PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Opening for Orange Goblin tonight were local lads Line of Fire. Unfortunately as luck would have it, work restraints meant they were playing their final song as I got there. Noticing the lead singer was sporting an Incinery t-shirt I noticed they had also stolen their drummer too.
Warming the stage up preceding O.G were Leeds based rockers Gentlemans Pistols. It’s quite an interesting point to note that using social media and posting the fact that, as a female I was watching Gentleman’s Pistols without really stating they were a band caused mass amusement. Rather than just being a euphemism, G.P entertained with tracks Sherman Tank and Some Girls Don’t Know What’s Good For Them from the album At Her Majesty’s Pleasure while also sneaking in Devil’s Advocate on Call and Time Wasters from Hustlers Row.
Twenty years has passed since the formation of Our Haunted Kingdom, or as they are known now Orange Goblin. Lead vocalist Ben Ward explains the soft spot the band have for Nottingham, telling the crowd that the first time the London heavy metallers gigged here in Robin Hood land was back in 1998. Tonight however, they return as gods playing to a full congregation, teasingly enticing the masses with an intro of AC/DC classic It’s a Long Way to the Top. Anticipation is thick in the air as Orange Goblin let loose on the stage offering up Solarisphere from the Time Travelling Blues album released around the time the band first stepped foot musically into the area.
Ben Ward is every inch the entertaining front man from the moment he storms on stage, speaking in a similar tone as he sings, gravelly as a wolverine’s purr. His on-stage antics demand attention, from his downing full bottles of wine to dousing his audience in water. Putting it bluntly a night on the beer with O.G appears to be a lot of fun. In between the drinking and moshing antics they play tracks Into the Arms of Morpheus and the Motorhead inspired The Devils Whip from the most recent 2014 album Back from the Abyss. Spoilt for choice from the strong eight album back catalogue, only the cream of the crop are played with no album being leant on more than the other. The zombie inspired They Come Back saw the first crowd surfers of the night, led on thundering bass by Martyn Millard. Combine this with easy chant like lyrics, sharp riffs supplied by Joe Hoare and pounding drums by Chris Turner and the result is a winning combination and a highlight of 2015.
The encore manifests itself in the form of 2000’s offering Scorpionica and Quincy the Pig Boy from The Big Black album, ending the night with Red Tide Rising. All in all a night well spent!
Set list:
Solarisphere/Filthy and the Few/Devils Whip/Morpheus/Aquatic Fanatic/Stand for Something/Shine/
Made of Rats/ Some you Win…/Blue Snow/ They come Back / Time Travelling Blues/ Scorpionica/
Quincy the Pig Boy/ Red Tide Rising
