PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
The night kicked off with Fallen Mafia, a female fronted band from the North East of England. With five bands on the bill, the running order was stupidly tight, so as the doors opened earlier than normal at 6pm , Fallen Mafia took to the stage. As a result as they went on stage there were only a handful of people in the venue, but happily the numbers grew steadily and by the time they finished there was a good sized crowd. They put in a great performance (good enough that I went to the merch stand to buy their CD after the show anyway), and went down well with the crowd.
Next up came Italian band Hell in the club. They really impressed me right from the start. They put in a really energetic performance, especially their singer, and musically they were superb – really catchy sing-along tunes. I thought it was amusing that while Hell in the club were playing downstairs, a Christian group was having an event upstairs – I’m not sure what they’d have made of things if they’d seen the list of bands playing on the floor below them. Hell in the club impressed me so much it was a case of heading back to the merch stand again after their set to pick up a copy of their album. Definitely a band that is well worth a listen.
Hell in the Club setlist:
Natural born rockers
Another Saturday night
Rock down this place
Raise your drinking glass
On the road
No appreciation
Next up came Sleekstain. While being good, they were the weakest band on the lineup in my opinion and should have been one of the first on – certainly they suffered badly coming on after the feel-good party songs of Hell in the club.
Next up was Jettblack. They’ve been great every time I’ve seen them, so I had high expectations for tonight, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Kicking off with ‘Two hot girls’, the band were on top form. Tonight’s setlist was unsurprisingly based heavily around their latest album (Raining rock), with 6 out of 9 songs coming from that album. You can see the band are having a great time on stage, and that enthusiasm helps get the crowd going even more, and the band go down really well. Ending their set with the title track of the album, and in my opinion their best track yet, ‘Raining rock’, they finish to huge applause. A great performance.
Jettblack setlist:
Two hot girls
Less torque more thrust
In-between lovers
Sunshine
Prison of love
Get your hands dirty
Black gold
Motherfucker
Raining rock
Finally it was time for the last band of the night – Crashdiet. There had been speculation before the show about whether or not they would play tonight as they were due to headline in the same room where their friend and manager had tripped and died exactly one week earlier. The band took to the stage and called for silence before talking to the crowd. The upshot was that the gig was on, but Simon would just be singing and not playing guitar tonight. It was clear that this was going to be a very emotional gig for them but they knew that their manager would have wanted them to play, so play they did. This really was a show to remember – the band gave it everything they had, and apart from Simon not playing guitar at all, for much of the show you wouldn’t have known how hard it must have been for them, but at one point Simon did disappear behing the amps to collect himself before coming back out to continue a superb performance.
Towards the end of the show Simon climbed up onto the PA speakers and clung on to the air conditioning ducts way up by the ceiling. He waved away the microphone a member of the crew tried to pass him and then leaped off the speakers into the crowd. To give them credit, everyone tried to catch him, but with a guy that big dropping from such a height, this wasn’t going to be a soft landing, and he ended up on the floor taking half the crowd with him. Happily though nobody was hurt and Simon rejoined the band on stage to finish their set.
A superb performance in what must be the most difficult situation the band have ever faced, and a fantastic end to a superb night of music.
Crashdiet setlist:
Breakin’ the chainz
Circus
It’s a Miracle
California
Garden of Babylon
Riot in Everyone
Generation Wild
Cocaine cowboys
