PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Tonight’s gig saw Thunder playing Wembley Arena in London. On arriving it was clear the gig wasn’t sold out as the back part of the arena was curtained off, but I’d estimate around 7000 as the attendance which is more than enough to justify playing a venue of this size since smaller venues hold under 5000. It’s a shame the place wasnt busier though as tonight’s bill was a great one – Thunder headlining with support from Terrorvision and King King.
First up were Scottish band King King, and I’m betting that most of the audience hadn’t heard them before, so they had a challenge ahead of them – to win over the crowd and get them warmed up. It’s a challenge that King King accepted and handled with ease. I’ve seen them before and love their music, so was expecting them to be good, but as the set went on, after each song the cheers were getting louder as they won over more and more fans. Their Blues rock sound clearly went down extremely well with the Thunder fans. A great band that I’d definitely recommend you go and see play live.
King King setlist:
More Than I Can Take
Waking Up
Hurricane
Rush Hour
Crazy
Stranger to Love
Next up was Terrorvision. They were popular in the 90s but split in 2001 before reforming a few years later. Since they have only released one album (in 2011) since their reunion then the set was a fairly predictable “best of” type set, although bizarrely they chose not to play their biggest hit by far – “Tequila”, which is a song that would definitely have gone down well. It’s a very high energy set, with the singer in particular being very active. They did put in a very good performance, but I personally fest that King King had been better, and judging by the crowd response then I think a fair few other people agreed with me.
Terrorvision setlist:
Discotheque Wreck
Pretend Best Friend
Celebrity Hit List
My House
Some People Say
Josephine
D’Ya Wanna Go Faster
Middleman
Babylon
Oblivion
Bad Actress
Alice What’s the Matter
Perseverance
Finally it was time for Thunder who kicked off with the title track of their current album – “Wonder days”. Released last year it was their first album for seven years and it’s a great album. Unsurprisingly given how good the album is the band choose to play half a dozen songs from the album mixed in with the classics from earlier albums. Being an arena show we get the full light show and large LED screens behind them as well as video screens either side of the stage. These add to the spectacle but watching them and listening to them it’s clear they don’t need to rely on visuals – they’re just there as the icing on a cake. The band sound as great as always – Danny Bowes has still got a fantastic voice and has to be one of the best frontmen around.
The setlist is very very similar to the one from last year’s arena shows, with just a few changes, but nobody is complaining as they play most of the classic songs people want to hear and the new material goes down almost as well as the old. Hopefully they won’t make us wait another seven years for the next album.
During the set they announce to a lot of cheering that they are playing this year’s Ramblin’ Man festival in Kent in the summer, (and have since announced that they are also playing Steelhouse festival the same weekend).
It’s a superb performance from Thunder – but then again they never fail to impress. A great end to a great night of music.
Thunder setlist:
Wonder Days
Black Water
River of Pain
Resurrection Day
Like a Satellite
The Devil Made Me Do It
Empty City
Backstreet Symphony
I’ll Be Waiting
The Thing I Want
When the Music Played
Love Walked In
I Love You More Than Rock ‘N’ Roll
Encore:
Serpentine
Dirty Love
