I rub my hands in glee….‘The Dome’ is going to be my home for the next 4 days: ’Live Evil’ festival preceded by tonight’s mouth-watering bill. The members of Quartz have been strutting their stuff since Heavy Metal was just a spermatozoon in the nut-sack of the great man in the sky and I’m quite excited at the prospect of seeing them perform.
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Wolfsbane is a band I never quite took the time to delve into so this is an excellent opportunity to make emends. Speedtrap, from Finland, have just finished their European tour (with Amulet) the previous day and are scheduled to perform at this weekend’s Live Evil. They were therefore at the right place at the right time to inject some youthful exuberance into tonight’s proceedings.
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Speedtrap
If you’ll excuse my play of words, I was immediately ensnared by the music of Speedtrap. Before their show, I was chatting to the band and lead vocalist Jori Sara-aho described Speedtrap’s music as “a Rock ‘N Roll show on steroids”. He couldn’t have proffered a better description about what I was hearing. Think of how AC/DC might have sounded like if they played Thrash Metal….that’s roughly the Speedtrap sound.
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The band’s performance was tight and the lead vocals incredibly good (Rob Halford had better watch his shoulders). Admittedly a couple of songs sounded like a blur – the band-members seemed to have with the pedal on the accelerator from start to end – but I suspect it was more of a songwriting issue rather than a performance one. Apart from that, the Finns delivered a top-notch show.
At one point during Speedtrap’s performance, smoke and acrid fumes bellowed from the side of the stage as one of the speakers started to melt. Security was prompt and effective in dealing with it but not many bands can boast having blown a speaker with their music….probably not even Manowar!
An enjoyable show from a band that seems to have a promising future.
Speedtrap is:
Jori Sara-aho – vocals
Ville Valavuo – guitar
Jaakko Hietakangas – guitar
Antti Salminen – bass
Markus Hietamies – drums
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Rating: 74/100
Listen to a brief chat I had with Speedtrap before their performance:
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Quartz
It took a couple of songs into their set for Quartz to loosen up but the band delivered what it set out to give and then some. Lead vocalist David Garner was an excellent showman and as he pranced around with his frilled shirt he somehow reminded me of Ozzy. Quite a contrast from laid back guitarist Mick Hopkins who prefers to let his fingers do all the action…over his guitar’s fretboard. But most importantly the band seemed to function really well as a unit.
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The years came flowing back, to the joy of all and sundry, when Quartz delivered several old favourites even though ‘Satan’s Serenade’ got the loudest and most enthusiastic crowd response. Two new songs, yet unreleased, also found their way into the set and I absolutely loved them. These were ‘Fear No Evil’ and ‘Zombie Resurrection’. They had some great riffs and a tenebrous feel to them…..at least that’s the impression I had on hearing them for the first time. Hopefully, these new songs are an accurate reflection of what Quartz have in store for us.
Health reasons prevented guitarist/keyboardist Geoff Nichols from being on stage with his band mates tonight but his role in the band was acknowledged when Quartz ended their set with ‘Heaven And Hell’, a song he co-write while playing with Black Sabbath. The song was also partly dedicated to the memory of Ronnie James Dio. A fantastic vibe dominated the venue as the audience chanted the lyrics to that song.
Speaking of the audience, within it I spotted members of Tank and Carcass (amongst many others) and this reflects on the respect Quartz still enjoy. And yet, tonight the band proved they’re not out for any nostalgia points because the band is still a force to be reckoned with.
Quartz is:
David Garner – vocals
Mick Hopkins – guitar
Geoff Nicholls – guitar/keyboard
Derek Arnold – bass
Malcolm Cope – drums
Set-list:
Street Fightin’ Lady
Mainline Riders
Fear No Evil
Bloody Fool
Zombie Resurrection
Stand Up And Fight / Charlie Snow
Buried Alive (Drop 2)
Around & Around
Satan’s Serenade
Heaven & Hell (Dio tribute)
Rating: 83/100
Listen to Quartz describe the live scene of Birmingham when the band got together:
Wolfsbane
“We are like a phoenix that rises every two years” bellowed Blaze Bayley before proceeding to deliver the title track from their EP “All Hell Breaks Loose Down At Kathy Wilson’s Place”. After that, all hell did actually break loose. That was just one of many instances that showed the skill of Blaze in firmly controlling the audience. Indeed tonight’s performance proved that as a Metal frontman, Blaze’s charisma is up there with Paul Stanley and Dee Snider.
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To be quite honest I felt that the songs in Wolfsbane’s set were nothing special in themselves but the band is truly an excellent live band and their show was nothing short of entertaining. For instance I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of drummer Steve Danger playing in a glittering suit. The equally relentless ‘Manhunt’ and ‘Loco’ were two Wolfsbane songs that most got me banging my head and playing air-guitar.
In front of the stage there seemed to be quite a few enthusiastic and die-hard Wolfsbane fans who tirelessly cheered the band and reacted vigorously to Blaze’s taunts. “You need to buy this album if you want to protect yourselves against space aliens.” Blaze’s quipped at one point. Yep, just pure bristling fun. That’s Wolfsbane.
Wolfsbane is:
Blaze Bayley – lead vocals
Jase Edwards – guitar
Jeff Hateley – bass
Steve Danger – drums
Set-list:
Steel
Fell Out Of Heaven
Loco
Blue Sky
Black Lagoon
I Like It Hot
Money to Burn
Kathy Wilson
Smoke And Red Light
Manhunt
Paint the Town Red
Ezy
Broken Doll
Rating: 80/100
Listen to Blaze Bayley describe a typical Wolfsbane gig:
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