BLACK STAR RIDERS @Marshall Amps Theatre, Bletchley 30/5/13

The look on Scott Gorham’s face is a picture. He looks terrified. The reason for his mock horror is that Black Star Riders frontman Ricky Warwick has, in the middle of “Rosalie,” just announced: “All we want to do is keep the spirit of Thin Lizzy alive and play 200-300 shows a year.” This is the first of many, then.

Perhaps a little background is required. The roots of this band came from the last incarnation of Thin Lizzy. Realising how much chemistry they had, they decided to write some new songs. Originally these were coming out under the Lizzy name, but after Brian Downey and Darren Wharton left, it was decided instead to put them out under the Black Star Riders moniker. The result was the quite brilliant “All Hell Breaks Loose” album, which has just been unleashed.

The reason we are at the home of Marshall Amps is to witness the first gig of the band. An industrial estate in Milton Keynes seems an odd place for such a thing to happen, but Marshall have a small theatre here, so RTM is crammed in with 250 others for what might be quite a night.

At just before 8.30 after an intro from Planet Rock’s Paul Anthony, (who tells us to stick around for the raffle, the ticket for which is in our goodie bags….) The Black Star Riders stride out onstage, wave, and launch into the title track of the new record and what happens for the next 80 odd minutes is quite incredible.

“Jailbreak” follows – one of seven Thin Lizzy that are played (along with nine Riders numbers) and it is clear that this band are just a little bit special. Bass man Marco Mendoza, pouts and shakes his way through, Damon Johnson (who along with Warwick wrote much of the “…Loose” album) plays his solos with a massive grin and Gorham remains the epitome of California rock cool.

It is Warwick, though, that really shines. Throughout his career, whether with The Almighty or in his other guise has a singer/songwriter he has always has the ability to write phenomenal songs. Here, though, he has written a collection that would have made for a fantastic Lizzy record, but also which are completely consistent with Warwick’s output too. This really looks like the role he was born to fulfill.

The last four songs of the main set, we will wager right now, will not be beaten anywhere this year. Three Lizzy classics “Emerald,” “Cowboy Song” and “The Boys Are Back In Town” are mixed with “Bound For Glory” and  you can almost hear Lynott singing its first two lines “Johnny Wong keeps trying to get it right/ way down in suckerville tonight.”

It’s back for an encore of “Hoodoo Voodoo” and the aforementioned “Rosalie” to bring the gig to a close. There is then a raffle with Warwick drawing tickets out (RTM doesn’t win….) before a happy band stroll around mingling with fans. They have every right to be chuffed. They have probably just played the gig of the year.

The rest of what Warwick said during “Rosalie” – after Gorham picked his jaw off the floor - was this: “All we want to do is entertain you guys. Don’t bother looking for an agenda, as you won’t find one."  This truly is a band who is doing what they want to and doing it because they can.

And, like the t-shirt they are selling in the foyer says: “I was there.”

JOURNEY, WHITESNAKE, Thunder @LG Arena Birmingham 28/5/13

All the three bands on this tour have one small thing in common. RTM has seen them all headline – and fill – the Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Why then, you may ask, is when it comes to arenas, are Thunder relegated to coming on at 6.45 and playing in front of other bands drums?

Such is the way it seems for Danny and the boys. A few years ago they performed the same role on the Def Leppard/Whitesnake trek and just like then, they do it absolutely brilliantly.

Beginning with usual ending tune, “Dirty Love” and taking a 50 minute, ahem, journey through “River Of Pain,” “Higher Ground,” and “Backstreet Symphony” amongst others, before closing with “I Love You More Than Rock n Roll” theirs is a set full of cheeky charm – the incomparable Danny Bowes even tells the crowd their singing is “shit” before saying “well if you can’t be bothered I will do it myself,” and gets away with it – Thunder are one of the finest bands in the UK, and judging by the amount of their tshirts on show, they still have plenty of fans. All that’s missing is a new album. Get to it boys, and RTM will see you at Christmas….

From the off, let’s make one thing perfectly clear. RTM likes Whitesnake. A lot. But we have seen them three times in the last 18 months and each time it is has been ostensibly the same show, with one notable exception. David Coverdale’s voice has got worse every time.

Tonight, in places, his singing is terrible. Things reach a low point in “Steal Your Heart Away” from their most recent album “Forevermore.” It is a tremendous shame, as Coverdale is still a formidable frontman, full of crotch grabbing, sleazy charm. And if ever you need to understand his peculiar abilities., its nowhere better illustrated than here. A woman, in late middle age throws tea and biscuits onstage to him. Cov surveys this, thanks her very much, looks her up and down and says: “oh, I’d do you.” You have to have a certain level of confidence to pull that off. Musically his band sound fantastic, ex Winger Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are superb on guitar, but the vocals really lets it down.

Journey are living proof of the power of tv. Lets be honest about this. Four years ago they were doing that aforementioned Civic Hall gig. Then came Glee, and now they are playing to 10,000 people a night. Ironically enough it was another tv show that drew RTM to the band. As any Sporanos fan will tell you, “Don’t Stop Believin’ was used as the very last song in the programme and we checked them out after.

The problem with Journey is this. Musically they are superb (Neal Schon is truly magnificent on guitar) and they have good songs, what they don’t have (to RTM at any rate) is anything viscerally exciting. It is just a little too slick for us.

They do arena rock well, though. “Any Way You Want It” is played second song, “Wheel In The Sky is as catchy as it gets, and the light show in “Lights” rivals anything you will see this year.

Singer Arnel Pintada had some big shoes to fill, but has done it well, and is a livewire presence, and their 80 minute set is exactly what you expected it to be. Last time we saw them they didn’t end with “…Believin’ and the arena emptied for the last few songs. This time around there is no such mistake and it is left right until the end.

Job done, you would guess, but after 7.45 this gig didn’t really add anything to either of the co-headliners careers.

RUSH, @LG Arena, Birmingham 26/5/13

Maybe its memory playing tricks and everything seeming better when you were a kid, but when we think of Arena Rock shows, we think of big, brash spectacles, fireworks and ridiculous stage props.

Perhaps it’s the gigs we go to these days, but even in arenas recently it is has been plug-in-play-the-songs-and-get off, thank goodness, then, that at least one band thinks to itself, let’s give them something to watch.

Rush are a group that works on the principle that if less is more, then just think how much more more could be. So during the course of the three hours (including interval) they are onstage, we get a giant video wall, an incredible light show, a string ensemble, three (count em three!) drum solos and more bangs than the average Guy Fawkes night – oh and some extremely fine prog rock songs while they are at it.

Of course there are reasons for the Rush approach, not least of which is that the three piece are not the most exciting of blokes and rather like Iron Maiden giving themselves Eddie in the early days to give the group a focal point then the extraneous stuff does the same for Geddy, Neil and Alex.

Last time they were in these parts it was for the Time Machine show, a sprawling gig that included “Moving Pictures” being played in full. Since then, the group of put out the magnificent “Clockwork Angels” record and have radically altered the set to keep things fresh.

The first thing RTM notices is Geddy Lee’s distinctive voice sounds in better fettle than a couple of years back, the second is just how good the band sounds. Beginning with “Subdivisions” – which along with “The Analog Kid” remind us all just how good the “Signals” album is, the first half is an hour long romp through 10 songs, with the “Far Cry” worth the admission on its own.

There is a break afterwards (“we have to, we are about 100” says Geddy), before they return, with the aforementioned string ensemble to reel off nine songs from the new album one after the other. Some people balk at new tracks, some people go to gigs looking for a Greatest Hits set – RTM isn’t one of em, and thankfully neither are Rush. Given the extra push of the orchestral arrangements songs like “Caravan,” “Carnies,” which is complete with a stunning light show and “Headlong Flight” sound absolutely incredible.

The strings disappear for set closer “Spirit of Radio” which sends the LG bouncing, before if possible the encore takes things up a notch, “Tom Sawyer” is its singalong best and “2112” is given more of an airing than it was last time, with around half of it played.

There are a couple of moments with this evening dips. Any gig of over three hours would, quite why Neil Peart needs three drum solos who knows? And whisper it quietly but we could do without the “funny” videos which begin each section of the gig. You can see what they are trying to do, but for our money they don’t quite work. “The Watchmaker” one at the start of the second half was just bewildering.

For the most part, though, this was a total and utter triumph. To paraphrase the band themselves: The meek shall inherit the (prog rock) earth.

MARK KNOPFLER @LG ARENA, Birmingham 24/5/13

Originally slated to start at the ridiculously early time of 7.30 and end at 9.30 (honestly, we had to check whether they had started running a club night at the LG Arena) the show was eventually put back due to the traffic problems that had beset the M6.

Mark Knopfler, when he takes the stage at just before 8pm, enquires as to our welfare: “Are we all in now?” he asks. “Yes, we took the train,” comes the shout from the side. Ladies and gentleman welcome to Birmingham.

Always eager to be different, RTM has no huge knowledge of Dire Straits, the band that made Knopfler famous. Of course, we know the greatest hits just like everyone else, but, perhaps in a minority in the packed venue we are here solely based on Knopfler’s solo material.

His new album “Privateering” is a quite remarkable sprawling, double album of chilled out blues and one which we absolutely feel in love with upon hearing it at the start of the year. Tonight’s show begins with a trio songs from it. “What It Is,” “Corned Beef City” and the title track. All magnificent, and all highlights, but if pushed we would go for “…City” as the pick. Yes it trawls the oft used lyrical motif of a down on his luck hero who is forced to break the law to make ends meet, but it surely the only one to contain the lyric “bacon egg and sausage/double chips and beans,” therein surely is Knopfler’s charm.

An absolutely stunning blues guitarist – albeit one that doesn’t need the solo’s of a Clapton or Bonnamassa, he has a fine band alongside him, with flute and fiddle players to the fore, giving the evening a real folky feel.

There are a smattering of Straits songs too “Romeo And Juliet” is rapturously received, as is the epic set closer “Telegraph Road.” The whole thing is remarkably consistent, with only the rather pointless jam in the middle of “Marbletown” offering a low point.

There is another in “So Far Away” in the encore, before the band give their only concession to “Arena Rock” by hamming it up and making it look like they are deciding there and then to play a second song. Such things do not really work in the internet age, when it is easy to find out that exactly the same song has ended things every time. So it is that “Going Home (Local Hero)” brings us to a close, featuring Nigel Hitchcox playing its distinctive riff.

Mark Knopfler has achieved what you imagine exactly what he wanted to. He makes the music he wants to, does so under the radar in many senses and yet still manages to fill arenas up and down the country. It’s easy to see why, perhaps warmer and more accessible than Eric Clapton appeared last week, he was just as good as Slowhand, which, whatever way you look at is, is pretty high – but well deserved – praise. 

STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES (AND DUCHESSES), The Mastersons @Symphony Hall Birmingham, 20/5/13

It is somewhat ironic that an artist like Steve Earle, who predominantly writes songs these days based the economic depression, should be victim of it himself. The top two tiers of the Symphony Hall remain closed for this show – the first on Earle’s European tour.

Those that are here, and in their seats early get the chance to see The Mastersons. Fronted by husband and wife team Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore – they use Steve Earle’s rhythm section for their set and appear in his band too. The two both play on Earle’s new album and the man himself introduces them then proceeds to watch their set stage right.

It isn’t just Earle that is impressed with their “Birds Fly South” record. RTM too, enjoys our first half in their company. Whether it’s the two vocalists thing or not, but there is a real Drive By Truckers feel to these songs. Worth checking out if you want something just a little different.

The world needs artists like Steve Earle. One of the songs he plays tonight is “Hardcore Troubadour,” which is also the title of his autobiography. His life reads almost like the handbook for the itinerant country star. Drug addiction, homelessness, multiple marriages have all featured prominently in his life. His music has reflected this wanderlust over the years, and has ranged from country, to bluegrass, to rock, singer/songwriter, electronic and almost metal in places (witness his cover of Nirvana’s “Breed” for proof.) RTM has seen Earle on two other occasions. One was a real rocky affair at the Academy years and years ago, while the last time was an acoustic gig which saw him play songs by his hero Townes Van Zandt.

Tonight he and his band of Dukes are in town to play tracks from his new album “The Low Highway” which is a fabulous record and one which is influenced by the fact that Earle spends a lot of time in New Orleans writing songs for the TV show Treme. As such there is a lot of blues and jazz in these tracks. He is justifiably proud of it and plays it all tonight during the course of the two and a quarter hours he spends on stage. “That All You Got?” about stoicism in the face of Hurricane Katrina (and a track which features prominently in the show) is a highlight, as is the driving blues of “Calico County”

Whilst the album – and show – very much deals with the present, there is plenty of time for older songs. The ones you would be expect to be good (“Guitar Town” and “Copperhead Road”) but the true skill of Earle is that he can chuck in a song you weren’t expecting like “Ben McCulloch” and it sounds superb.

If you need further clarification as to what makes Steve Earle quite so good it comes at the end. After playing a song dedicated to his three year old son (“I’m 58 and I have a three year old, that makes me an optimist,” he jokes.) he is back for an encore of the rabble rousing “The Revolution Starts ….Now!”

Truly, there are not many people in this world who can play quite so many styles of music and sound so good whatever they do. 

ABSOLVA, Exit State, Babylon Fire @Asylum 2 Birmingham 18/5/13

Manchester has long been associated with the dreadful indie scene of the 80s. Decent music from the city has, over the years, been a rare thing. This evening, though, showcases three bands on the city’s Rocksector label that are doing all they can to change that.

Despite the early start time there are a decent amount of people in to see Babylon Fire. A new name to us RTM we are immediately impressed with their brand of heavy-cum-power metal. Fire’s set comes from their “Dark Horizon’s” debut album and any band that begins with such an epic sounding song as “I Still Remember” – clocking in at over eight and a half minutes is ok with us. Best of all, perhaps, is closing track “The Clarion Call” which gives vocalist Mark and guitarist Rishi in particular, the chance to stretch themselves. First impressions are all important and Babylon Fire could not have made a better one.

Exit State are a little more established and album number three “Let’s See It All” is due for release in June. The band has been hampered by constant line-up changes in the past, but seems to be settled now. You wish them well because there is some real craft in songs like “Die Zombie” and closer “Death of a Rock Star.” More groove based, than the openers, it gives them a more American sound. There is real anger in the track “I Know Where You Are” (which singer Ray Bright says is about finding out his ex-fiancé is a “lying, cheating, sack of shit…..”) before they display a softer side with “Crystalline”  a song they have released for a children’s charity.

Things have changed a little in the Absolva camp since last they were in these parts. The band is back down to being a three-piece, which gives them more of the feel of the band from which they came, Fury UK – the band who we have probably seen more over the last five or six years than any other.

What keeps us coming back? Well, Fury UK were almost the perfect underground heavy metal band and Absolva (formed when bass player Luke Appleton left to join Iced Earth) are not too far behind.

They begin their set in the same way they began the one in this very room in November, with the title track of their “Flames of Justice” album before playing “It is What It Is.” This jaunt, however, is also an excuse for them to play some new material and both of the new tracks, “Never Back Down” and “Killing Season” give the hint that album number two is going to be impressive.

“Far Beyond The Light” comes into its own in a live setting and is classic heavy metal in the mould of Dio, before the hour long set ends with “Empires” which closes the album.

Time will tell whether they can ever break through in a proper way, but we have seen Absolva three times now in this incarnation and they have got better and better every time.  Perhaps it is not just the football world where Manchester excels after all. 

ERIC CLAPTON, Gary Clark Jr @LG Arena, Birmingham 13/5/13

When Gary Clark Jr released his “Blak and Blu” album late last year it was hailed just about everywhere as being “the future of Texas blues.” RTM has been in a minority before and no doubt will again, but it didn’t do a lot for us, verging into hip-hop a couple of times and sounding like Prince on other occasions. Live, though, opening for Clapton, we get the attraction a lot more. Songs like “Ain’t Messing Round” and “Bright Lights” sound a lot grittier and heavier live – and are delivered with a little more passion it seems.

Half an hour passes before the house lights go down and Eric Clapton and his band stroll on. “Stroll” is the operative word here as there is absolutely no grand entrance from anyone. The low-key opening is in keeping with a relaxed vibe throughout.

Clapton and cast of many are here to commemorate the former’s 50^th anniversary as a performer. The man himself waves and says good evening before playing “Hello Old Friend” and “My Fathers Eyes” on his acoustic guitar.  When he does plug in, it is for Derek And The Dominoes “Tell The Truth.”

The gig is split broadly into three sections. The first eight largely electric, before Clapton sits down for a selection including “Layla,” “Wonderful Tonight,” and the magnificent “Lay Down Sally.”  The black strat is back out for Cream’s “Badge” (the only song he plays from that band tonight – “Sunshine of Your Love,” which had been played at most gigs is dropped), a selection of Robert Johnson covers and JJ Cale’s “Cocaine” which closes the main set and is a real treat.

The true singular highlight, though had come about an hour beforehand, and in this one moment can we see what makes Eric Clapton such an icon. He and his band give a rare outing on this tour to “I Shot The Sheriff.” To top the performance he plays a solo that is absolutely incredible, but he does it in such an unflashy way that you barely notice who it is playing it, merely you hear something truly outstanding.

As most of us will never get closer to Clapton than sitting 50 foot from where he is playing, you can only form your opinions from what you see onstage. What we see tonight is a man that seems to have absolutely none of the “rock star” about him. Happy to share the solos with his sidekick Doyle Bramall III and vocal duties with Paul Carrack – indeed the only time in two hours that this gig wasn’t perfect was when Carrack’s slightly dull “It Ain’t Easy” was played.

When you have been at the top for 50 years you earn the right to do whatever the hell you like. What Clapton wants to do, it seems is surround himself with some fine musicians and play some songs for the fun of it. When they return for an encore it’s the perfect show ender in “High Time We Went,” in keeping with the evening it is Carrack who sings the lead vocals. The man who’s career we are here to celebrate on the other hand puts his guitar down, waves and wanders off, with about as little fanfare as he came on with.

That ladies and gentlemen is Eric Clapton in 2013. Low-key, relaxed, oh, and absolutely brilliant.

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, Black Dollar Bills, Samuel Taylor @Hare And Hounds, Kings Heath 12/5/13

Have a look at the cover of Bob Dylan’s first album, then have a look at Samuel Taylor. It will soon become clear where his influences lie. The opening line on his website says he is “armed with an acoustic guitar and a mouth organ” and will “treat the audience to one picky folk number after another.” As a general summation of his talents you will not find a better one. A series of pleasant songs and a nice line in self-deprecation (he claims his mum put his name on his guitar case so he didn’t forget who he was) he leaves the stage after singing “Waiting For Nothing” and does so with plenty more friends than he entered it with.

Not for nothing, you suspect, does the Jack White fronted The Dead Weather play after Black Dollar Bills are finished. The four piece no doubt have designs to play a similar type of heavy blues. At this stage, though, they are nowhere near the sound in their heads. The vocals don’t fit the songs and they lack the sort of charm of the other support. By the end of their half an hour they look like they would rather be anywhere else. Not an evening they will treasure.

For a band with one EP out the rise of The Temperance Movement has been quite astonishing. This show (albeit in the smaller room at the Hare and Hounds) is sold out. RTM was in Nottingham last week and their gig there was too. They are also pretty high up the bill at the Steelhouse classic rock festival in the summer and receiving rave reviews everywhere.

And here is the really astonishing news. They totally deserve the praise. If you have heard their “Pride” EP then you know how good they are. They are that band. The one where someone says something like “they sound like The Black Crowes playing Free songs” and they actually do.

Most of the EP is played. “Ain’t No Telling” and “Only Friend” sound even better in this setting, while they also dip into the new LP – apparently out in September – for “Smouldering,” which happily does exactly what the title says, amongst others during the course of an incredible hour long set.

So what makes them so good? Well there are few rock bands who can both rock hard and then use the lap steel, sometimes in the same song. There are even fewer who can pull off such stunning slide guitar that Luke Potashnick manages. But honestly, their trump card is their singer Phil Campbell, a singer-songwriter from Scotland, who might dance likew your drunk uncle at a wedding, but when he opens his mouth something very special happens. At one point they turn the mics off for “Chinese Laterns” and it is like watching a brilliant busker play your living room.

Not original, but not trying to be, The Temperance Movement, are as good as The Answer were when you first heard “Rise” or Rival Sons were when you came across “Pressure and Time.”

A quite brilliant concert, the band already have enough star quality to play an encore even in a venue this size, coming out of the landing at the top of the stairs, to play “Serenity.” They do so with the confidence of a band that knows they will never play a venue this size again – unless they want to do a warm up before their sell-out UK tour of arenas in 10 years. Trust me, The Temperance Movement are that good. Get on board now. 

DAVE McPHERSON @Eddies Rock Club, Birmingham 10/5/13

Ok, so the strains of “Fear of the Dark (Live)” are entirely usual for us. The greatest live song ever recorded is a fitting end to any gig, and as we file out of Eddies tonight we do so singing that as it is blasting out of the tannoy – just as Dave McPherson had said Maiden would when he finished.

If that was normal, though, rewind five minutes and life was rather odd. Because you see, just before Maiden, we were watching a man with an acoustic guitar play “Boom Shake The Room” by Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, and even more astonishingly, we were joining in.

In truth this evening had been rather odd all round, when they arrived on stage McPherson and his band The Make Believe, which includes drummer Simon Taylor, from InME, the band that made the singer (moderately) famous, do so wearing pajamas and slippers, still we are all for a relaxed gig around here, so fair play to them.

In town (and to be honest pretty much any week of the year, McPherson is on tour) to promote his new album “Dreamoirs,” the follow up to his “Heardship Diaries” record from 2011, a lilting and you suspect, deeply personal affair, this is the last night of a short tour with a band, which all have clearly enjoyed.

They begin, after telling us they are here to party, with a track from the new record in “Snowball” before a slightly reworked version of “Hearts Need Blood,” which in common with all the “….Dairies” songs that are played are given a different slant by being played as a band.

The rest of the show follows the same pattern, with “Before I Even Had You” sounding superb, but the most abiding thing that comes over again and again is just how much McPherson loves playing these songs and just how grateful he is that anyone has turned up at all.

“Dreamoirs” has been released as a Pledge Music event, the internet site that really came to the fore when Ginger released 555% and the CD went into the charts. Like The Wildhearts man, McPherson appears to really appreciate the chance he has been given – indeed he tells a story of what happened when InMe were dropped by their label and he had to get a day job – and there is nothing of the “rock star” about him at all. He gives the impression that if he wasn’t on stage he would be with us watching.

After 75 minutes the band disappears and for three songs it is just one man and his acoustic.  There is a cover of Roy Orbision’s “In Dreams” and the closing with the aforementioned rap …urmm….”classic.” In between we get “Love Rats,” a brilliant song which spotlights everything that is good about the artist, clever lyrics, sung with passion and the chance to lay his soul bare – it is all that a singer/songwriter should be.

As Fear of the Dark kicks in with the 80,000 people doing the whoa, whoa part, you can’t help but feel pleased for McPherson. If anyone deserves to succeed it is him.

A man that walks alone, as Maiden might say. 

SPOCK'S BEARD, Beardfish @Robin 2, Bilston 6/5/13

Sweden’s Beardfish are an interesting proposition. 2012’s album “The Void” showcased their ample talents perfectly. A swirling, proggy mass that encompassed just about every sort of metal you could possibly imagine. It is at once challenging, accessible and fantastic (and the only reason it didn’t make RTM’s albums of the year list is simply that we didn’t hear it until early in 2013).

So, when they arrive with us for their 40 minutes at the Robin tonight it is something to be excited about. Rightly so too, as the band – led by the supremely talented Rikard Sjoblom, who plays guitar, keyboards and sings – are spectacular.

They play a few songs from the aforementioned most recent record notably “Ludwig and Sverker” and set closer, the astonishing “Voluntary Slavery” as well as a smattering of older material, such as “Love Song,” but in actuality it wouldn’t have mattered what they played, such was the fun they were clearly having playing their material. Here is a band that clearly loves what they do and knows how to transmit that to its audience.

If the starter was good then the main course is veritable feast. Spock’s Beard are prog royalty at this point. The band formed by the Morse brothers, Neal and Alan, back in 1995, have, over a string of albums, cemented their reputation as being just a bit special.

This year’s record “Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep” is no exception and it’s safe to say already it will feature high in RTM’s end of year best of. Happily the band have realised how good it is too, and proceed to play about half of it in their 1 hour and 45 minute set.

They with “…Sleep’s” “Something Very Strange” – which although it doesn’t start the record is actually a natural gig opener for the band, with its slow burning intro the perfect excuse for an opening jam, before it builds into a fine, catchy prog song.

A couple of other highlights come from the new record too, with “Afterthoughts” featuring some stunning acapella vocals, while “Submerged” showcases some superb swirling keyboards.

If the musicianship was almost a given, what you perhaps didn’t expect from the band was just how many, smiles and laughs there was during the course of the set. It is, shall we say, on the warm side in the Robin tonight, so much so that Beard’s keyboard man Ryo Okumot wanders into the crowd and asks someone to give him a beer, they do and he gives them a tshirt at the end of the show. It is that sort of relaxed atmosphere that in part makes this show so special.

If Okumot appears to be SB’s most extrovert presence, Alan Morse is content to largely stand behind his dark glasses and rather like Steve Rothery in Marillion (with whom Beard share obvious comparisons) and kick out the jams, as it were.

Front man Ted Leonard, who took over singing duties in 2011 has fitted in effortlessly, with his fine voice and casual, all American charm, and only once do things go wrong, when in the encore of “Go The Way You Go” the computer that contains all of Okumot’s special effects gives up causing a delay. Not that this matters at all, it only proves the band are human.

Quite stunning, Spocks Beard have proved this evening why some of the most exciting music in rock and metal today is coming from the Prog sphere. There surely cannot be any better way to spend a bank holiday than this. 

HATEBREED, Black Dogs, Demoraliser @Wolves Slade R0ooms 3/5/13

It is perhaps fitting that we should get to spend tonight in the company of Hatebreed. The awful news about Jeff Hanneman hit everyone who loves metal hard this very morning, and the first couple of times RTM saw Hatebreed were as the opening act for Slayer.

Frontman Jamey Jasta gives a moving account of how those thrash legends, along with Motorhead gave his band a chance when no one else would and leads the crowd in a chant of “Slayer, Slayer” before a cover of “Ghosts Of War” is played in tribute.

Giving young bands a chance is clearly something that stuck with Jasta, as that is exactly what is happening on this jaunt. Humberside’s Demoraliser are up first, and take a lot from the main band’s hardcore-cum-thrash sound. Debut album “A Living Nightmare” is full of promise and closing song “Take Me” has a gargantuan riff to go with it. Worth keeping an eye on.

Perhaps they put something in the water up in Lincolnshire, because the next support, Black Dogs, are from Grimsby too. Like Demoraliser they are promising, but for our money slightly less polished than their predecessors. As you would expect from a band who is yet to release a record,  there is a touch of naivety to their songs, vocalist Gollo, dedicates a track to “anyone who is getting laid after the show” while there is a song called “13 Bastards” and  closing number “Bitterness” is apparently for “anyone who works a 9-5.”  The band are on the rise, though and have bagged themselves a slot at Download, so good luck to them as they grow.

At this point in their careers you know exactly what to expect from Hatebreed. They have toured enough to build a rabid fanbase and to be able to sell 500 capacity venues like this with ease.

No longer just a hardcore band, they are one of the finest thrash bands around when they want to be, and they showcase this side of their sound amply on new record “The Divinity Of Purpose” although even here they find sufficient anger to write a song called “Honour Never Dies” which contains the chorus of “standing for what you believe, means standing alone.”

It isn’t all anger though, as the bands message is one of unity, positivity and brotherhood and there are plenty of cheesy rock antics with the crowd being split up for a good old singalong.

In addition to the newer songs – indeed the gig starts with two tracks from the previous self-titled record including a brilliant “Everyone Bleeds Now” – there is plenty of stuff from their early period, such as “Defeatist,” and if anyone has come up with a better rabble rousing anthem in the last few years we haven’t heard it.

Crowd surfers and circle pits abound as the temperature, almost literally it seems, reaches boiling point before the end. The band are only onstage for 75 minutes bur race through over 20 songs, before “Destroy Everything” ends things in his glorious way.

Modern metal lost one of its most influential figures today, however, as long as bands like Hatebreed are there to carry on the work started by the greats of the 1980s, then thrash metal is in safe hands. This was the best possible way to honour Jeff Hanneman.

Reign in Blood, indeed. 

CHUCK PROPHET AND THE MISSION EXPRESS, The Dreaming Spires @Hare and Hounds, Moseley 30/4/13

A few years ago there was a regular Americana night just up the road from the venue from where tonight’s gig is being held. RTM used to go there a lot in order to watch something new and different. We saw bands like the Cash Brothers and Jolene who came over from America to play a rocky sort of country music and we had some good night’s there.

We found ourselves thinking of those times while watching The Dreaming Spires. Ok, so the band is from Oxford and not across the pond, but the music would have fitted in well. The three piece feature two vocalists hamonising and are a very pleasant way to spend half an hour. “Everything All The Time” is a lot catchier than its title suggests, and while “Sin City” might put you in mind of Motley Crue it sounds nothing like them. They also do a neat line in quirky, with “Not Every Song From The 60s is a Classic” lives up to its fine name. Unexpectedly good.

Former Green on Red frontman Chuck Prophet has re-invented himself as a fine singer-songwriter and is one of those prolific people that rather like RTM favourite Dan Baird, you suspect lives to make and play music. At the beginning of this show though, he very nearly doesn’t play anything at all. After his cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Dollar Bill Blues” his guitar cuts out causing a lengthy delay while things are fixed. If this creates a stop-start feel, Prophet and his band are soon into their collective stride with “Credit” and “Doubter Out Of Jesus,” both of which are excellent.

Prophet and The Mission Express are in town for the first time in years to promote last year’s brilliant “Temple Beautiful” album, its Stonsey title track is the perfect call and response number, except for one thing, it contains the ridiculous lyric, “she got so excited/Manchester United” and such things don’t go well in these parts. No matter, though as the “…Beautiful” record is mined again for “Who Shot John” with its languid Dylan type feel and “The Left Hand And The Right Hand” which tells the tale of brothers that argue.

If this gig was, for large parts, excellent, it wasn’t uniformly so. The sound problems which affected the start return, which is coupled with the presence of Brummie music stalwart Dave Cusworth in a rather, shall we say, tired and emotional state. After initially greeting him warmly, Prophet visibly tires of the antics and says “Dave, I got it from here, things can get pretty ugly pretty fast.”

Indeed, that tetchiness seems to translate into the rest of the set, and Prophet does seem slightly annoyed at the response from the crowd, telling us “The contract says I have to play, in return you could look like you are enjoying it.” Things reach their low point in set closer “You Did” which is rather self-angrandising at the best of times, but the crowd is meant to join in. Most don’t and Prophet looks none too pleased.

No matter, he is soon back for “Tulane” by Chuck Berry, before ending with “Eight Miles Low” by Cheap Trick which segues into a Doctor Feelgood song which is dedicated to Wilko Johnson.

This was a good, if overlong show, but one which you suspect that Chuck Prophet won’t remember too fondly, as sound problems and a rather lacklustre, irritable atmosphere stopped it from being totally memorable.