Live Music

The difference a week makes with your musical journeys ;-)

It is a funny thing, especially if like me you have a very wide ranging musical taste, but any particular week can have so many changes of pace/genre/style and vibe. For example, on the previous weekend I was at a mainly AOR Festival, acts like Dave Bickler former Survivor lead singer, KIX, Vince Neil and Loverboy, and having been there not only as a fan but also working as a Photographer and Reviewer keeps your mind focused on what type of music you are watching and loving.

Steve Whiteman of KIX headlining the opening night of Rockingham 2017

So perhaps on a psychological level after that much of a thought process going on in your head you will find it impossible not to prejudge what you next see and hear. This past weekend it was Orange Goblin on Friday night and that was quickly followed by Hardcore Superstar and Fozzy on Saturday, all very different styles of music, all very different vibes, two hometown shows this time, and all very interesting, but it was really just so hard to get into the gigs, don’t know if it was the overtired feeling in my head, the busy week with work stress etc, or simply the fact that I have so much in my memory to push into the Rockingham review. This of course doesn’t help when you are reviewing one of these shows, so the only option was to get it done as quickly as follows, which was the approach I took, a four band bill, all very different types of bands and done and dusted the night after the show. Good going if I do say so myself.

Today is a Bank Holiday in Ireland, so was planning to get the photos pretty much done and complete the Day 1 review to submit tonight, but a massive headache and that drained feeling aren’t helping, also have to make a trip to my mams yet and time is getting on, Stop the roundabout I want to take a break, a few hours sleep would definitely not go amiss. Early night tonight and back into work tomorrow.

Mike Reno of Loverboy – headlining the final night of Rockingham 2017

Still three gigs in a week is definitely an improvement and some cracking gigs coming up in November, and again a very wide variety, starting this coming Friday with one I really can’t wait for, Leprous for me have produced one of the albums of the year, Progressive Rock/Metal of the highest order, really looking forward to seeing can they pull off the sound live. Still to come are the likes of Tyketto, Bigfoot, Jinjer, Maverick and perhaps a bit of Frank Carter, before Decemenber kicks in with more.

Rockingham 2017 may just have broken me ;-)

AOR, Music, Uncategorized

What a wonderful weekend that was, wonderful musicians, including some names to cross off the Bucketlist, special performances, and getting to hang around with some of my favourite people (albeit all too briefly as work was really busy).

The hard work is in full swing now working on the Photographs and Full Review of the Festival, yes I know, I know, wasn’t so long ago that I said I wouldn’t be doing the Review and Photography think at a Full 3 day Festival anymore, but to be honest, it seems to be quite difficult these days to get a Reviewer for a Festival, especially the smaller ones, so in order to get the job done someone has to step forward.

This years Festival was simply a joy from start to finish, working with some great people who are friends, shooting and watching some wonderful bands and although it all goes by far too quickly it’s always worth the effort. With headliners like KIX, Vince Neil and Loverboy there was a lot of fun and energy around the place.

Here are a few photos of different bands, the Full Review will follow when published and Full Galleries of all the bands after that. Hope you enjoy them.

Click on any of the Thumbnails below to see a larger version of the picture.

Back in the saddle again ;-)

AOR, Music, Uncategorized

Just a quick post before I get a few hours sleep and begin my journey to Rockingham 2017. The excitement has been building all day, but honestly it’s tomorrow that it will all kick off.

Touch wood everything is in place and I will be covering the Festival for The Midlands Rocks again, and although I’m already tired this is just going to be another brilliant weekend, bands that I have never seen live before and have waited many many years to do so, and some of my favourite bands and artists all under one roof, add to that getting to spend time among some of the best people I know, hard to go wrong really. Then there’s the added bonus of a very comfortable bed and possibility to catch up on some sleep (we shall see about that one).

There’s even an additional bonus of the launch of the debut Midnite City album tomorrow afternoon before the Festival starts – brilliant, it’s a great album and can’t wait to hear some of the songs live.

Wish me luck and will hopefully have some updates over the weekend either here, or on the Tears Of Fire Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages 😉

Reacting to life’s changing circumstances.

AOR, Music, Uncategorized

Been a bit quiet for a while, but there’s just been so much going on with real life and family that I honestly have had to put a lot of my musical life on hold, this happens to us all at certain points in time, but it’s been a pretty difficult year all in all and as we hit October and I look back on what I’ve been to and done this year gig/review wise and it’s definitely been a lot less than normal, but there have been some great ones in there and have an over ambitious list of gigs to try and get through before the year is out. Of course for someone with Epilepsy, which is brought on by exhaustion, I will have to be careful with this stuff.

Right now a lot of my free time is not under my control and I have come to terms with that, but without my musical outlet the chances of slowly going mad are of course rising by the day, so in a couple of weeks I will be attending the Rockingham Festival in Nottingham, and am thrilled that I will be shooting/reviewing it, so a working break, but a much needed break all the same. And in reality it will become more difficult to get away for 3/4 days as time goes on and the need to be close to home becomes more important, for one reason or another, so I certainly don’t take going away lightly, the support of a very understanding wife and the help of some family and friends allows the possibility to be come a reality. At times at the moment it’s like working 3 jobs and not having a break inbetween, or very little, that’s where the stress, strain and sheer exhaustion kick in. So the opportunity to get away and shoot acts like Loverboy, KIX, Vince Neil, Harem Scarem, John Parr etc……… WOW, it’s going to be great, and a few nights in a hotel will hopefully bring some much needed sleep along with it.

I did manage to get over to see one of my Bucketlist bands, Living Colour, a couple of weeks ago and that was just an awesome night, but a night is gone by in a flash and have had to miss two gigs since, so it’s back into the same sort of rut again, which can be difficult to wrap your head around. Luckily there are a lot of good friends out there that we can all use to bounce things off, never be afraid to share with friends and let people know when times are difficult, we can all use help when everything gets on top of us.

What next year holds, well we will see, but with some gigs and Festivals already scheduled we can just hope that things become a little easier, my son will be running around a lot more by then, so that will be a different and fun type of change, but I think everyone needs an outlet of some sort, be it creative or just a fun hobby to escape to and release the pressure every now and then.

Expect a lot of updates with regards to Rockingham over the next month, and fingers crossed for some positive stuff in the near future 😉

Ebb and flow, ups and downs ;-)

AOR, Music, Uncategorized

Lot’s of positives and a few negatives recently, have finally managed to start writing again, hopefully not a temporary thing, but it’s been great to get some new reviews written up (damn I must add the links to the Reviews Section here, which also needs a revamp). Getting back into listening to some brilliant new music has been exceptionally therapeutic.

This year has once again seen a huge amount of really high quality Album releases and we are not yet mid way through August, there is still a lot more one it’s way in the coming months, exciting times. With regards to getting out to Gigs, well that’s been pretty slow of late, had to cancel my plans for going to the wonderful Bloodstock Festival, but still hoping there’s a lot to come (certainly plenty penciled in and November has become crazily busy already). Looking forward to a hectic time ahead, but will need to manage the energy levels along the way. And of course the everyday trials and tribulations of life can put a spanner in the works on occasion. Will hopefully make the next Gig Trip all the sweeter, to see a Bucketlist band and hopefully meet up with some of my FB friends that I have yet to meet in person, which is always a bonus.

While relaxing a bit this evening it seemed only fitting to take a little look back at one of the many wonderful highlights of last year for me, getting to shoot the wonderful Jean Beauvoir (The Plasmatics, Voodoo X, Crown Of Thorns) at Rockingham last October in Nottingham, the weekend was going to be awesome anyway, but to finally get to see Jean and not only that but have Tommy Lafferty and Hawk Lopez in his band, and on top of that they were going to be playing some Crown of Thorns songs, WOW!!!! blew me away, not afraid to say it brought a teat to my eye with songs like “Dying For Love” and “Standing On The Corner”, a moment in time that will never be forgotten. So a couple of touch ups and some photos that I haven’t released before ended up in a new Folder and here they are. Will add them to the Gallery at when I get a chance.

So onward we move, want to try and complete another review or two before the weekend is over and then it’s another Bucketlist band on Monday night in Dublin, things are looking up.

Can you have the Blues missing the Blues ?

Music, Uncategorized

So back home a few days from another awesome weekend of wonderful music, this time around it was HRH Blues in Sheffield, and I’m already missing it, yes I have the Blues from the Blues 😉 Was lucky enough to be shooting and reviewing this one for Firebrand.

A two day Festival, with some really brilliant performances though it did all seem to fly by all too quickly. With Artists from the UK, Europe and the US there’s plenty of choice in styles and approach, but there can’t of been many that go for it as much or as well as the Billy Walton Band, such a fun set for a band absolutely loving what they do.

Billy Walton of the excellent Billy Walton Band.

There were many highlights across the two days, of course it was such a shame that King King couldn’t play (sending best wishes and a speedy recovery to Alan Nimmo – maybe next year), but it was awesome to see Erja Lyytinen, Simon McBride, Ten Years After, Laurence Jones, Chantel McGregor, Sean Webster Band, Dan Patlansky and lets not forget Crow Black Chicken who got a lot of mentions in the last few days as one of the bands of the Festival. Just wish I could have seen a lot of the artists on the 2nd stage as well, sadly time overlaps didn’t allow. The slightly more mature crowd there were seats in the venue, which worked to a certain extent, but there just wasn’t enough space between the rows and made it a bit awkward for people to get around, especially on the main floor, but that’s a minor thing at the end of the day.

Working on the Photos and Review this weekend and will hopefully have it all ready to go very soon. Roll on the next one 😉

Sean Webster Band – terrific start to Day 2 on the Main Stage

My personal performance of the weekend Laurence Jones

Very much still an underrated guitarist, Simon McBride, great banter with the crowd.

Full flow Festival Season 2017

AOR, Music, Uncategorized

With one HRH Festival completed and everything online (Review below) it’s already time to head off to another, and a little different, this coming Bank Holiday weekend we have HRH Blues in Sheffield, again it’s another really cracking lineup with the likes of King King, Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, Ten Years After, Erja Lyytinen, Chantel McGregor, Simon McBride and Laurence Jones all in attendance.

Having not been able to attend last years event I’m really looking forward to this show, there’s always a good atmosphere at HRH events and I’m sure this will be no different. Still hoping to do Bloodstock, Rockingham and squeeze in some if not all of Ramblin’ Man. Reality is that these days if you have the time and the money you could be doing a Festival every week.

HRH AOR V Review – broken into Day splits, just click on a link below for review/photos.

Day 1 – Tequila Mockingbyrd, Last Great Dreamers, Bonafide and The Quireboys

Day 2 – The Radio Sun (Acoustic), Walkway, Kane’d, Romeo’s Daughter, Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, Bang Tango, Autograph, FM, Lita Ford

Day 3 – Häxan. Summers, The Radio Sun, VEGA, Paul Laine, Mike Tramp, Bailey, Michael Monroe, Slaughter, Reach

Festival time again ;-)

Music

Right better head off and get some sleep, up in a few hours to get the red eye over to Birmingham to begin the annual pilgrimage to HRH AOR in Pwllheli, North Wales. Shooting again this year and it’s going to be a busy few days, though as always great fun too meeting up with friends from far and wide.

This year’s headliners are the legendary Lita Ford, Slaughter and The Quireboys, with a plethora of great bands from both sides of the Atlantic including Autograph, FM, LA Guns, Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, The Radio Sun, Bang Tango, Romeo’s Daughter, VEGA, Bailey and many more……..there will be much running around, but sadly with the review side of things also in play there will certainly be some acts that will be missed over the three days.

Look out for a few photos over the weekend and will be doing a full weekend review for the great guys at Firebrand. The one above is from FM’s last performance at HRH AOR in 2015.

Time for a hardware refresh.

Music, Uncategorized

Well I think the time has come to upgrade some stuff, going to start with the Camera, to date I’ve just been using an entry level DSLR (Canon EOS 700D/Rebel T5i) and it’s served me well, have learnt a lot while using it, but now it’s time to move up a level, without breaking the bank completely, so a second hand model for the moment 😉

So while probably sticking with Canon, for the moment it’s looking like a 7D or 7D Mark II depending on a few things, but still researching, and as I’m covering some festivals this year I’ll be looking to pick up a a decent zoom lens to go with it.

Then I need to set things up properly at home, have far too much equipment, need to do a clearout of the old, setup my workstation in the Office and start doing my edits there, it might force me to be more critical and not try to fix shots there’s no hope for. Up to now, although there has been improvement, there’s still been too much time wasted trying to fix things, and save things. No more .

Lot’s of shows being added to the calendar, yey 😉

When health gets in the way of your music passion.

Music, Uncategorized

While we pass through mid April 2016, on a Sat night I sit at home resting and ever so gutted, this month really hasn’t worked out anywhere close to how it was planned, and nothing serious it definitely seems that as the years pass when my head crashes it takes longer to recover, and then that leads to having to be more sensible – and that grates a lot of the time, sensible, me.

Never being one to dodge a personal subject and having worked with the ups and downs of Epilepsy for twenty seven odd years, it’s not the condition itself that I feel causes me the most problems at this stage in my life, medication and more care than I used to take when being overtired means that I have been seizure free for a few years now and any incidents over the last ten years have been few and far between, but I definitely feel the the side effects of taking this form of medication long term have put other obstacles in my way which sadly means missing far more shows than anyone would want to. Leaves me semi functional, so will play with some photos this weekend.

Last weekend was supposed to be Sat seeing and photographing some of Irelands top Metal talent and Sunday should have been enjoying watching one of my favorite bands Overkill on only their second visit to Dublin, but instead ended up spending four days sitting/laying around the house doing nothing, but hey it happens sometimes, we get over it an move on. Thankfully last night I actually managed to get out to my first show of April, a terrific relatively new band called REWS based out of London, female duo that were really outstanding, wished I’d brought the camera, but sometimes you need to give a band your full attention. Keep an eye out for these ladies, they’ll be playing a number of Festivals in the UK this summer and I have no doubt you will be hearing their name a lot more.

And onto tonight, gutted to be sitting here typing this, should be on my way from Belfast to Ballymena right now to see only of my favorite bands from this side of the water, hard rock beasts Maverick – also one of my favorite bands to shoot live, they aren’t shy and always put on a terrific show.

So while I’m sitting around why not revisit my most difficult show to date, it’s always difficult when you physically have difficulty seeing the Keyboard Player from the pit, so why not see if we can get anything out of that set. The band Enslaved, from their show in the Button Factory, Dublin last September.

Enslaved - 03 — Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved – Button Factory, Dublin – 26-09-2015