Tag Archives: Civic Hall

Manic Street Preachers, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2009.

With the new album, Journal for Plague Lovers, barely out its packaging, the Manic Street Preachers stoked up the heat at the Wolverhampton Civic as they showed what the music scene had been missing for the past few years.

By playing the new offering its entirety, the capacity crowd was given the chance to savour some of the last work of Richey Edwards, whose lyrics have been set to music by the band.

These included opening track Peeled Apples Me and Stephen Hawking and the lament William’s Last Words.

Manic Street Preachers, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(207 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. April 2009.

Joe Bonamassa shows that you can be considered a blues legend before you reach 40. The likeable and amiable singer and guitarist has played with some of the greats of the genre but he still seems to be in awe of the fact that a capacity crowd of music lovers would come and see him perform live.

He began a night of incredible music with Django from the 2006 album You and Me before going full steam into the Ballad of John Henry from this year’s album offering of the same name.

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(136 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

Apocalyptica, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. December 2008.

With their fusion of heart-pounding riffs and solid dependable drumming, Apocalyptica have become one of the best reasons to enjoy heavy metal again.

To be able to take a decent selection of thrash kings Metallica’s music and play it note perfect on four cellos and a drum takes an awful lot of skill.  Apolcalyptica have now broadened their range with some cracking pieces of music of their own.

The Metallica tracks were covered brilliantly, especially Fight Fire With Fire and possibly Metallica’s finest song, One. Apocalyptica rounded off a genuinely enjoyable evening with the encores Enter Sandman and a fantastic version of Greig’s Mountain King.

Apocalyptica, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(119 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Heaven 17, A.B.C., Human League, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2008.

When three of the great pop acts of the 80’s decide to share the same bill and perform some of the decade’s more memorable hits, you can be assured of a great night out and some very pleasant memories.

Heaven 17 was given the almighty task of opening the evening coming on stage with all guns blazing with (We Don’t Need This (Facist Groove Thang, from their debut album Penthouse and Pavement. Truly some great songs followed, including Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, Let Me Go and their big hit Temptation.

Heaven 17, A.B.C., Human League, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(203 words, estimated 49 secs reading time)

Thunder, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2008.

AC/DC’s Thunderstruck heralded the arrival of Thunder on stage and from that moment the audience was firmly held in an iron grip.

A loud pyrotechnic burst signalled “The Bang” but then Thunder went back to their first album and the Backstreet Symphony.  This was followed by two songs from the recently released album Bang, the tongue in cheek On The Radio and Carol Ann and finished with the perennial crowd pleaser Dirty Love which left the audience breathless.

Ian D. Hall

Permanent link to this post (90 words, estimated 22 secs reading time)

The Feeling, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. November 2008.

The Feeling opened with I Thought It Was Over and Fill My Little World, followed by Never Be Lonely, from the album Twelve Stops and Home for which frontman Fan Gillespie Sells split the crowd in half to help with the vocals.

There is always an element of dread when a band resorts to audience participation so early but with The Feeling it not only worked but set the standard for future gigs.

The Feeling, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(162 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

Journey, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2008.

Despite so much band history and fan expectation to live up to, Journey’s new vocalist Arnel Pineda blew away the cobwebs of 70’s and 80’s rock with a performance that belied his youth and lack of serious stage time.

After opening the set with Never Walk Away, from the new album, Revelation and old favourite Separate Ways, the band seemed to grow in confidence as each song was played to a packed audience.

Journey, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(127 words, estimated 30 secs reading time)

Queensyche, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. June 2008.

With two critically acclaimed albums to play in one night, you could be forgiven for thinking the task was going to prove itself too difficult to recreate live. However, Queenscryche relished such a challenge and even topped it.

Opening the night with the first Operation Mindcrime album, the crow was presented with a theatrical stage gig mixing the live band performance with actors and a stunning animated/live action screen show which provided a dynamic  backdrop to the set.

Queensyche, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(189 words, estimated 45 secs reading time)

Asia, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. March 2008.

With a new album entitled Phoenix out soon, Asia thrilled a small but appreciative audience with a night of tasters, classic and member’s songs.

Asia opened with amongst Only Time Will Tell and the magnificent Wildest Dreams before Steve Howe took centre stage with the Yes classic Roundabout.

As good as the first part of the evening was, by opening the second set with Carl Palmer’s contribution, E.L.P’s seminal piece Fanfare for the Common Man, the music and night was driven up a notch.

Asia, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(146 words, estimated 35 secs reading time)

Marillion, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. December 2007.

With their fifteenth studio album not due till next year, Marillion might have felt they took a big gamble by touring so close to Christmas, they need not have worried.

By playing a set list that had something for everybody, from 1989 up to the present day, the band left a near-capacity crowd content and full of pre-Christmas cheer. A truly eclectic evening was kicked off by Bridge and Living With The Big Lie form their 1994 critically acclaimed album Brave.

Marillion, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(185 words, estimated 44 secs reading time)