New single from Lamb of God, taken from their upcoming new album. Lamb Of God, planned for release May 9th via Epic Records and available for pre-order now. Memento Mori has a gentle start... but take a listen... watch... wait for it....
“There is a vast amount of indisputably real and depressingly negative occurrences happening across the globe,” vocalist D. Randall Blythe explains. “Currently, at the forefront of everyone’s mind is the global COVID-19 pandemic. This is a very real concern, and proper precautions need to be taken by EVERYONE in order to protect those most at risk - the elderly, infirm, and immunocompromised. It is indeed a scary time, but in this hyper-connected age with its 24/7 never-ending news cycle of atrocity, outrage and lurid click-bait headlines (not to mention ill-informed lunatics running amok and spreading misinformation and panic on social media), it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that life is still carrying on, and good things do in fact still happen.”
Lamb of God are D. Randall Blythe (vocals), Mark Morton (guitar), Willie Adler (guitar), John Campbell (bass) and Art Cruz (drums).
Five Finger Death Punch, touring Europe and supported by both Bad Wolves and Megadeth - yes, that Megadeth - zoomed into the UK to play two dates, mid-tour: Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena and London's Wembley SSE Arena. Cardiff was a bit more of an adventure - hadn't been there since many, many years - and a little more personal, with a capacity of 5,000 versus the SSE's 12,500. I'm used to seeing them in front of tens of thousands at USA festivals so the smaller venue would be cool; Cardiff is reachable by train, road, bus, and plane, accomodation is more affordable than London... and there are dragons... who can resist dragons! So for this tour, Cardiff was my choice, though I'm sure Wembley was stunning and those who were able to experience both shows must have been ecstatic and there was a teeny, weeny bit of green monster wriggling in my thoughts after the Cardiff show - and a question: why didn't I plan on going to both? (Must not be greedy. Must not be greedy. Must not be greedy. Let everyone have their turn.)
Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, Wales, 2020
With show-openers Bad Wolves (so much more than their excellent cover of Zombie), and mega-metal-stars Megadeth playing too (with Dave Mustaine now happily cancer-free), this was a not-to-miss tour.
Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, Wales, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch opened with Lift Me Up and the crowd erupted. A full, high-energy, more-up-than-down FFDP setlist including an acoustic Wrong Side of Heaven and ending with The Bleeding. Accompanying the music; visuals including a giant skull and crossed bats, lasers, blasts of pyro that heated the entire arena; two, yes two, explosions of wonderful confetti; Jason Hook rising way, way up into the sky on the pointy end of a vertig-inducing, tiny platform; dreadlock swirling from Chris Kael's beard and Zoltan Bathory's hair; epic drumming from the new boy, Charlie Engen; and in front of it all, Ivan Moody. Love the hat, Ivan. Love the hat.
Jason Hook, guitar, Five Finger Death Punch
Five Finger Death Punch have a way of involving every person in the audience; whether it's shining flashlights for a birthday song, celebrating sobriety, or simply singing along to the songs. This, together with knowing just how much they do for military veterans and other causes, make the show is a moving experience; if you haven't seen them yet, a) why not and b) it's about time.
Confetti... Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Sometimes I'm at a show with an official photo pass and pro cameras; sometimes I'm there to embrace the fan experience. This was definitely the latter - the photos are all phone pics taken from the crowd. Atmospheric maybe - zoomable, poster-size quality, definitely not! You'll find a more photos here. I'm very happy to have shared the experience with one daughter who travelled in from France, two best friends from the East Midlands, and a whole slew of fans from all around the UK and further. Music tourism is great - we should have added on a day, and tickets to the Wales-Italy rugby match too (I'm sure some FFDP fans did just that!)
Here's a preview from the new album: Inside Out, available now:
Just a couple of nothing-to-do-with-the-performance-or-the-band niggles:
Timing: people were at the venue early, patiently waiting for 6.30 pm: snaking around the building for what felt like miles. Security clearance was rapid and efficient, and yet so many folks missed part, if not all, of Bad Wolves set - including those who were there specifically to see them. Maybe Motorpoint Arena should have opened the doors thirty minutes or an hour sooner. Someone must have known how long it would take to bring a capacity crowd into the venue - it's not rocket science.
Beer: I have been to many, many concerts over many, many years, in many countries and venues, and never have I seen so much spilled beer - and dumped plastic cups - all over the floor, in my hair, and over other people and left in puddles at the end of the show. Back in the day, you wanted to drink (and talk loudly), you stayed in the bar and consumed from oft-reused glass mugs; the venue floor was for the music and the music alone. Would I be a party-pooper to say I preferred that?
Vocalist Niilo Sevänen's growls flow like warm honey over a bed of rusty nails, entwined with the melodic riffs of guitarists Markus Vanhala and Jani Liimatainen (Ville Friman is not touring), and the throbbing, drubbing heart of drums driven by Markus Hirvonen. And headbanging is a must, a must.
Insomnium, The Waterfront, Norwich, January 2020
Heart Like A Grave is at the same time melancholic and beautiful; the hour-long album is one to be listened to many times to hear all the nuances, the layers, the depth... and to explore Finnish poetry and folklore. Here's a taster, the title song, in case you haven't heard them yet:
If you have seen the "Scandinavian death metal" categorization of Insomnium, (I so detest genre labels), don't let that label define they for you nor dictate whether-or-not to listen. Check out the band's influences and a picture will form... whether you like your metal progressive, or your prog more metal, or your hard rock melodic, or your folk heavy-as-hell: Insomnium should fit well with your collection. (And note: the artbook version of the CD is a sombre collection of bleak, gorgeous photos and the lyrics to all the songs. It's a keeper.)
Hailing from Bridgend, South Wales, Those Damn Crows not only have an intriguing, listen-to-me-now name, evocative of a horde of persistent, characterful creatures who once you've noticed them are ever-present, no matter where you look... they have a distinctive sound with songs well worth a listen. Hard rock but very melodic - with wonderful vocals.
While they've been making their presence known here in the UK, with appearances at Download last year and other festivals, they'll no doubt appeal to a worldwide audience - are they on a Sirius XM Octane playlist yet?
Those Damn Crows are Shane Greenhall (vocals), Ronnie Huxford (drums), Ian 'Shiner' Thomas and David Winchurch (guitars) and LLoyd Wood (bass). Find out more on their website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also - several interviews with the band on YouTube, including this one with Total Rock Radio.
Shinedown with Alter Bridge's Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham UK
With the original lineup for Alter Bridge's Walk The Sky tour of the UK and Europe being Alter Bridge, Shinedown, and Sevendust, this was not going to be a tour that I would miss; three bands that can easily headline their own tours in the USA, all on the same bill! Sadly, Sevendust had to cancel their participation - drummer Morgan Rose having been taken ill. (Good news is that he is recovering.)
The Raven Age, Nottingham
The Raven Age, British melodic metalcore with a smidgeon of Iron Maiden-esqe vocals stepped in to open the show and it was wonderful to see an opening act given the benefit of lights appropriate for the arena setting. That doesn't always happen.
Fan's light show for Shinedown: Nottingham, UK
Shinedown put on a huge show: animated, interactive, emotional, exciting and full of bounce. Attention, Attention! Shinedown are in town! Playing all the rabble-rousers including Monsters, Get Up, and Cut The Cord, they also included their memorable cover of Lynard Skynard's Simple Man. The crowd let Brent Smith and co know that they could have gone on all evening. Shinedown definitely have enough of a UK following these days to have earned their own headline tour one of these days; playing to a capacity crowd in Motionpoint Arena just took them one huge step closer.
The were so very cool. I enjoy Shinedown more and more every time I see them. Even Brent's monologues make me smile these days.
Alter Bridge, Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham, UK
But then... Alter Bridge. Their latest album, Walk The Sky, was released just a few weeks ago on October 18th. I have been lucky enough to see and photograph them several times previously in the USA - in festival environments in Chicago and Houston - but never before in a major indoor venue with the incredible light show that was part of Saturday night's experience in Nottingham, UK. The whole show was a stunning experience; being way up in the gods with a view over the crowd to the band, it was Alter Bridge's haunting and inspirational rock through visual fireworks that only added to a very, very memorable evening.
Alter Bridge, Nottingham UK, 2019
The Alter Bridge setlist was seventeen songs long and included Burn It Down with Mark Tremonti taking the vocal lead as a twist... but Myles Kennedy's range is always stunning, clear and haunting. You can't fault Alter Bridge; vocals, Tremonti and Kennedy's guitars always different yet complementing each other; Brian Marshall's deep-diving bass, and all underpinned by "Flip" Philips' drums... what a show. What a show!!!
And they gave us Blackbird. Yes, they did. I love that song and it has such a very, very special place in so many people's hearts. Thank you for that.
The Walk The Sky tour continues: tonight in Birmingham, UK, then Friday night at Motorpoint Area in Cardiff, Wales and Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. One of those tours where you wish you could go to each and every venue and experience it all, over and over again.
Alter Bridge, Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham UK
(I was at the show for the music - not as a photographer this time. All photos are taken from the crowd on a Xiaomi Mi 8 phone: they work on a small screen, but don't think of trying to zoom in. How I wish I had been able to cover these performances with proper cameras and the type of access that Marillion allows me... I never, ever take that type of access for granted.)
Christmas is in full swing at the end of Cromer Pier - the extra-special, family-fun, super-entertaining, dancing-singing-magical Christmas Show! Starting with Santa and taking a journey through places as diverse as the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (Laurel and Hardy) and south-east London (Only Fools and Horses), with dance styles from classical ballet to tap and a heck of a lot of acrobatic high kicks and jumps, and card tricks and illusion and fun and a whole load of laughter, the show is a magical machine that transports you, for a couple of hours, out of the mundane day-to-day world into a special place that exists only at the end of the pier, in Cromer's Pavilion theatre.
Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Saturday night, and the 500-seater theatre was full: second show of the day for the talented crew. Compere and local funny man Olly Day knows this venue well - back for the eleventh time! The Modern Magician Mark James returns too and has some great tricks up his sleeve (or in his pocket, or even inside an egg, which he then makes into an omlette): vocalists Harvey James and Fiona Jessica Wilson (who also plays a mean electric cello - beautiful sound); young dancers from Cromer's Marlene's School of Dancing, and the wonderful Cromer Pier Show dancers who make the stage feel as big as a ballroom. Light and sound are just perfect for the venue and the whole show flows through rapid scenery and costume changes from beginning to end.
Harvey James and Fiona Jessica Wilson, Cromer Pier Christmas Show
Mark James, Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
The Twelve Days of Christmas are novel... and hilarious!
Cromer Pier Christmas Show Dancers
I love the ballet; I want to photograph more ballet. Pretty please.
Mark James and Olly Day, Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
The Cromer Pier Christmas Show is pure entertainment - you won't find anything like it at the end of a pier anywhere else in the world. Grab the opportunity and a ticket for the family: the show runs until the end of December, and you can book tickets here or at the box office on the pier.
Marillion's tour opens tonight with a sold-out show at the Royal Philharmonic in Liverpool... continues on Sunday in Nottingham at the Royal Concert Hall and then around the UK, finishing up with two dates at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Find all the tour dates here - there might be one or two tickets available somewhere but you're going to have to search for them as dates are already sold out or have limited availability (and that's because it's going to be an amazing set of concerts: here's the link to the accompanying album, on sale now from Racket Records).
Highly Suspect were the first band at Aftershock 2019 to walk on stage with a dog. Don't worry, the pup didn't stay once the music started... but it was lovely to see the band accompanied on tour by their fur friends.
Highly Suspect, Aftershock 2019
I was introduced to this band several years ago, 2015, probably through SiriusXM Octane... (yes, I'm still upset that Octane is not available in the UK) we were driving down to Santa Cruz from Sacramento for a weekend by the sea, and this voice... this voice, this sound, came through the airwaves to us somewhere on that long drive, there and back, and that was it: hooked.
Ryan Meyer, Highly Suspect, Aftershock 2019
Whether they are playing to a huge festival crowd or a tiny venue (the Boardwalk in Orangevale, CA, comes to mind) they give their all; dates for European shows sold out seemingly in minutes (they have added more UK and European dates recently for early next year).
When you go to see, and especially when you photograph, Marilyn Manson, people always ask: did he show his naked (body part)? Did he do (something shocking)? Did he burn (something flammable and offensive-to-some-when-burned). And what did he throw at you this time?
Marilyn Manson, Aftershock 2019
The answers from Aftershock 2019 are: Yes, Possibly, Probably, and No.
Yes, because Marilyn Manson did show part of himself naked (and appeared to be fumbling with other bits), but not during the first song so I have no photographic proof though I swear it is true; Possibly, because other than the answer to question one, nothing that I personally witnessed; Probably, because I was told that he did over and over again by a woman who was screeching at the big screen in the VIP area telling us all that Manson is Satan - he Burns the Bible (though I have no primary research to prove that satan actually does that); and surprisingly, Nothing, because this time he threw nothing at all at the folks in the pit! This time there were no missiles, he faced the audience for the entire first song, and - nice surprise - even smiled.
Dressed in black with makeup reminiscent of Joker on a bad day, shrouded in smoke, as always a wonderful challenge to photograph and capture the person, the band, the atmosphere.
Marilyn Manson, Aftershock 2019
I think Marilyn was really enjoying himself -- and anyone who worries about the "shocking" or "offensive" stuff - as if anyone still does - should really remember that he's much more a performer than an incarnation of the devil. (At least, that's what I choose to believe!)
There was something magical about seeing Korn from within a huge crowd in Northern California, at Aftershock festival 2019 - locals, and people from all around the state, country, and world: to be amidst a mass of fans, dancing, singing along, headbanging. Being part of a twenty-five year celebration of Korn's music; more a retrospective of those years and not, as we might have expected, the tour-of-the-new-album The Nothing - indeed, they played just one song from the latest release, "You'll Never Find Me" - but rather the show was a happiness of friendship and fellowship and following of this band, a family of tens of thousands, all in Discovery Park Sacramento, watching the guys from Bakersfield, just down the road from Sacramento.
Jonathan Davis, Korn, Aftershock 2019
That's an assessment of proximity in USA terms. It's around four hours drive from the state capital to Korn's hometown down highway 99, down through the Central Valley: almost an identical distance as from London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. I will happily drive that kind of distance to see them, again and again. I'll even get on a plane and fly halfway around the world, for that matter. There's only a few bands that generate that kind of loyalty.
You can find the Korn at Aftershock 2019 setlist here, on setlist.fm. Songs from all the way through their musical career, from Korn released in 1994 right through to Rotting In Vain from 2016's Serenitiy of Suffering and the latest album.
It was a joyful - yes, I use that word in the same sentence as "Korn" - it was a joyful performance. It made me happy. I think, at the end, I was crying. It was huge and it left many, many happy people.
Jonathan Davis, Korn, Aftershock 2019
The Nothing - such an excellent, moving, emotional, painful and yet beautiful album - absolutely deserves its own tour, if you listen to it purely for the musical value. If you know - to any degree - the story and motivation and trauma that gave birth to the lyrics, you might also expect it to be an album where a song is played here, there, not everywhere, not every show. It's musical genius and it's heartbreak and it's my favourite album of 2019 to date. And yes, there is a lot of competition.
Rob Zombie and John 5, Aftershock 2019, Sacramento, California
Always one of my favourite performers to photograph, because his show is so darn challenging. Intense lighting, smoke, rapid movement, and whirling beard, locks, fringes. Zombie's eagle eyes, John 5's illuminated grill, and such a fun stage presence for the entire set.
