MICHAEL MONROE, Voodoo Sioux, @Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 3/12/13

The musical world in the late 1980s was a very different place to now.

Back then, there was no internet (for any readers under 30, this is true!) so if you read about a band in Kerrang! or Raw Magazine, they remained mystical. Consequently, when your heroes - in our case mostly groups such as Love/Hate, Poison, Guns N Roses, Warrant and Motley Crüe - mentioned their influences, Hanoi Rocks seemed out of reach.

Then Rocks' former frontman,  Michael Monroe, played Harmonica and Saxophone on  G'n' Rs "Bad Obsession" record and we simply had to check him out.

We had heard tales of excess, hell-raising and great songs from the band many thought were the godfathers of Hair Metal - it turned out they were all true.

This is worth pointing out because  tonight's main support, Voodoo Sioux, probably had the same experience as RTM growing up.

Whether that's the case or not, the  flamboyant foursome certainly take you back to that time, and do so unashamedly, plus the first line of their opening track tonight is "I remember back when I was young."

That it's sung by a bloke in Nikki Flaherty, who is part dressed as a Native American, and part Adam Ant, probably tells you they aren't the most earnest group around but Voodoo certainly cast their spell effectively. Bassist, the fabulously monikered Mario Ermoyenous, attacks his instrument with an enormous smile on his face and you suspect this is the point. The Ramones-esque grooves of what they introduce as their first ever single, with its key line "do you believe in Jesus Christ walking on the water" certainly stick in the head long after they leave.

After our initial teenage infatuation, it was only later we discovered that Hanoi Rocks were European and far from being from outer space, their drummer was born just up the road from where I lived. What never changed, though despite the realisation that rock n roll was normal, was the music was fabulous, and that Monroe solo record we found in the library was  "Not Fakin It" which contains the  supreme piece of sleaze that is Dead Jail And Rock n Roll. He plays it tonight, as last song in the main set and it is still as amazing it was back 20 odd years ago.

Rewind about an hour from "Dead...." and the band take the stage. In typical OTT style, Monroe does so by climbing onto the speaker stack and waving. Stick thin and still caked in make up, the fact he is over 50 now clearly hasn't slowed him down and his performance is one of almost boundless energy.

Monroe is in town to plug new album "Horns And Halos" which essentially takes up from where previous album, 2011's stunning "Sensory Overdrive," left off.

There is one key difference. Ginger Wildheart is no longer on guitar. Dregen of The Backyard Babies plays on the album, but not this tour, so Rich Jones (Yo-Yo's, Loyalties) joins Hanoi bass man Sam Yaffa and New York Doll Steve Conte.

The first part of the show is almost literally a breakneck run through the golden moments of the last two albums - and there are plenty - "Trick Of The Wrist" and "Ballad of the Lower East Side" not least among them.

Then he moves into Rocks territory, and "Malibu Beach Nightmare" proves what a band they were.

The encore contains a couple of welcome surprises. Monroe reaches back to his Demolition 23 days for the underrated glam punk stomp of "Nothin's Alright" before Eddie And The Hot Rods classic "Do Anything You Wanna Do" gets an outing too.

Monroe is an incredible frontman, shaming those of half his age. He jumps, high-kicks and splits his way though the 80 minutes and still finds time to tell us he's happy to play in venue named after Slade as they were first band he had ever seen live.

Tonight truly was the best of both worlds. There are great new songs but also a chance to watch a  childhood hero. To borrow a line from a song that was played tonight: when I was a kid all I wanted to be was the meanest dude on the meanest machine. Michael Monroe still is. This is rock n roll the way it always seemed to be. Glamorous, a little dangerous, but above all tremendously exciting. 

TOBY JEPSON, Steve Mercy, Third Angle Projection @Academy 3, Birmingham 1/12/13

If you have been reading these blogs for any length of time, you will know that RTM has, over the course of the last 25 years or so, been a huge fan of the late 80s British rock and metal scene. Alongside our love for Thunder and the Almighty, we were - and are - pretty much obsessed with the Little Angels.

We mention this, because the redoubtable front man of Scaborough's finest export, along with the best cricket ground in this country (no joke it's incredible!) was one Toby Jepson, and he is here tonight.

We last saw Jepson  when he supported FM in Stourbridge back in July. Then as now, he was armed with just an acoustic guitar. These days a producer of note as well as a fine singer, he must have enjoyed his solo experience so much it got fleshed out into a proper tour.

Sadly there is only a sparse crowd to see him - last year when he the Angels got back together places were packed - but no matter.

Local boys Third Angle Projection are performing opening duties tonight, and they too do so acoustically. As their usual selves they play a modern take on grunge. Tonight, with just a singer and a bass player it is difficult not to think that their entire set could come straight from Nirvana's "Unplugged in New York" record. At one point during "For What You Are" you expect to hear the lyric "a mulatto, an albino" being screamed out. Third Angle do eventually give in and finish things with their version of "About A Girl" which is fitting. Not bad, but grunge has never been a huge thing to us, and TAP are better when plugged in.

Former Abigail's Mercy frontman Steve Mercy is up next and he is altogether more interesting. There is a darker quality to his songs, especially "Peace of the Sun" which he co-wrote with his accomplice  Maria, who provides backing tonight. This track has a mystical set of lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on early Cult records. Others, such as "Friends Like These" are more straightforward, but more visceral. Perhaps the pick of them all though, is "Summerland" which deals with the loss of a loved one. Singer/songwriting as it should be, passionate and with a point. The pair even manage to finish with "Paranoid" with a ukulele (I think)  and make it sound tolerable. 

Any set that starts with Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" as it's intro tape has a lot to live up to,  but Toby Jepson has a body of work to match most. There aren't many more prolific than him - and for his variety of projects he could give Ginger Wildheart a run for his money. Not a lot of people exist who were singer in a band with a number one album, and who have since produced Saxon, James Toseland and written for Katie Melua, but Jepson has. Then add in his stints as singer in Gun and Fastway and you begin to get the picture.

Fittingly then, this is a set that does not concentrate solely on Little Angels material. Jepson has a new mini album ("we have to call it that so it gets reviews" he jokes onstage) out and a couple of its songs, notably title track "Raising My Own Hell" get an airing, as does  "Shadow Boxing,” which takes him into blues and jazz.

There are plenty of songs from all periods of his career, with perhaps the biggest surprise being the title track from his criminally underrated debut solo album "Ignorance Is Bliss". Best of all though is "Small Talk" a fabulously angry song about growing up in the 1980s and "Thatcher's disaster".

Throughout the hour and 40 minute set Jepson answers questions that have been submitted by audience members and amongst other things we learn that he would like to be Freddie Mercury and loves Prog Rock but moreover he speaks passionately about music throughout, particularly the Little Angels.

Of course the Angels are well represented in the show, "Don't Pray For Me" and "I Ain't Gonna Cry" are simply brilliant, while "Radical Your Lover" is funky and "Big Bad World" swings.

Jepson ends the set with medley of "Young Gods" and "Backdoor Man", before returning for another in "Kicking Up Dust" and "Too Much Too Young" and an evening which has been by turns, interesting, entertaining and funny is brought to a close.

Who would have thought that a small acoustic gig could have been this good? It simply proves that if you have great songs they can be transferred to any medium. Jepson does. And they sounded brilliant. 

BLACK STAR RIDERS, The Dead Daisies, Western Sand @Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, 30/11/13 and Assembly, Leamington Spa 10/12/13

At Black Star Riders triumphant first ever gig, back in May, singer Ricky Warwick promised that we would see a lot more of them. 

This Autumn he proved that these were not mere words. BSR have undertaken the sort of tour that bands used to do. Criss crossing the country for a month - there are the three Midlands date for example. 

RTM points this out by way of explaining why we are seeing them twice in 10 days. Watching a band multiple times in the same tour is not something we often do, in fact we can only recall doing it for Iron Maiden, The Wildhearts and one more band before. That the other band was Thin Lizzy perhaps explains our devotion to the BSR cause. Before all that, though there are two support bands to watch and that forms part of the reason we are back again. 

In Wolverhampton we arrived too late to catch all but Western Sand's last song. We are able to see them in full in Leamington Spa. It's worth it too. 

Right now in Britain we are blessed with a decent crop of up and coming hard rockers. You can add the name Western Sand to that "ones to watch" list. With more of a southern type bent than many of their peers, the young foursome have much to commend. "Broken Bones" in particular is impress, but the entire half hour has the air of a band that has been given a dream chance and wants very much to take it. 

If Jim Stevens being the singer in INXS for two years after the death of Michael Hutchence may not automatically make The Dead Daisies a supergroup, then the fact that the guitarist was in Nine Inch Nails, the bassist is still in the Rolling Stones and the keyboard man GnR probably does.  

Having Richard Fortus, Darryl Jones and Dizzy Reed on stage however, counts for nothing if the songs don't grab you. The début album - given away free in Classic Rock - is ok without being superb and live at the Wulfrun they are much the same. 

Tonight in The Assembly they have to overcome the fact that Fortus' guitar doesn't work during in the opener, the ironically titled "It's Gonna Take Time".  "Lock And Load" is perhaps their best song, with it's laid back Black Crowes-esque verses and strident chorus, but it is intresting that TDD are already looking past their debut and onto album two. They take the opportunity to play three new songs, the pick of which "Face I Love" sees them moving into real Georgia Satellites areas. At this point, though, they are still not the sum of their parts. 

So, the Black Star Riders, then. As everyone who cares knows by now they emerged from the writing sessions for what was to be a new Thin Lizzy record, and decided to change their name.  

They've changed the setlist a little since that wonderful May night in Milton Keynes too, but they still start with their new album's brilliant title track, "All Hell Breaks Loose" is apt too, as both in Wolves and Leamington crowds are going mad for the band. 

The second song "Are You Ready" takes us back to Thin Lizzy. All the men on the stage, with the exception of drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who we are told is feeling ill tonight, were in the last incarnation of the group. Anyone who saw their couple of years as Lizzy knows how excellent they were, and how Ricky Warwick and guitarist Damon Johnson (who between them wrote much of "...Loose") had invigorated the whole thing, BSR benefit from that too.  

This is not some band that is resting on its laurels, playing some greatest hits set on a reformation tour. This is a hungry group with a lot to prove, and not even the return of the technical gremlins that robbed bass player Marco Mendoza of sound in "Southbound" can spoil things. 

Yes they play some Thin Lizzy songs (and why wouldn't they? They are after all some of the best songs ever written and Scott Gorham is on the stage) but there are seven new ones too.  

Throughout the whole glorious 90 minutes Warwick performs with such aplomb that you can only reflect that he was born to do this and has found the perfect vehicle for his talents. 

The last few songs they play at both gigs tell you all you need to know. BSR's fantastic "Bound For Glory" (surely the best song Phil Lynott never wrote) "Cowboy Song" and "The Boys Are Back In Town" give way to an encore of "Whiskey In The Jar" and "Rosalie" and really there isn't a better ending five tunes this year. 

So after both those gigs at the best  medium sized venues we have, what's the winner? Well for the supports, Leamington, for Black Star Riders, you can't argue with perfection, so we will go for that stunning night in at the Marshall Amps studio in MK, after all, no matter how many times you do it after, you never forget your first time, do you?

GERRY McAVOY's BAND OF FRIENDS, Sugar Mama @Robin 2, Bilston 29/11/13

The story goes that Jimi Hendrix was once asked what it felt like to be the best guitarist in the world. "I don't know," he replied. "Ask Rory Gallagher."

Therefore you had better be damn sure that if you are celebrating his music, you do so with respect; there are no worries on that score. This Band of Friends is no mere tribute act. This is a band of Rory's friends. Two of them, bass player Gerry McAvoy and Drummer Ted McKenna, played with Gallagher, McAvoy toured with him for 20 years, while Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s McKenna was there from 78-81.

It also helps that they have been doing this for a couple of years - indeed RTM saw them in this very venue 12 months ago, so the act is honed to perfection.

The support band that night, as now, were Redditch based blues trio Sugar Mama. The band positively exudes youthful exuberance. They also seem to be finding their own feet slightly more than being steeped in old blues like they were last year and this is despite the blistering cover of Gallaghers "Laundromat" that they end things with. Self-penned songs like "Real Love" and "Love No Money" see them moving into territory more associated with the White Stripes or Wolfmother and if the lyrics do seem a tad naive, then surely you can forgive them that given their age. The development of Sugar Mama continues apace.

“The curfew is extended until 2am – and the bar is free after 10” so says Gerry McAvoy as he strolls out onstage to begin BoF’s set, he grins mischievously as his band launch into “Last Of The Independents” a track which sums up the maverick nature of the man who we are here to celebrate perfectly – a heavy, bluesy, yet insanely catchy tune, it is – like the hour and a half that follows - absolutely superb.

In truth it is hard to go wrong when you are playing 90 minutes of Gallagher’s songs, and any time “Bad Penny” is played it is more or less impossible not to grin insanely like some sort of lunatic.

The real skill, though is in the choice of band members. McAvoy is a natural showman, who is the nominal frontman of the group, McKenna belts the kit with gusto, but this trio was essentially going to live and die by its six stringer, the Rory role if you will, and Marcel Scherpenzeel is an inspired choice.

The Dutchman not only plays guitar like a god, he is an excellent singer. McAvoy promises that he is “the closest thing to Rory you will ever hear” and he is not wrong. “Calling Card” is a veritable freak out, while set closer “Shadow Play” is just wonderful. They are back for an encore – which like last year is “Bullfrog Blues” with as many teasing, false endings as you can possibly imagine, with the band just enjoying itself.

We will never be lucky enough to see Rory Gallagher again. Those of us that never did will forever be safe in the knowledge that thanks to a couple of his mates and a magnificent guitarist we can, just once a year, close our eyes and imagine what it would have been like.

The best blues fun of the year. 

BILLY BRAGG, Kim Churchill @Symphony Hall, Birmingham 24/11/13

It’s odd what brings people to gigs. If it hadn’t been for RTM’s hatred of socialising we might not have seen Billy Bragg in the first place. We had just started a new job in November 1999 and were desperate to get out of the works Christmas do the following month. It happened to coincide with a Billy gig at Warwick Arts Centre, so we went with a mate and a love of the Bard of Barking began.

We were musing on this tonight as support Kim Churchill tells the story about why he ended up here. He was at a folk festival in Canada and asked someone for a lift to the stage, that someone was one Stephen William Bragg, who obliged and asked him to come out on tour.

The New South Wales Folkie is a worthy – and welcome – addition. The young singer/songwriter is doing this type of thing with a really interesting twist. He sings a song called “Smile As He Goes Home” which is about his Grandad’s funeral, but is celebratory and heartwarming, this mixes with “Bathed In Black” which is psychedelic and heavy. He ends all this with a take on “Subterranean Homesick Blues” this, like the rest of his set, is well worth checking out.

So Billy Bragg then. What is left to say about him? It is thirty years this year since his incendiary debut mini album “Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy” came out, and throughout that career he has done everything with an honesty and a sense of humour that sets him apart from the crowd.

RTM saw him back in June when he gave a brilliant show in Stratford – Upon - Avon. He is exactly the same tonight, and indeed seems totally re-invigorated by the “Tooth And Nail” album he released earlier this year. Apparently recorded in a matter of days in America with hot Producer Joe Henry, it is not only the best record he has put out in years and years, but has taken Bragg – and his fine band – into something of a country vein. In typical fashion, he bats this away with self-deprecation, claiming he has turned into a “radical Kenny Rodgers, “ and plays “You Woke The Neighbourhood” from his  1991 “Don’t Try This At Home”  album as if to prove he has always been country anyway.

The set is broadly the same as the one a few months ago, but does include “California Stars” which is touchingly dedicated to Wilco’s Jay Bennett, who sadly died two years ago and “A New England” returns to end things.

Bragg jokes that it doesn’t matter what songs he plays, because over 30 years people don’t come to listen to sing anyway. Whilst those who don’t know his work might focus on his politics (no bad thing and RTM remains in agreement with most of his manifesto) this neglects the fact that he is fabulous songwriter – one of the finest this country has ever had – who is capable of writing a visceral “Never Buy The Sun” but juxtaposing this with a quite brilliant “Handyman Blues,” a tale of why men shouldn’t attempt DIY.

During the course of his two and a quarter hours onstage Bragg tells us that he isn’t bothered about the 30 year anniversary, but what is worth celebrating, he says, is that fact that after all this time a room full of people in Birmingham still want to watch him.

If he surprised, he needn’t be. He is Billy Bragg and he deserves all the audience he ever gets. 

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE @NIA, Birmingham 21/11/13

We lost touch with Queens Of The Stone Age a good few years ago. We liked the first couple of albums, saw them live, then about 10 years passed. This is staggering in itself, but ye gods if it isn’t 15 years since that debut record. However, perhaps even stranger (and this probably shows how out of touch we are with modern music around here than anything else) is just how huge QUOTSA have got while we weren’t looking.

This gig, like all the others on this tour, is in a great big arena, and there are very few spaces to be had. Frontman Josh Homme could be forgiven for smiling smugly in the direction of his former Kyuss band mates, who mustered a decent crowd for their show up the road last month, but nothing remotely like this.

Actually smugness seems to be the last thing on Homme’s mind at this point, he is rather more concerned with the fact he is full of cold, which isn’t exactly great when you have 10,000 people to entertain for 90 minutes.

But he is nothing if not a pro, shaking off the lurgy with a smile and the phrase: “I love Birmingham, it’s a great town, so I am just gonna play my guitar till I can’t play it no more.” What that in practice means is a show that starts with “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire” but then smashes straight in to “No One Knows” and then “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret” which is a one-two of hits that is right up there with any arena bothering act.

In fact, QUOTSA rely on songs rather than the effects of many arena band, although a big screen does show elaborate animations during “Monster In Your Parasol” and is used to effect throughout.

“Fairweather Friend” is played with a slight speech from Homme who says the song is about having someone you thought was a friend and they turned out to be anything but (a nod to the bitter fall out with his former bandmates perhaps?) while the show finishes with a three song encore that not only includes “Feelgood Hit Of The Summer,” which means that thousands of people get to sing THAT chorus, but ends with “Song For The Dead” which contains more false climax’s (all puns intended) than Motorhead playing “Orgasmatron” (all puns intended).

A night that was far more enjoyable than RTM expected, and one which Homme himself neatly sums up. Spotting a lady on a gents shoulders, who lets her hair cascade, he says: “That’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. All I have ever wanted to do was make music that made people let their hair down.”

And there is nothing wrong with that.  

KARNIVOOL, Tesseract @Institute, Birmingham 20/11/13

Things have changed in the Tesseract camp since we last saw them. Not only have they got rid of singer number four Eliot Coleman (himself a replacement for Daniel Tompkins), the newly fronted by Ashe O’Hara band has released a new record called “Altered State.” The album sees them move even further away from the Djent scene, which seemed to be almost entirely invented by Metal Hammer anyway, and into something altogether more interesting and challenging. 

So it is that the first three songs they play tonight are from the “…State” album, and they sound just as good live as they do on record. In our opinion the band sound much better with a singer that is, well, singing, and the riffs sound even more monstrous than before. That is not to say they forget their roots totally – and indeed neither should they, as previous record “One” was excellent too – and there is plenty of what O’Hara terms “old Tesseract” to keep the huge crowd entertained. The frontman is apparently struggling with a bad throat, although you wouldn’t know it, as he navigates his way through a superb 40 minutes. With a (hopefully) settled line up and seemingly limitless ability to write interesting songs, you really can expect big things from Tesseract. 

Back in 2010 we took our places at Sonisphere on the day Iron Maiden played. The opening act was some Aussies who we had never heard of, called Karnivool. They were really very good indeed. 

Now, here we are seeing them for the first time since then. In 2013 they have a new album “Asymmtery” to plug. They begin with a couple of songs from it, “The Last Few” and “A. M War” and over the course of the next hour and three quarters, they exemplify what follows, expertly played, brilliant and a just little bit more exciting than you might have expected. 

And yet, we shouldn’t have been surprised. Beardy, unassuming blokes they might be, but that doesn’t quite tell the story. You see, Karnivool are genuine big stars in their homeland – “Asymmtery” was number one down under – thus when you are used to playing arenas, you can knock out a gig to 500 people in Birmingham in your sleep. 

Not that Karnivool give the impression that they are phoning it in, if anything, they seem humbled that so many people have turned up, which rather fits in with their image. Singer Ian Kenny is absolutely the least rock star looking rock star you have seen, and happily there seems to be a convivial atmosphere between the bands, with Tesseract Drummer Jay Postones joining in stage right on “Sky Machine.”

In fact, the only things that set Karnivool out as a massive band are their massive songs. Huge guitar lines and great big choruses abound – not least of which is “Simple Boy,” which is arguably the pick, although really, the whole set is of the highest order. 

The band returns – somewhat sheepishly – for an encore and “New Day” rounds things off in suitably massive style. “Thanks Birmingham,” says Kenny. “It’s been brilliant tonight.” To be fair, he’s not wrong. We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.