Children Of Bodom – Glasgow O2 ABC – 3/4/11

Children of Bodom have returned to Scotland, and they’ve brought with them Viking metal warriors Amon Amarth.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Glasgow Garage – 29/10/10

The Dillinger Escape plan were greeted in Glasgow to the usual beautiful Scottish weather, yes, it was pouring with rain. But that didn’t stop them, and the support act The Ocean from putting on a hell of a show.

As I Lay Dying – Glasgow Garage – 29/11/10

After braving the snow in Glasgow, As I Lay Dying treated their Scottish fanbase to one of the best gigs of 2010.

Up first was Sylosis, who were added to the tour at the last minute to replace Rise To Remain. They only had a short set, but they made the most of it. This is a band with a fantastic future ahead, I urge you to catch them on tour next year.

Heaven Shall Burn were next, playing their first ever gig in Scotland. The crowd absolutely loved it and the band seemed to enjoy themselves too. Hopefully we’ll see them back here soon. Check out our review of their latest album here.

I’m not a fan of Suicide Silence and personally I didn’t enjoy their set, but everyone else seemed to love it, so if you are a fan of the band, you’d probably enjoy seeing them live.

As I Lay Dying are the band people paid their money to see, and people certainly got their moneys worth, playing a set made up of mostly material from An Ocean Between Us and their new album The Powerless Rise. The new tracks went down brilliantly and the crowd went crazy for the few old tracks they threw in. This is a band that have to be seen live, the songs sound great on album, but sound a thousand times better live. Their set had to be cut short, but their were fans still shouting for one more song, even after the house lights had went on.  Download and Sonisphere would be insane not to book this band for their festivals next year, definitely one of the best live bands I have had the pleasure of watching all year.

World War Tour – Glasgow Garage – 12/10/10

Sabaton bring their World War Tour, featuring special guests, the kings of Scottish pirate metal. Alestorm, to Glasgow.

I’ll admit it, I wasn’t to fond of Alestorm prior to this gig, but the show really changed my mind, it was great fun and the songs are much better live than they are on record.  The fans loved it, everyone was singing along and the new song Rum went down a charm. I’d recommend seeing this band to anyone, even if you aren’t a fan of the albums.

The Final Countdown by Europe plays as Sabaton make their way on stage.  opening with Ghost Division, the band storm through a great set with plenty of old tracks mixed in with tracks from the new album. The fans went crazy for every song and the Sabaton chants between songs were deafening.

In all, this was a great night, I can wait to see both these bands again!

Limp Bizkit – Glasgow O2 Academy – 26/8/10

Finally, the reunited Limp Bizkit return to Glasgow!

AFI – Glasgow ABC – 8/4/10

Excitement was building in Glasgow as fans got ready for what looked like a fantastic concert.

Opening band The Dear & Departed sound like a mix between Alkaline Trio and The Cure. They aren’t the best band in the world, but the fans seemed to enjoy it.

After they left the stage, the anticipation started building for Sick Of It All, the New York hardcore legends. their set was brutal, exciting and so much fun. The crowd went crazy and every single person loved them, I’m sure they found a few new fans from that crowd.

After a long wait, AFI take the stage, opening with Medicate from Crash Love and playing a setlist of mainly the three newer albums. There was not a bad song in their set and the fans went crazy for everything. Everyone was singing along and the thunderous applause between each song showed how much the fans love this band. Even the fans only there to see Sick Of It All enjoyed AFI, they are a band that anyone can love, because they have covered so many different genres of music. Davey took the time to tell the fans how beautiful Glasgow was and spoke about his favourite Scottish bands, which adds a great personal touch to the concert. The band left the stage, which was followed by about five minutes of the crowd chanting “AFI, AFI”

They returned to the stage and played two more songs, including a superb rendition of Silver And Cold from Sing The Sorrow.

This was by far the most enjoyable concert I have ever been to, and im sure every fan in the crowd would agree with me.

The only downside was, after the concert, Jade Puget of AFI walked outside and completely ignored all the fans waiting, hoping for an autograph. I can understand that he had just played a full show and was tired, but so many other bands take the time to talk to their fans and sign stuff for them, and I think ignoring all your fans is a despicable thing to do.

Airbourne – Glasgow O2 Academy – 6/4/10

Another miserable night in Glasgow, but anyone with any sense is at the O2 Academy rocking out with Airbourne.

First up, we have Roadrunner newbies Taking Dawn, they only have a half hour set, but they tear the place up. Smoke machines and strobe lights are used to the max during their set, showing that these guys deserve a bigger stage. The highlight of their set was a fantastic rendition of Fight Them With Your Rock.

Up next was the three guitar attack of Black Spiders. This was the first time i had heard anything from these guys and the blew me away, great musicianship and some of the chunkiest riffs you’ll ever hear. The singer was on fire and the drummer looked crazy, just what you want from a hard rock band!

Finally, Airbourne take to the stage, the blast straight into Raise The Flag from their new album No Guts, No Glory. The energy from the band is unlike anything I have ever seen, they were on fire and the crowd loved it as they sang along to every single word. Singer/Guitarist Joel O’ Keeffe was superb, he is a brilliant frontman, at one point he left the stage and walked up to the bar, whilst still playing, and every fan had their back to the stage, their eyes glued on O’ Keeffe. Highlights of the set were Runnin’ Wild, Blonde, Bad And Beautiful and Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women (introduced as Cheap Buckfast Wine & Cheaper Glasgow Women… Scottish people will get the joke.)

In all, this was a great night, some superb rock songs and good times all round.

Zebrahead – Glasgow Garage – 29/03/10

A cold night in Glasgow, rain and snow everywhere. Perfect night for a Zebrahead show then!

The first band to hit the stage were LA pop/punk band Orange. They were a really fun way to start the night, with some really cool songs. They aren’t breaking barriers, but what they do is really enjoyable and the fans certainly enjoyed their set. The highlight was their superb cover of Help, by The Beatles

Up next was the fantastic MC Lars, bursting straight into Space Game. He really got the crowd going, especially with Straight Outta Stockholm sung to the Super Mario theme song. Lars and DJ were joined by Ben and Ed from Zebrahead for the second half of set, Playing songs like White Kids Aren’t Hyphy, No Logo, Download This Song and my personal highlight Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock

Finally Zebrahead took to the stage, opening with Hell Yeah, the band played plenty tracks from their most recent studio album (of original material) Phoenix. The crowd went crazy for them, and you could tell the band were having a fantastic time on stage. The band played songs from almost all of their studio albums, Jag Off, from Waste of Mind/Yellow was fantastic, Ali told the crowd to sit down at one point during this song, and every single person did it. Some other highlight of the set was Playmate Of The Year, where the crowd were told to show their “ninjas”, Rescue Me, HMP and Anthem. Near the end of the set, the band played their new single The Juggernauts and were joined onstage by the members of Orange, MC Lars and DJ and even some of the road crew to sing along in the chorus.

In all, this was a fantastic night, On the way out, I saw smiles from ear to ear on every single persons face!

Black Stone Cherry – Glasgow Barrowlands – 17/10/09

The first show to sell out on Black Stone Cherry’s autumn tour was at the Glasgow Barrowlands, and I just happened to be there.

Openers The Parlor Mob, were… pretty average, they didn’t really do anything special and the crowd just didn’t seem into it.

Next up were Duff McKagan’s Loaded, and this set was very special to me. you see, the night before the show, i tweeted to Duff asking him to play new rose (The song by legendary punk band The Damned, also performed by Guns N’ Roses with Duff on Vocals) and before the gig my dad and I started speaking to the Loaded bassist ( really nice guy BTW) and turns out, Duff got my tweet and it was added to the setlist, needless to say i was over the moon, what made it even better was the absolutely fasntastic set that Loaded played, featuring songs such as Flatline, Dark Days, Sick and covers of Attitude by The Misfits, It’s So Easy by Gn’R (not to mention New Rose).

Then, the headliners took to the stage, straight into opener Rain Wizard, which sounded even better than on the album. Then during second song Backwoods Gold, the lights went out, as guitarist Ben Wells said, because “they were rocking so hard!” So the band played in the dark for the rest of their set, it really added to the atmosphere. Chris Robertson, Lead vocalist and guitarist looked overwhelmed with awe and gratitude as the fans basically sung every word of the set, the highlight was Peace Is Free, where he didn’t really have to sing at all. Their superb set included songs from their self titled debut album, Folklore & Superstition and even tracks from the re-release of  that album, plus they even threw in little snippets of Sweet Home Alabama, by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix. Black Stone Cherry are an unbelievable band and deserve every bit of praise they have ever got.

£15 a ticket for two awesome bands and one… not just as awesome, is fantastic value. This is the kind of thing that stay with you all your life, I know i wont ever forget it.

Progressive Nation Tour 2009 – Glasgow SECC – 11/10/09

Despite the fact the SECC can hold 12500 people, i was informed that only 2000 tickets had been sold for the gig, obviously there wouldhave been some more sold at the box office, but still this is a rather poor attendance, I guess because of the shoddy sound in the SECC and scottish fans deciding not to bother going because the sound would be crap. Well they were half right, yeah the sound was kinda crap (Bass was too high, a common complaint about gigs at the SECC), but it was still a gig worth going to.

I don’t know what I was expecting from openers Unexpect, a septet hailing from Montreal in Canada.But i certainly wasn’t expecting what i got. A multitude of different styles and genres ranging from chuggy heavy metal to weird as hell circus music. But I’ve got to say, they were entertaining, if a bit strange, and I’m definitely converted.

Up next were Bigelf, a band ive heard so much about, but had never listned to, man i wish i had. The best way to explain their sound is basically, Sabbath but proggy. Before they hit the stage, the lights dimmed and the Imperial March from Star Wars played, prompting the fans to sing along…”duh duh duh, duh dada, duh dada”… you get what i mean, and the singer walked onstage and placed a small Yoda toy on top of one of his two (yes two) keyboards. the perfect way to start your set. The band performed brilliantly and had an excellent stage presence. Definitely a band to watch out for.

Then, was Opeth, the fantastic progressive death metal band from Sweden, take to the stage and perform windowpane a kind of slow semi acoustic track, but eventually get to business with the nice heavy tracks including Hex Omega and the rare live appearance of Harlequin Forest, the highlight of the set, and The Lotus Eater. Mikael Åkerfeldt is on top form tonight, cracking jokes between songs (instructing a fan to “Shhhhh-ut the fuck up. and telling us that in Sweden “all we do is fuck, and film it”) and interacting with the fans, making for an awesome and fun set.

A Nightmare to Remember is the opening track from the mighty prog metal legends Dream Theater, a blistering 17 minute epic from their latest album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings. This was follwed immediatly by current single, A Rite of Passage, another fantastic song, in fact Dream Theaters whole set was fantastic, playing some great songs such as Take the Time, Solitary Shell and Erotomania and Voices, the first two tracks in the A Mind Beside Itself suite, from the bands 1994 album Awake (released 15 years ago this month, thanks to Tom for that BTW). Dream Theaters excellent musicianship is showcased in their set and the fans absolutely loved it, plus the sometimes shaky James LaBrie’s voice was in perfect condition. The Encore, another epic from BC&SL, The Count of Tuscany, ended the show perfectly and left every fan in a fantastic mood.

I guess you could call it a Night(mare) to Remember.