Inglorious – The Robin 2, Bilston – 02/10/17

Gypsy Heart were unexpectedly good, singer Heather has a good, gutsy rock voice with a hint of knocking on the door of Lzzy Hale.

The songs ‘Vultures’ and ‘I Don’t Know You’ the latter of which was written with Inglorious’ guitarist Andreas, show the contrast in their song writing and were both very enjoyable songs, showing the strength of their guitarist. Having closed with the song ‘Redemption’, Heather in particular seemed rather taken aback at the deserved rapturous reception that they received.

What a show Wayward Sons put on and what a blooming fantastic job they did at warming up the crowd and getting them going, exactly what a support band should do. Toby Jepson (former frontman with Little Angels) is a fantastic front man, the right amount of gusto and bravado without being over the top. His vocals have retained their fantastic scream, which was evident at various times throughout the set. They already have a collection of strong songs in their repertoire that are

technically good too and it was guitarist Sam Wood who particularly stood out in this area. Almost every song played was taken off their new album ‘Ghosts of Yet to Come’, our stand out track had to be ‘Rock’n’Roller’, a song filled with the exuberant energy that the band themselves showed on stage, especially bassist Nic Wastell who was cracking shapes all night long.

As they embarked on their song ‘Crush’ Jepson noticed some of the zombies from that songs’ video in the crowd and at his jovial finest stated to the crowd, “I love you and I’m pretty certain you love me. Help me prove rock is not dead”, the resounding agreement from the crowd confirmed his suspicions. With a mixture of orchestrated and spontaneous hang clapping throughout their set, the infectious energy of Wayward Sons had well and truly seeped into the ears and bones of those present at Bilston’s The Robin 2.

Appearing to the Match of the Day theme tune, Inglorious did not mess around and quickly launched into hits such as ’Read All About It’ and ‘High Flying Gypsy’ for tonight’s sold out crowd of 700 at The Robin 2, 300 more people than their last visit, equivalent to the capacity of Birmingham’s O2 Institute 3. It is the incredible support of Planet Rock radio that has had most Inglorious songs on their A-List, that has helped them to sell out Bilston’s The Robin 2 and a number of other venues on this tour and Inglorious do acknowledge this.

Other songs included ‘Change is Coming’, the (as frontman Nathan James put it) quite sexy ‘Making Me Pay’ and ‘Black Magic’

before a duet by bassist Colin Parkinson and drummer Phil Beaver. Phil in particular really shone in his solo, he and the rest of the Inglorious musicians are very tight in their playing and Andreas Eriksson is captivating to watch. This was followed by recent Planet Rock favourite ‘Taking the Blame’ before the return of ‘Bleed for You’ with its light intro from guitarist Drew Lowe.

Inglorious played a very thoughtful and well executed tribute to those musicians we have lost this year, in the form of covers of Linkin Park’s ‘Numb’ and Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’ in a nod to friends Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell. Nathan James’ voice really stood out here in its toned down form. It is undeniable that Nathan has the vocal power that

many of his idols once had, but here we saw a slightly different side to his vocals, there was a greater sense of emotion, most likely for two singers who were undoubtedly people Nathan looked up to.

‘Unaware’, was followed by the two songs that top and tail their latest album ‘II’, ‘I Don’t Need Your Loving’ and ‘High Class Woman’ which wrapped up the main set before and encore of ‘Holy Water’ and ‘Until I Die’. Inglorious are firm favourites of this Midlands crowd who loved every last minute of the music that filled their ears, as the 80’s singer Yazz declared, the only way is up for Inglorious.

Inglorious Set List: Read All About It, Breakaway, High Flying Gypsy, Change Is Coming, Making Me Pay, Warning, Black Magic, (Bass/Drum Solo), Taking the Blame, Hell or High Water, Bleed for You, Inglorious, Numb (Linkin Park cover), Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover), Faraway, Unaware, I Don’t Need Your Loving, High Class Woman, Encore: Holy Water, Until I Die