Event Reviews

Dusty Pop Entertainment presents a special event featuring ten Manchester bands over two stages, Club Academy and Academy 3. It is a great opportunity for starting out bands to showcase their music. What I wasn’t expecting was the bands on both stages to be playing at the same time. This made punters …

Welsh metalcore heroes Funeral For A Friend have very much returned to their roots with their sixth album, ‘Conduit’, which, as we noted in our recent review – http://planetmosh.com/funeral-for-a-friend-conduit/ – is a lot more grounded in the 1990s hardcore sound that characterized their first couple of releases.  This approach also …

After the brilliant Academy Metal Fest. on Friday, my hunger for more of the same was satisfied at Grand Central in Manchester, who played host to an all-day metal extravaganza. The event was well publicised and it was anticipated that attendance would be high to witness a gathering of varying …

Gigs like this make me feel decidedly old.  As I stand on the balcony looking out over the basement venue, the floor below me is a seething mass of pre-pubescent bodies, each and every one of them, without exception, younger than my own daughter… behind me, the bar staff are …

There are fewer things more miserable than a cold, wet January Sunday evening in Belfast city centre. Tonight, in the warm surroundings of Belfast’s Voodoo which is a premier up and coming music venue and provides a traditional style bar downstairs for rabid metal heads to stock up on beer …

Necrosadistic Goat Torture are a black/trash metal band based in London. The band began in 2003 and were originally fronted by a female vocalist, Talkea. She was later replaced by Polish vocalist, Bartosz Jacyszyn, in late 2008, allowing the band to progress to a heavier sound. Necrosadistic Goat Torture have …

It must be said, Dublin’s Vicar St is one of the best venues I’ve been to:  a purpose built modern theatre, it is designed in such a way that it can accommodate everything from comedy to heavy metal with ease.  I’ve been to it on several occasions over the past …

Three words summarized tonight’s gigging experience: commitment, dedication and resilience. On the part of both the bands and their fans. On the face of it, there probably could not have been a worse night to stage the first big metal show of the year – at least, one outside the …

Well Xmas certainly came early to the punters who turned up for Black Rose’s final gig of 2012. We were treated to over 2hrs of Thin Lizzy classics with a few obscure album tracks thrown in for the diehards. The evening was split into 2 sets giving the band a …

It’s that time of the year again where Thin Lizzy fans young and old set out on a pilgrimage to the city of Dublin for the annual Vibe for Philo concert.  Now in its 27th year, this event attracts fans from far and wide as they gather together for a …

The combination of an early start on a weeknight plus trains being messed up meant that I arrived at the Underworld just as the second band finished their set. The gig had been due to take place at the nearby Electric Ballroom, but poor ticket sales that have plagued a …

Heading down to the Electric Ballroom tonight really did have a Hard Rock Hell reunion feel to it.  Not only were many of my colleagues and friends going to be there but it was another opportunity to watch Kobra And The Lotus and Buckcherry perform – twice in one week.  …

In terms of heavy music, Liverpool seems to have become a bit of a relic of the North-West touring circuit in recent time. Seldom is Liverpool graced with a gig of this calibre (the odd Def Leppard gig in the Echo not with standing), the overwhelming majority of bands hitting …

After some 15-plus years very firmly at the top of the local tree, NI death grinders Condemned shocked many fans a little earlier this year when they announced their decision to call it a day. The reason was not the usual ‘internal divisions’ or ‘musical differences’ bullshit that many acts …

Arriving at the Roundhouse I felt rather old – being at least twice the age of most the schoolkids queuing up outside the venue.  Enter Shikari certainly don’t seem to attract many people over the age of 16 if this crowd was anything to go by.  The night started with …

The night started off with Hounds.  Dear god, what idiot thought they’d be a good band to support Stone Sour?  I can only assume they paid to get on the tour, as they were so unsuited musically it was shocking.  Normally when a band is either awful or just the …

Sunday morning comes around all sunny and clear…well ok not necessarily for the whole day as it did bucket it down as well, but you get my meaning.  This was the last day of the festival and today was all about Stage 1.  Why?  Well, cause that was the only …

Saturday dawns bright and brings with it the promised of yet more great bands, beer and festivities.  There were so many bands on this day I wanted to camp by both stages and just watch everything.  But, short of cloning myself and creating a psychic link with said clone, this …

With four days this year the line-up was jam packed full of bands and there were a lot to choose from.  Things kicked off on Thursday which was party night with the crowd really getting into this year’s theme by dressing up Western style.  I didn’t manage to get to …

Epica prove to Manchester why they are a true force to be reckoned with.   The Ritz in Manchester is a cracking venue without doubt and tonight’s gig promised to be one most worthy of playing within it’s hallowed walls as the Epica world tour arrived on the latest leg …