Graceful Degradation

Yesterday morning I spent battling a headache, today I'm waiting for the hearing in my right ear to return.  I'm blaming Ginger Wildheart and Therapy? entirely for the latter, but no worries, experience tells me it will be back to normal in a day or so.

The headache meant I didn't venture out until mid-afternoon which did at least have the advantage of allowing me a late lunch so I didn't have to miss anything I wanted to see later on when I went in search of food.  Started off in the Queen Vic again, where I caught the last few songs by Velvet Star.  Their mix of glam and punk was a great way to kick off my musical day so I was feeling pretty energized by the time I headed next door to stage two.

Kobra and the Lotus totally blew me away.  A five-piece from Canada, they are a metal powerhouse, and Kobra Paige has one of the most incredible voices I've heard.  She has real power in her vocals, extraordinary stage presence and looks bloody good too.  Their second album will be out next year and the set was largely based around the new songs.  Judging from the likes of Welcome to my Funeral this is a must buy for all metalheads out there.  They also threw in a tribute to Ronnie James Dio which went down well with the crowd.

It was unfortunate line up positioning for Obsessive Compulsive though.  The female-fronted Manchester foursome just could not compare and while it seems a bit harsh to judge based on Kobra and the Lotus, when they were on just a short stage change before it's hard not to.  Obsessive Compulsive are more punk in sound and attitude than metal, and while they're reasonable enough it just wasn't really doing it for me.  The contrast was too much - Kelii doesn't have as powerful a voice, for example, so her style is more like shouting.

Took a break for a smoke and a drink and returned to stage two for Million Dollar Reload.  Always good value, the guys put on an energy-filled show.  They've been on the road a lot in the last couple of years and it really shows in their live performance.  And they have the songs to go with it.  If you haven't already, do try and catch them live sometime.  Million Dollar Reload are bound to be somewhere near you soon.

Voodoo Six put themselves about a bit too, and have garnered quite a number of devoted fans.  Bass player and pretty much band leader Tony Newton is flamboyant and dominates the stage.  Singer Luke Purdie is hardly background, having as he does a great set of pipes, but Newton really likes to get up front and eyeball the crowd.  Completed by Chris Jones and Matt Pearce - two guitar monsters - and Joe Lazarus pounding out the rhythms on the drums, it was a great set and clearly much appreciated by the crowd.

Sadly I had to skip Voodoo Johnson in order to bag a place at the front of main stage.  This did mean, however, that I caught the end of Wolfsbane.  Always a pleasure.  Blaze Bayley and the lads are currently set on saving the world with their latest album but for the tail end of the set I got some old favourites like Man Hunt and Paint The Town Red.  


So, to one of the guys responsible for my current temporary hearing loss.  Ginger Wildheart is both looking and sounding really good.  Joined by Jon Poole, Rich Jones and Denzil last night, he's off on a flying visit to Helsinki before returning to these shores for a ten date tour - and I would advise you to get along to a show if you can.  Last night Ginger announced he was taking a break from the road for a while after the London shows so don't miss this chance.  Not much chat but he did share a bottle of wine with the crowd and proceeded to belt out a great set including some Wildhearts favourites like Suckerpunch and rounded things off nicely with I Wanna Go Where the People Go.  For a performance like that I can forgive the effect on my ears.

Sadly the clash meant I only caught the last track of Exit State's set.  Judging by that, though, they were on fine form, and having seen them before I know these guys are great live performers.  I hope to catch the full show again sometime in the near future.

Not being terribly fussed about Magnum, I opted to give my feet a rest and stayed with stage two for part of Vega's performance.  Good bit of British melodic rock, although since they were competing with Magnum they didn't have quite the crowd they deserve.

And finally, for me at any rate, Therapy?  God, they're good.  And very hard to pin down - as a threepiece with a lot of stage space for Andy Cairns and Michael McKeegan to play with they just don't stop.  Very bouncy too, which about half way through the set was causing me a bit of concern as the stage under McKeegan's feet did not seem to be taking it well.  There was a definite gap appearing with each bounce so, knowing how much Michael Monroe leaps around the stage, I hope it has been looked at before tonight.  Neil Cooper was doing sterling work on the drums, and with a set laden with classics like opener Trigger Inside, Die Laughing, Die Like a Motherfucker and Teethgrinder it was always going to be a blast.

So, ears ringing, I headed off into the night.  Saturday is going to be my top day, unless several of my favourite bands unexpectedly put in sub-par performances, but Friday was pretty damn good.