PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Sunday afternoon on the May bank holiday seen me heading through to Ivory Blacks in Glasgow for the second day of Rock For Funds. Tonight’s bill was called the ‘Rock Extravaganza’ a mixture of cover/tribute bands along with local bands and headliners Kyrbgrinder who hail from London
I had been at last year’s event at Ivory Blacks so was looking forward to this year’s very much. Unfortunately Neil was running late so by the time we got to Glasgow, checked in, he got ready and we grabbed something to eat then headed to the venue, we had missed Charger and the 2nd band on the bill had already taken to the stage.
Men, they have a cheek to say us females take ages to get ready ;)
Swagger are a five piece rock tribute band that hail from Glasgow. I arrived part way through their great set just as they started Judas Priest’s ‘Living After Midnight’, Gun’s ‘Steal Your Fire’, ‘You’re The One’ before the guys finished off their set with a quality Queen ‘Breakfree/Bohemian Rhapsody’ Medley.
After a quick change over The Demons Eye another great rock and metal cover band took to the stage. Tonight’s set was a superb mixture of classic’s starting with ‘Lil Devil’ by The Cult that had people singing along before they lunched into ‘Hair of the Dog’ by Nazareth, David Bowie’s ‘Suffragette City’.
The guys where on great form tonight and they helped create a party atmosphere within Ivory’s, especially with their cover of Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’ and The Sweet’s ‘Ballroom Blitz’ had the people up dancing along. They closed 
their set with a Led Zeppelin/Metallica medley.
Setlist:
Lil Devil
Hair of the Dog
Suffragette City
Rebel Yell
Framed
Ballroom Blitz
Whole Lotta Luv/Enter Sandman medley
Threedos are a relatively new alternative rock/pop band from the Glasgow area. They play catchy, bouncy tunes and as they have two vocalists, one female Laura, the other male Ron, it brings a different sound to each track depending on who is singing. If you’re into pop/punky rock give this band a listen!
They played some of the tracks from their ‘Sin’ EP that went down well with the people who where there, before playing a cover of 3 Doors Down ‘Kryptonite’ then ‘Disaster World’ before they finished up with a great cover of Jimmy Eats World ‘Hear You Me’.
Setlist:
Feeling
Fighting Forever
Always Be
18 Seconds
Kryptonite
Disaster World
Hear You Me
Backwater renowned for being Scotland’s Ultimate Status Quo Tribute Band, they deserve this title as they always play a superb set of the Quo tracks to the delight of the fans young and old! The guys had played last year at Rock For Funds so I knew I was in for a tight, rocking set from them.
They started off with ‘Caroline’ and ‘Paper Plane’ before heading into classic selection of early Status Quo tracks including ‘Hold You Back’, ‘Blue Eyed Lady’, ‘Mean Girl’ these tracks have a the crowd moving about and singing along. ‘Oh Baby’, ‘Roll Over Lay Down’ before ending their set with a definite crowd favorite ‘Down Down’
Setlist:
Caroline
Paper Plane
Rain
Hold You Back
Blue Eyed Lady
Accident Prone
Mean Girl
Softer Ride
Oh Baby
Roll Over Lay Down
Don’t waste My Time
Slow Train
Down Down
15 Times Dead currently have Dan standing in on guitar and some vocal duties since Scotti left the band earlier this year, with this change they are now sounding a bit heavier especially as Dan has a deeper singing voice than Scotti, they sound similar but different, however it’s a good difference though!
They started off with superb ‘Deception’ and ‘No Friend of Mine’. Dan takes over vocal duty for ‘Driven By Hate’ his more growly darker sound gives the track a new edgy feel to it. Before they played their next song Andy shouted over to Col who used to be the bassist in Attica Rage if he knew how to play bass for ‘Dying‘ and would he come up and play it with them, Col said yes and joined them on stage. Col did a stunning job on bass duties.
Next up was one of my favourite songs ‘I’ with its Slayer styled intro and riffs; it’s been changed slightly so it’s sounding heavier and more intricate than before! ‘Bullethead’ was their final song and Scotti was in the audience so he sang the final few lines from the barrier after Andy swung the mic over for him. Great end to a Girthtastic set!
Setlist:
Deception
No Friend of Mine
Driven By Hate
Pray
Dying
Girth Giver
I
Bullethead
The final band on was the awesome Kyrbgrinder quite a few people there had never seen the guys before so was waiting to see what their reactions would be like.
They start of their krushing set with ‘Cynical World’ and ‘Don’t Be So Cold’ Johanne quips about looking for a future ex-wife and then dedicate the song to all my ex wives as he stars playing ‘Kill Them All’. They play a new song ‘I’m Not With You’ which is superb.
The final song for the night was ‘My Heart Bleeds’ Johanne asked the 15 Times Dead guys and Scotti to come on stage and sing along with him, which they did and it was a great finale to the night.
I’ve seen Kyrbgrinder quite a few times now and they always play a blinding set Dave’s blistering bass lines and Tommy gorgeous guitar playing, along with Johanne divine drumming and singing, as well as bantering with the crowd, keeping everyone entertained.
Setlist:
Cynical World
Don’t Be So Cold
Defiance
Kill Them All
Through These Eyes
I’m Not With You
Where Do We Go From Here
My Heart Bleeds
Over all the night was awesome as well as a lot of fun, the sound was fantastic. All the bands played 100% regardless of the size of the audience and they all looked like they were having a great time playing on stage.
The only thing lacking was the number of people there, with so many others events etc on the same weekend, along with people feeling the financial pinch much more these days, the crowd was reduced in size but not enthusiasm. The people who missed out the most were the charities as a smaller crowd means fewer funds were raised.
The nominated charities for the weekend where:
• Yorkhill Children’s Foundation
• Glasgow Children’s Holiday Scheme
• Vale of Leven Cancer support unit
• Rutherglen High School (Additional Needs Support)
Links
Rock For Funds
www.facebook.com/rock.forfunds.9
www.facebook.com/pages/Rock-ForFunds/283599318326333
Bands
Swagger
www.myspace.com/glasgowswagger
Threedos
www.facebook.com/Threerdos
www.myspace.com/threerdos
Backwater
www.facebook.com/pages/Backwater-Scotlands-Ultimate-Status-Quo-Tribute/213327652026851
15 Times Dead
Kyrbgrinder
