tele interview

Quo interviewed in the Belfast Telegraph on Saturday night, read it here

Saxon in Dublin

NWOBHM stalwarts Saxon are playing at the Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin on 27th April. Thanks to the Day of Destruction Crew for the tip off

St Valentine's Day Massacre...

Well, it's St Valentine's Day and given the lack of cards (I blame the postal strike :) ) I'll be listening to the Motorhead/Girlschool collaboration EP, St Valentine's Day Massacre EP and little else.

Happy Valentine's Day to all ten readers...(actually thanks to all the readers - have a stats package running and there are an average of 50 visitors a day...and an average of 200 per month - thanks to all, at least I know some of you :) )

'Tallica set list

Well, for those of you who may still be interested in 'Tallica...here's the set list from their gig at the Sundance festival, nothing from Load, Re-Load or St Anger (they must have been paying heed to you Baal), but plenty of good old tunes...

• Ecstasy Of Gold
• Creeping Death
• For Whom The Bell Tolls
• Wherever I May Roam
• Fuel
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
• Sad But True
• Fade To Black
• Master Of Puppets
• One
• Enter Sandman
• Last Caress
• Battery
• Seek & Destroy

Adler's Appetite

Steve Adler formerly of Gunners, has gone from playing stadiums to the Rosetta -well at least he came to Belfast (February, 2006). See for yourself what a life of rock 'n'roll excess can do to the body....lucky get!

Lepps

Deft Leppard at The Empire, Saturday, 4th February, 2006, now when Da proper Lepps play their World Tour, we'll see if they are quite so tubby.... :)

35 notes for a 12-bar boogie

Back in 1982 when Status Quo played their 'final' tour, including a gig at the King's Hall you could get a ticket, three t-shirts, two cases of beer and 20 Benson for 50p.

Now just to see Status Quo at the Odyssey (24th October, 2006) you'll need to cough up £35...my my haven't times changed. Still at least they'll have fresh zimmer frames thrown in instead of a booking fee in the ticket price (yes I was at the '82 gig...)

Darkness - Justin & Dan - brothers in rock

Brothers in rock - Justin and Dan Hawkins from The Darkness pictured at the Odyssey on Sunday, 5th February. Justin is seen trying to spot who was shouting "You Fat Bastard" after the shock exposure of the Dark One's all new beer gut, while Dan is using his hair to hide the shame at having a bro' with a belly. Actually, Justin - if that's you're best stab at a beer belly, work harder!












Pix from Colin - usual rates apply!

It's all tits with high-flying Hawkins

Justin wonders who stole the bra...

More pix coming your way soon! That is if you can wait that long

'Tallica! Dublin!

Hold all bets, cancel all previous engagements, deny knowledge to no-one! Metallica are back! RDS Arena, June 11th - tickets on sale February 16th. Yee Ha!

Mini metallers back!

Mini metallers Acidtone launch their new album at the Spring and Airbrake on Thursday 9th February - details on their site - tickets are a reasonably priced £5.

So that's Ash, The Answer and Acidtone all from Downpatrick - it could be something in the water, but can the next band to come out of the County Down town try to find another letter of the alphabet other than 'a' to start their names!

Tele review

My review of The Darkness for The Belfast Telegraph was published in the final edition of the paper on Monday, 6th February, 2006 and can be found in the online edition by clicking here

Persistence

You have to give them credit for persistence! Who you may ask? The evanglelical Christians (a.k.a. Chins; a.k.a. dicks) who turn up after gigs to berate us about our godlessness. After The Darkness there they were, handing out their tracts and asking us: "Do you really want a One Way Ticket to Hell" before being told that the album title was ...And Back".

Can't wait til Cradle of Filth play here then they'll really have something to moan about.

Also, was going to rant a bit about kids having sneaky bottles of vodka at the gig and being plastered, then remembered the days of Baal, Rab, Stevie, The Ring, amongst many others at MSG, Lizzy, Metallica, Dio, WASP etc and to paraphrase the evangelicals "Let he who is without beer cast the first bottle..." But then again seeing an 11-year-old plastered in the pit (he was celebrating his 11+ apparently!) was going a wee bit far. But at least he was doing at a good concert!

Tits out fo' the' lads!

Is Justin Hawkins Sid the Sexist from Viz magazine made flesh? After all, there could be many that argue arriving at the Odyssey hoisted into the air atop a massive set of mammaries would be enough cause to walk out in disgust and have feminist MPs and writers ranting on.

But, the point is, it was funny.

I know, humour at the expense of others isn't considered politicall correct, and is...well you know the rants. Problem is, Justin takes the piss out of himself as much as others.

He knows he's no oil painting; and instead of trying to hide his defects he even parades them; joking with the crowd about his newly acquired beer belly, and then showing it off - to which some people at the front replied with joking chants of "You fat bastard, you fat bastard..." and "Who ate all the pies, who ate all the pies..."

On Sunday night The Darkness proved a few doubters wrong (well they would have had they bothered to turn up!). The band showed they are all good musicians. They still write huge pop songs, they have a front man in Hawkins who can not only engage the crowd, but actually seems to be enjoying it; and they have used three years of touring to craft a set list that was almost perfectly balanced.

Yeah, we all know the formula - fast opening, few crowd pleasers, a few fast ones, then slow it all down to give everyone a break before ripping it up again - followed by an encore of course. The off to bed or post-show party.

But The Darkness add a few wrinkles that keeps it fresh (not just the stage set). It was audacious to show the cod-arrival in a helicopter of the band on the big screens; even knowing that everyone in the crowd knew there was no grass around the Odyssey which such a chopper could land on (sorry, Hawkins-style pun there...). It was downright over-the-top to tease the crowd with a segue of the band's videos before coming on stage and it was clearly not playing a part in the hard rock rule book (class 1.23) to encore with a song that isn't a single (Not for Me). But hey, ultimately it all worked.

We got all the hits, the entire One Way Ticket to Hell album, we got a goodly selection of from Permission to Land. We got a pit going down the front and we all had a good time.

Licking Juliette

Ahh, l'il ole Juliette - actress turned rock star - at least that's what she hopes. The woman who starred as the slightly demented female lead to an equally demented Brad Pitt in Kalifornia did her best to engage the crowd at the Odyssey on Sunday night. And eventually she did.

Apart from the usual puerile shouts from pre-pubescent adolescents to 'Gerr em awf' Juliette won over a sizeable proportion of the crowd with her energy and verve more than anything.

By the final third of her set she had those of us down the front bopping and banging - even a mini-pit appeared :-).

Couple of hints Juliette - first, your band: all competent musicians, but tell them a little eye contact with the crowd helps; next - don't get bitter about portions of the crowd not paying attention or getting with the groove; you proved you can win them over without (albeit gently) berating them.

Lastly - stick at it! For all the sub-Iggy moves and street rock riffs there is a lot for you to be proud of; another album and a headlining tour round smaller venues will get you there!

HIM with wings

A few words about the first act on the stage at the Odyssey on Sunday night - Swedish act The Ark. First - they weren't as funny as fellow Scandanavians Turbonegro; second - they borrowed heavily from HIM, but despite having an extra guitarists over the Finnish act, didn't sound half as heavy; third - the black wings were a mistake; fourth - next time we won't miss :-) and lastly - the melodies weren't bad, but a toughening up would be good on the riffs

Pix to come!

Well if there's one thing guaranteed to excite we here at Belfast Metal Reunited - it's the latest batch of pix from Colin - coming later this week images from Deft Leppard, Nice n Sleazk amongst others, but what we are really waiting for...Justin Hawkins astride a giant pair of tits...

Ok, some are waiting for that, others for the pix of Juliette Lewis...mmmm

Light in the Darkness...

Just back from The Darkness -shattered and watching Super Bowl XL. Full thoughts on a tremendous gig tomorrow, but for the meantime hi to everyone in the mini-pit, even the Carryduff Crew who after behaving like dicks, redeemed themselves.

Until I post detailed comments, below is the review I submitted for the Belfast Telegraph:

Over-the-top Darkness

SLATED by some critics as a joke band after their first album of retro-rock, The Darkness stormed into Belfast’s Odyssey Arena to prove that the fun is back in the rock.

While contemporaries Coldplay prefer the understated approach, Justin Hawkins Lowestoft crew fly right over-the-top and right over the top of the crowd - literally.

Opener Loving Arms saw the ever outrageous Hawkins being hefted aloft atop a pair of massively over-sized breasts; before returning to the stage to launch into the first single off their new album, One Way Ticket to Hell And Back.

The entire album was played during the set, amid pyrotechnics, flame throwers and an audacious stage set, which included horns draping the drum kit, a mock church organ, and a lighting rig which included five massive pitchforks.

Hawkins is at ease in front of the audience, comfortably involving everyone in singalongs while managing not to sound too cheesy.

However, this had the air of a band warming up for the rest of their European tour, and Hawkins pointed out that despite a sizeable Sunday night crowd at the Odyssey, it was the lowest selling gig of their UK tour.

That only served to fire the enthusiasm of the fans as the band paraded hits, led chants and teased the audience with snatches of eighties favourites before rolling out new tracks like Hazel Eyes and Dinner Lady Arms and singles such as Love on the Rocks and Growing on You.

Finishing off the set playing a guitar solo while on ropes above the heads of the crowd was a perfect example of how The Darkness have moulded great pop rock and showmanship to a level not seen since the halcyon days Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Special guests on the tour The Ark opened, followed by former film star Juliette Lewis and her band The Licks

ENDS