Oh it’s getting serious now folks, First Download and Hellfest and now Graspop and Sweden Rock have unleashed the beasts for next year’s festivities. Both have fairly enticing attractions so the pressure is now on for decision making.
Graspop: 19,20,21 JUNE 15
Graspop is coming out mighty strong this year. As one of Europe’s most scared festivals, the chances of a good line-up are always pretty decent and 2015 will be no different. They’ve managed to capture most of the mouth watering touring line-up’s this year.
KISS, Slipknot and Scorpions will headline the event with serious support coming from Judas Priest, Motorhead, Alice Cooper, Exodus, KoRn, Body Count, In Flames, Lamb of God, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Cannibal Corpse, PRIMORDIAL and many, many more. Full line-up details and ticket info available here.
Sweden Rock Festival: 3,4,5,6 JUNE 15
One thing – Headliners are the best I’ve seen yet. Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Judas Priest and …ahem, ToTo will headline this four day extravaganza. That’s not all though.
Five Finger Death Punch, Backyard Babies, Opeth, Meshuggah, Hammerfall, D-A-D, Airbourne, Nuclear Assault, Exodus, H.E.A.T., The Quireboys, Exciter, Delan and again, lots more. Sweden Rock have confirmed they still have roughly 50 more bands to be announced so keep an eye on their official site for details as they unfold.
Hellfest have announced over 120 of the bands that are set to appear on next year’s bill which will take place between the 19th and 21st of June 2015 in Clisson, France. Headlining the event will be Slipknot, Scorpions and Faith No More. with Judas Priest, ZZ Top, Slash, Motorhead, Alice Copper, Marilyn Manson, Venom, Cannibal Corpse, Anthrax, Exodus, Mayhem and many, many more also on the bill. This is the major portion of the festival with 30 more additions expected over the next few months.
Along with the line-up announcement, tickets for Hellfest X or Hellfest 15 are now on sale priced E150. Click this link to purchase. This is epic and tickets are likely to go quickly so get on it!
Line-up:Scorpions, Faith No More, Judas Priest, ZZ Top, Slash, Motorhead, Alice Cooper, KoRn, Limpbizkit, Nightwish, Marilyn Manson, Airbourne, Billy Idol, Anthrax, Five Finger Death Punch, In Flames, Lamb of God, Killing Joke, Ace Frehley, The Quireboys, The Answer, Life of Agony, Hollywood Undead, Godsmack, Armored Saint, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Hirax, The Haunted, Dark Tranquility, Iron Regan, Beastmilk, Eths, No Return, Stickty Boys, BreakoutVenom, Children of Bodom, Meshuggah, Arch Enemy, Satiricon, At The Gates, Cannibal Corpse, In Extremo, Bloodbath, Cradle of Filth, Triptykon, Mayhem, Finntroll, Samel, Obituary, Ensiferum, Arkona, Dying Fetus, Skyforger, Alestorm, Skinless, Craft….and so many more!
Described as one of the most exciting bands to emerge from England in years, The Treatment are five guys who love rock ‘n’ roll. They released their debut album, This Might Hurt, in 2011 and its follow up, Running with the Dogs, earlier this year to massive critical acclaim. They’ve supported some of the biggest names in music and every year that passes brings nothing but new success. If you haven’t heard them yet, now is your chance to make amends as they’re coming to Dublin this week to play their first Irish headlining show and you don’t want to miss out.
Tickets There was fortunate enough to speak with The Treatment’s guitarist, Tag Grey and find out a little about the origins of the band, their touring experiences over the past few years and what it means to have Tommy Lee coordinate your birthday celebrations backstage.
Tickets There: Hi Tag, how are things going in the Treatment camp at the moment?
TG: It’s going great man. All the fans and all the press as well. And since Kerrang started picking up the last one, things have just been brilliant. It’s done a lot more than we dreamed it could have done. Really happy about it.
Tickets There: Running with the Dogs seems to be picking up a lot of new fans with previous critics highlighting it sounds far more accomplished than your debut, This Might Hurt. Do you feel this album is a stronger representation of the band?
TG: Ah yeah. I think Dhan (Mansworth – drums) was around fifteen or sixteen when he started writing and recording This Might Hurt. We’ve all grown so much as players and musicians that there’s no way you could compare the two. We were so proud with what we did with the first one but by the second one it was even better, you know? We changed loads of things during the recording – the guitars, the amps and the way we were recording. We were really happy with how it came out. It definitely captured another side of the band.
Tickets There: A lot of bands have great difficulty writing and recording their second albums. Did you feel any pressure after the success of This Might Hurt?
TG: We didn’t really think, but looking back we were so happy with the way it came out. There’s no comparison between the two and it’s all just gone in the direction we wanted it to. I don’t think we ever thought about having a problem with the second one, we just got on really. I mean we constantly toured since This Might Hurtcame out so we were always recording and writing little bits and bobs.
Tickets There: That’s probably the best way to avoid the pressure.
TG: It’s brilliant actually, we all live with Dhan and our manager Laurie (Mansworth) has his own studio so we could just record whenever which was a massive help for the band.
Tickets There: Were you worried at all that the delay between Running with the Dogs and This Might Hurt might risk losing some of the momentum you’d created?
TG:This Might Hurtcame out twice actually. It came out originally on Powerage and when we were picked up by Universal we re-released it with a bonus track so although it was released a long time ago, since the re-release it hasn’t been that long and we’ve just been on the road constantly. We wanted to make sure we had the album completely right. It wasn’t an intentional thing. We weren’t looking to get it out asap, we just wanted to stay on the road touring really. We’re definitely more of a live band.
Tickets There: Since the release of Running with the Dogs, have you noticed an increase in interest in the band?
TG: Oh massive. The first major tour we had was with Alice Cooper, which was a great tour to start with, but everything since just seems to take a step up. Lamb of God in America was the last big tour we did before recording the new album which was just insane. With this tour the first one we did was our own headlining tour which is just incredible. We went out and hundreds of people were turning up to see us which, for us is just an amazing feeling. We did the Islington in London, which has been a venue where we’ve seen so many of our favourite bands and you don’t realize what you’re doing until you’re standing on stage and all these people turn up. It’s just been amazing.
Tickets There: It sounds like things are really starting to get going for ye.
TG: (laughs) yeah, it’s been great. And now we’re going out and doing all the European festivals – it just keeps getting bigger and better. I can’t wait.
Tickets There: So let’s go back a little. How did the band get together?
TG: It was Dhan basically. He wanted to put a band together and his dad Laurie, he’s been in the music business and was in a couple of bands in the eighties so he knows everything. So they started looking around the country for musicians and that’s how we got the line-up.
We all moved in to Laurie’s house so it became a pretty wild one. Myself and Rick Newman (aka Swoggle) were living in a tent down the end and Dhan was still going to school every day. We started jamming in the shed and it’s just grown since then. We recorded the album and started touring.
Tickets There: It couldn’t have just happened that easily, right?
TG: Well, in the beginning it was quite hard as we couldn’t get into any venues. We were all under eighteen and they’d always kick us out. That’s how young we were when we started.
Tickets There: So none of you were close friends when you started the band?
TG: Me and Rick were the only ones, we went to school together. Dan found Rick and Rick knew me from School and that’s how I got the part. Matt (Jones, vocals) was on MySpace, do you remember? He found him and the original guitar player was from a music college and now we have Fabien who’s over from Germany.
Tickets There: It must have been strange all of ye moving in together at the time. Did ye drive each other crazy?
TG: Oh no, we’ve lived together for seven years so there’s no way we could do it if we didn’t get along. Of course it’s beyond argument; you can’t stick six guys together without the odd one. But as friends we’re as close as it gets. We don’t let anyone fuck with us man.
Tickets There: When you came together, did you know the type of band you wanted to be or did the style fall into place when ye met?
TG: It came together really as a group. We’d all grown up on similar styles of music so it just happened really. We didn’t decide on it, it just came together.
Tickets There: Would you credit Def Leppard or AC/DC more as the influence for the band? Be warned, I’m a Leppard fan…
TG: (laughs) Both of them I’d say. If there’s one band we all have total love for it’s the DC. I remember one year we all went to see them play Download and sitting there, watching a band you all completely fucking love was just amazing. But Def Leppard as well, they are a great, great band.
Tickets There: Hmmm, ok I’ll accept that. So how long did you stay practicing for before you started doing shows?
TG: For the first year of the band Dan was still going to school every day so the idea of touring was impossible. We spent the first year or two in the garage rehearsing, playing a few local shows. The first big one we got was opening for Black Stone Cherry and pretty much straight from that was Sonisphere and then straight onto Alice Cooper and Steel Panther after that. Then we played with Thin Lizzy, Slash and Status Quo, the list goes on man.
Tickets There: It certainly does. In your time together you’ve also supported Lamb of God, Motley Crue, KISS and many others. In fact, isn’t it true that Nikki Sixx personally got you onto their tour with KISS?
TG: Yeah, he did. He asked us to do it. That was three or four amazing months across America.
Tickets There: Nikki Sixx asking your band to open for them and KISS is pretty much a dream come true for any rocker. Can I ask how that came about?
TG: He’s just into young bands and listens out. We were on the Steel Panther tour and it was about 2 in the morning and a friend asked us if we’d twitter and none of us had. So we checked it and he had announced us for the whole tour.
Tickets There: And what’s it like, as a young band to go out there and play side by side with your heroes like that? Did you find yourself learning from them at all?
TG: Oh of course. We’ve learnt so much about how to work a crowd, how to play – how to do everything. You learn from your heroes don’t you, so to be able to support ‘em was such an experience and not only for ourselves, but the live experience as well is fucking great. You also learn from the best when it comes to partying as well (laughs).
Tickets There: Now that’s one, I heard a rumour that in your early years together you had a strict no partying rule on tour. How’s that holding up these days?
TG: (laughs) Yeah, when we first started we had a no drinking rule on tour. It was right place, right time but as we’ve gotten older… Number one is the gig, that’s all we care about. So long as that’s good, we’re good. But, I mean drinking-wise we have more of a laugh now. We’re always up and ready for a show and that’s what matters to us but I think it’s best to say we’ve gotten a little more relaxed (laughs.. Ed. – Laughs because he’s partied with bands like Motley Crue, KISS, Alice Cooper, Lamb of God and many others! – Legend!)
Tickets There: Phew, I was worried there you might shatter my dreams of the rock ‘n’ roll touring life.
TG: Well that was the problem for us as well (laughs)
Tickets There: Do you think allowing yourselves to relax more on the road helped fuel material for Running with the Dogs at all?
TG: Ah yeah, that comes from all the experiences we’ve had. It was Matt’s 21st when we toured with KISS and Motley Crue and Tommy Lee had him backstage and strippers were whipping him, he had a bottle of vodka poured all over his head – I mean how can you have a normal sensible lifestyle while those sorts of things are going on. It definitely helped come up with a few of the ideas.
Tickets There: And what’s it like touring with bands on the level of Motley Crue and KISS? You hear some awful things about support bands can be treated. Did you have any negative experiences?
TG: Everyone, not just Motley Crue, every single person I have toured with has gone beyond what they should have done to help us. The crews as well, every single person and every single band members just made a giant effort to make us feel welcome. Even small things like just someone like that saying hi to you – it makes you feel like it’s worth being on tour just for that.
Tickets There: So, you’re on the road again. Have you got many headlining shows on this leg or are you mostly playing festivals for the summer?
TG: We’ve got the two in Ireland – our first heading shows there actually and then our first headline show in Paris. They’re all going to be wicked. The rest are all festivals and then we have quite a few support slots in between. We’re opening for ZZ Top, Buckcherry and Alterbridge so it’s going to be pretty cool. We have a massive mixture of different places and hopefully later in the year there’ll be lots more coming on.
Tickets There: Is there anywhere in Europe you’re really looking forward to?
TG: Well the last time we went to Dublin we had the wildest time ever. It was great because we did two shows there so we had a night off and had a wild time. Also Italy, for me I love Italy and it’s going to right in the middle of summer so it’ll be buzzing. Everywhere though brings something new.
Tickets There: From the list of festivals you have, you play to a lot of different crowds. How are the reactions when you to play, say Graspop compared to supporting Status Quo?
TG: We’ve done Hammerfest a few times when we’re on with Feed the Rhino – really heavy band and we go down incredibly. I think we have an energy where we just want to go out there and cause absolute chaos by playing classic rock tunes. So we can fit in on any bill.
The response we’ve had from different bands has been incredible. Like recently we went out and support Airbourne and their crowd was just up for it, they wanted to cause a riot. Then we can go on with Quo who are older and more musical and we can go out and have a great show as well.
Tickets There: Is there anyone left that you’d love to go out and support on tour (Apart from Def Leppard and AC/DC of course)?
TG: If Guns N’ Roses get back together (laughs). Could be waiting a bit though.
Tickets There: I better let you head off and get ready for the tour. Just before I do, do you have any plans to tour outside of Europe this year? Just in case your friends on other continents are reading.
TG: It’s something that hasn’t been planned yet, but if something came up we definitely would. We haven’t toured Europe in such a long time and we want to get something big across here. With the record being out here we want to get on the road and support it. If something came up tomorrow, we wouldn’t complain though. Sit around and do nothing or tour? It’s not a question is it (laughs)
The Treatment play Dublin’s Academy 2 this Wednesday, June 18th. Tickets are on sale now from ticketmaster.ie priced €15. Stone Trigger will support on the night.
Holy smokes, look what was just announced for next week – Alice ‘The Coop’ COOPER will be (technically, make sure you read the fine print and understand that statement is not factual) in cinema’s across Ireland!
PR Blurb…..now: The story of the rock legend that is Alice Cooper is told in a new documentary called “Super Duper Alice Cooper” and is set for a special one off screening at Omniplex cinemas on Thursday 24th April at 8pm..
Super Duper Alice Cooper is the story of Vincent Furnier, a preacher’s son who struck fear into the hearts of parents everywhere as Alice Cooper, the ultimate rock star of the bizarre. From the advent of Alice as frontman for a group of Phoenix freaks in the sixties to the hazy decadence of celebrity in the seventies to the winking comeback as glam metal godfather in the eighties, the movie pitches Alice against Vincent in a battle for each other’s souls.
Told in the form of a “doc opera,” Super Duper Alice Cooper is a dizzying blend of documentary and rock opera that combines audio interviews with a bounty of Alice Cooper archive footage; concerts, TV appearances, movie cameos, newspaper headlines, magazine spreads and many other visual elements have been cut out, layered and collaged like a cinematic View-Master. Alongside the hits that defined an era, overlooked gems of Alice Cooper’s body of work have been dug up and melded into montages that soundtrack his life.
Joe Elliott, iconic frontman of Sheffield legends, Def Leppard, turns 54 today. For the past twenty one years, I have looked on Joe Elliott as the perfect example of how to be a rock star (except frequent exceptions for Monsieur Rose) should be.
Joe, you’ve been an inspiration to millions. You are a God on the arena stage and you front one of the greatest bands of all time. You’ve managed to avoid the pretentious rock star life of the 21st century and kept a band running for more than three decades without ever falling to the paparazzi invasion and vicious public spats. You’ve helped Leppard carry on through immense personal tragedy, loss and missed opportunities – but you’ve always come out swinging; bigger and badder than ever. You still drink and eat meat which alone (according to me and Alice Cooper) is top notch and you still make time to hang out with up and coming rock bands, helping them record their albums in your studio and just being a legend. You kicked a guys ass for pushing Ian Hunter (proper order!) and, on top of all that, you’ve earned your title as ‘the nicest guy in rock’ – Dave Grohl can never touch that. I’ve only had the pleasure of one very quick meeting with you but you were totally cool and one day I hope to buy you a pint.
Joe Elliott, I salute you and hope that younger generations will continue to see the magic you and the Leppard lads create. Have a wonderful birthday and please do not worry that I’m on route to your house… I’ve said too much :p
Good on Alice Cooper – always reliable to be a total legend and a voice of reason in this increasingly watered down world. Last week, Alice came out the quote of the year – “Don’t call [Mumford & Sons] rock ‘n’ roll. That’s an offence to rock ‘n’ roll”.
Alice was reacting to the 1800’s shop keepers being nominated for Billboard’s ‘Rock Song of the Year’ award for their tune, [who cares?]. Alice proceed to elaborate on the comment by suggesting they need get a little meat into their system and perhaps Billboard needs to re-examine their idea of Rock ‘N’ Roll.
”I look at a magazine and it says ‘best new rock band’ and I go, ‘Rock bands don’t have accordions or lutes in them’,”
”I just feel like this whole generation maybe need to all eat a steak,”
“Maybe they just need to quit eating vegetarian food and get out there and get some blood pumping in their system”
Alice Cooper – I love you. Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald. For now, let’s bask in some real R’N’R from Mr. Cooper himself,
Billboard.com have a list of their Top 10 Halloween songs and we’re after tripping across it (through tireless searching on Google of course…..ok, so I typed Halloween Songs and it was result number 1 or 2 or something. Well, I didn’t see you clicking it!). The list isn’t bad, has the videos etc. Included, but they’re not very terrifying are they? I mean, no-body gets scared when they hear ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ by Blue Oyster Cult or ‘Highway To Hell’by AC/DC. No, they rock out and we feel a Halloween hits list has got to scare the living sh*t out of you. So nappies in hand, let’s see if old Tickets There (with our charming manners, sexy good looks and desperate need for nicotine) can do better.
10:’Halloween Theme Song’ John Carpenter – Well where else would you start? The soundtrack to 1978’s Halloween still remains on the of the atmospheric and intimidating ever released. The opening notes immediately remind you of good old Michal Myers and his personal demons and family issues. Of course, there was no Frasier Crane in 1978, these days everything would be worked out on the couch.
9: ‘I Love The Dead’Alice Cooper – Alice Cooper is Halloween for music. The original shock rocker spooked more minds than …. SATAN! Alice is your nightmare and all the things that are dark, eerie and sinister. He is the bogey man so trick or treaters be good or Alice is stealing all your candy.
8: ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ Alice Cooper – You didn’t think there’d only be one Alice in my list? did you? Didn’t I just get through saying that Alice is all things sinister and evil…etc,etc? Well anyway – TT has decided to pass up Talking Heads ‘Psycho Killer’ and the theme songs from Exorcist and Psycho to include this so you best listen and listen good.
7: ‘I Put A Spell on You’ Screamin Jay Hawkins – Need a good witchy number for Halloween – look no further. Except, we’re not including Screamin’ Jay (no offense), but we find Bette Midler’s version from Hocus Pocus much more appropriate.
6: ‘Bark At The Moon’ OzzY – A little panic, a little thrill – Bark At The Moon is a savage Ozzy tune from a mediocre album. Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz really cemented the mans reputation, but no-one can take away from this tune. Creeeeeeppppyyy.
5: ‘Ghostbusters’ Ray Parker Jr.– We’ll admit, Billboard had this one right. No Halloween would be complete without an airing of Ray parker’s iconic Ghostbusters tune. Along with Bull Murray’s comedy, Dan Aykroyd’s stumbling, loveable silliness, Harold Ramis’ staunch strictness and Ernie Hudson’s total disbelief at the crap he landed himself in – Ray’s song turned Ghostbusters into the most loveable ghost film of all time. On that note, Ghostbusters 1 & II have just been added to this week’s viewing list.
4: ‘This Is Halloween’ Marilyn Manson – Manson is in by the skin of his good graces. While the original is far more fitting as it embraces silliness and fun, creepiness and ghoulishness – it must be said that Manson did a good job, so why not try something new…ish?
3: ‘Black Sabbath’ Black Sabbath – Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood’ was just replaced by this choice. Easily the most terrifying, dark heavy metal song ever recorded by man. All hail the mighty Sabbath and keep an eye on the blog over the next few minutes for something else Sabbath related.
2: ‘Thriller’ Michael Jackson – Obvious? Maybe, but it just has to be there – and it’s still amazing.
1: ‘The Monster Mash’ Bobby Boris Pickett – The greatest Halloween song of all time. What more can be said?
Think we missed anything? Leave your feedback and discuss. In the mean time, I have a scary halloween everyone…….
I think it’s fair to say that Tickets There has not been the most prolific writer of 2011! Well 2012 will see a change to that and *gob smacked horror* we’re gonna start writing again AND! It’ll be the best of metal / rock and the odd other from about this fine green land of ours (Holland!)……ok, sorry (*real brackets commence*)(EIREbaby!). Before all that, we’re going to take one final attempt at basking in what feel is easily the most impressive, memorable, kick ass, slow bruiser of a 2011 tune. If we’d put the title in the subject line you’d be home by now! Don’t be afraid to try new things, variety is the problem child of life –some things you just can’t reach…a love for, Reckless Love is not one of those things.
Song of 2011, sad to say we haven’t listened to a lot of new stuff this year, but we couldn’t escape Reckless Love ‘Animal Attraction’! When we first heard it, Tickets There was not happy. Copious amounts of coffee, staff meetings, dialogs, ‘Live Reviews – this is an active link….to the post below’ back and forth, firings, hiring’s, dialog, ass holes, bleach, Guinness, Amber Leaf, the lovelies, Jägermeister redbull, vodka, coke-a, Jack Daniels (ish), Def Leppard, Alice, Cooper, Steel Panther, ASH, Thin Lizzy. Motley Crue and mother-f**king love for all things rock ‘n’ roll – Reckless have won out. TLC b*tch of a song. Merry Christmas, Santa came early. Reckless Love, Animal Attraction is the tune, stones engraved, sermon delivered; now rock the hell out and get down with this bad son of a loving she devil!
Back by popular demand, Def Leppard are in Ireland after a two year absence; once again warming up for another headlining slot at the Download Festival. Two years ago they arrived with Journey and the jaw dropping Whitesnake in tow. Tonight’s line-up is even more astonishing with the legendary Thin Lizzy and Mr. shock-rock / Mr. Rock N’ Roll Hall of famer, the one, the only Alice Cooper, around to beef things up. The crowd in the O2 may not be as impressive as 2009’s show, but that just means a few thousand less Journey fans and I think we can all agree that’s never a bad thing.
Kicking of the proceedings tonight are Thin Lizzy and it has to be said, WOW. Anyone who was at their recent shows around the country can surely agree that the current line up are incredible. Ricky Warwick is definitely a worthy successor to the coveted space left by Phil Lynott. At no point tonight do you feel they’re anything less than the real deal, with original members Scott Gorham (original-ish) and Brian Downey rockin’ as hard as they did forty years ago. New guitarist Richard Fortus; whose last appearance in the O2 ended in near riot last September when he rolled into town with his day band, Guns N’ Roses; is more than capable of replacing John Sykes as he tears away at those rolling dual lead guitar solos with Scott. The only thought about the new line-up is that Scott and Brian will never be afforded the chance to be their age. With Phil in the band, Lizzy would be able to grow older and fans would go with it. Unfortunately, the band need to tear every song to pieces and ram it forcefully down your throat In order to walk away with a satisfied crowd to see them off. Maybe that’s the genius of Lizzy, they were never meant to slow down and this ensures it’ll never happen. Either way, Thin Lizzy have too many incredible songs to just leave idle. They need to be played and this line-up are more than up to the task.
Lizzy finish up their set with a pounding performance of ‘Black Rose’ before the mega Cooper stage show is pieced together. As the giant curtain rises up, fans pack around the stage in eager anticipation for one of rocks finest showmen to begin. The Vincent Price intro booms over the PA as the houselights go black building the spook master’s arrival. As the curtain drops, Alice stands atop a towering pulpit, decked out with spider arms around his waist as the band launches into ‘The Black Widow’; from his most recent album, Along Came A Spider. Discarding the jacket, Alice follows through with ‘Brutal Planet‘ before appeasing the greatest hits fans in attendance with his classic, I’m Eighteen. As canes get flung into the crowd amidst sword waving and exploding gloves, the band carry on with the classic ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ (which of course includes the traditional sharing of the Cooper insignia dollars), ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ and the incredible, living snake accompanied ‘Is It My Body’. ‘I’ll Bite Your Face Off’ follows with the crowd being informed the title and the fact that’s it’s a new song via Alice’s jacket and blood soaked shirt.
‘Feed My Frankenstein’ swiftly follows suit and easily stands out as one of the night’s highlights, especially when you factor in the 12 foot Frankenstein donning the Cooper make-up that’s brought to life to sing the last chorus… while walking around the stage Oh God yes, it is that good!. ‘Poison’ and ‘Wicked Young Man’ cause mass hysterics, followed by the classic ‘Killer’, which ends in the traditional guillotine gorge of death. Alice, wrestled into a headlock by sadistic ghouls meets his end by violent execution. With his decapitated head being displayed by the ghouls, fans are united for a sing along to ‘I Love The Dead’ before the master returns with shiny top hat, coat; with his sword and balloons to boot for a blow out version of ‘Schools Out’, appropriate given the week that’s in it (although any JC/LC students may not agree). With a little break, the band return for one last blaze of glory; ‘Elected’, which Alice dedicates to Dublin while waving the tri-colour and dressed in the Irish jersey. Amazing show from start to finish, time to head ho…oh wait (cheeky)
With the crowd gleaming up to the nines from Cooper’s performance, it’s time for the Mighty Leppard to take the stage and show all the naysayers out there why they can headline above any other act in the world. With a striking new stage setup, Leppard emerge triumphantly to rapturous cheering from the now packed O2 arena. Starting with ‘Undefeated’, one of the three news songs that’ll be on their forthcoming live album, Mirrorball, the band are on fire. Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Savage, Vivian Campbell and thunder God himself, Mr.Rick Allen are all at the top of their game, adorned by glittering gloves, mike stands, headphones – the works. ‘Action’ and ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ follow, sending the crowd into a sing-along frenzy before older fans are treated to the incredible ‘Foolin’. ‘Make Love Like A Man’ and the iconic ‘Love Bites’ drive the point home that Leppard can damn well do anything they please because this is a band with more hits per album than most others can achieve over a whole career. Sav’s now standard bass solo/intro for the bands cover of David Essex’s ‘Rock On’ has to be noted as a highlight.
A duelling guitar solo between Vivian and Phil follows; before the pace is slowed down for acoustic renditions of ‘Two Steps Behind’ and ‘Bringing on the Heartbreak’. Steve Clark’s incendiary ‘Switch 625′ launches the band back into hard rock mode before and extended performance of ‘Rocket’ is unleashed in all it’s pounding drum glory. ‘Hysteria’, ‘Armageddon It’ and ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ nail the set down before Leppard brings things near close with the almighty ‘Rock of Ages’. Of course they do return for an obligatory encore, performing one of their biggest Irish hits, ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ which goes down a treat before stunning die-hard fans with a final, hell-raising crack at ‘Wasted’ from On Through The Night.
Easily one of the best shows Ireland will see this year. Three amazing bands in one place, every one of them playing a blinder and not a hint of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. Value for money in anyone’s books.
Welcome back to the Tickets There gig guide. It’s been a long time since we did one of these but hopefully it’s ‘back for good’. Keep in mind, this guide will be updated throughout the month of June, so check back from time to time 🙂
Dublin Gig Guide
Friday 3rd:Alarmist We Are Losers & Avalanche Ammo (Whelan’s) Friday 3rd: Retarded Cop (The Workman’s) Monday 6th: ASH & Guests (Whelan’s) Wednesday 8th: Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy(The O2) Wednesday 8th: Lisa Hannigan (Whelan’s) Saturday 11th: Adebisi Shank, Heathers & O Emperor (Whelan’s) Saturday 11th: Oddsocks Revival (The Grand Social) Thursday, 16th: The JÄgermeister Freezer Sessions (General Fiasco, The Shoos, The Kanyu Tree,The Danger Is) Friday 17th: Le Galaxie: plus guests. Album launch party (The Workman’s) Wednesday 22nd: Ladydoll & guests (Whelan’s) Thursday 23rd: Dirty Epics (Crawdaddy) Thursday 30th: The Walls (Grand Social)
The West!
Thur 2nd: The Minutes (Róisín Dubh) Thur 2nd: Bipolar Empire(Monroe’s Tavern) Fri 3rd: North Atlantic Oscillation (Róisín Dubh) Fri 3rd Imelda May (TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar) Sun 5th Thin Lizzy(TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar) Sat 4th: Adebisi Shank, Heathers, O Emperor (Róisín Dubh) Thu 16th: Dinosaur Pile-Up, Zombie Computer, Toby Kaar (Róisín Dubh) Fri 17th: Lite, Terra Melos (Róisín Dubh) Wed 22nd: Lowlands (Róisín Dubh) Thur 23rd: Windings (Róisín Dubh) Fri 24th: Artful Renegade (Róisín Dubh) Sun 26th Grada (Monroe’s Tavern) Mon 27th: Janelle Monae (Róisín Dubh) Thur 30th Pugwash (Monroe’s Tavern)
Festival Guide
Saturday 4th – 5th: West Fest (Co. Mayo):
FATURING – Imelda May, The Coronas, Republic of Loose, Sharon Shannon, Bagatelle, Ryan Sheridan plus more.
Saturday 4th – 5th: Forbidden Fruit Festival (Kilmainham, Dublin):
FEATURING – The Flaming Lips, Ham Sandwich, Aphex Twin, Jape, Dan La Sac, The Subs, Battles, Squarehead, The Cast of Cheers & any more
Friday 10th – 12th: Temple House Festival (Co. Sligo):
FEATURING – ASH, Stereo MCs, Something Happens, Aslan, Declan O’Rourke, Lisa Hannigan, Kerbdog, Sweet Jane, The Riptide Movement and many more.
Sunday 19th: Danny Byrnes Music Festival (Co. Westmeath):
FEATURING – The Aftermath, Sweet Jane, The Vibes, Icon on Fire, Dave Peyton, Peter Doran, Arrow In The Sky, We Go Go and Ricotta.
Friday, 24th – 26th: Sea Sessions: (Co. Dongeal):
FEATURING – The Villagers, Bell X1, Ziggy Marley, The Walls, Riptide Movement, The Go Team, The Danger Is, The Minutes and many more.
Def Leppard has announced headlining shows in Dublin and Belfast with Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy coming along as special guests. The gigs are set to take place in Belfast’s Odyssey Arena on June 7th and Dublin’s O2 Arena on June 8th.
Tickets are priced at €59.50 for Dublin and £41.50 for Belfast (+ booking fee all the way) and can be purchased from our dear old chums Ticketmaster.
Tickets There would like to send our congrats to Mr. Alice Cooper for his induction into the Rock n Roll hall of fame. He joins the ranks of Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones and many more that have been added to the Halls list of inductees over the past 24 years.
America get’s the better of us Europeans again as legendary shock rocker Alice Copper and infamous hell raiser Rob Zombie have announced they’re teaming up for one of this summer’s hottest tours.
Billed as an ‘Exclusive Limited run of North America, the tour kicks off April 26th at the MTS Center in Winnipeg.Rob Zombie posted the following comment on his site about the tour,
“The dream or nightmare comes true! Me and The Coop have been talking about touring together for about 15 years and finally the moment is here. This will be without a doubt a Rock ‘N’ Roll Spooktacular for all the Cool Ghouls”
And Alice said,
“I’m looking forward to these concerts with Rob. It’s sort of like Dracula vs. Frankenstein, we’re like this generation’s classic monsters. When we’re not onstage frightening audiences, we’ll be backstage trying to scare each other.”
** Current Dates **
So far the following dates have been announced,
Apr. 26 – Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre
Apr. 27 – Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union
Apr. 28 – Edmonton, AB- Rexall Place
Apr. 29 – Calgary, AB – Corral
May 01 – Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum
May 02 – Kennewick, WA – Toyota Center
May 04 – Casper, WY – Casper Events Center
I’ts not clear if more will be added. Tickets for all shows on sale today, February 23rd!
Finally, Tickets There has found the band we’ve been looking for. After 76 MySpace Reviews, multiply that by 10 for the number of bands we’ve actually checked out as review candidates and the countless others we’ve come across in our seven or eight years as fans of Irish music. Million$Reload, in our opinion, are possibly the best Irish hard rock band that’s emerged from the emerald isle since Thin Lizzy. That might be actually be pushing it but right now, Tickets There is hard pushed to think of any other band that comes this close to perfecting one of the most exciting, hard edged sounds in modern music.
Hailing from Co. Tyrone, Million Dollar Reload formed in 2005 and released their debut album, Anthems of a Degeneration in 2007. The record seems to have received massive amounts of praise from major music publishers and critics from all across the U.K. and Ireland. They’ve toured with the likes of Alice Cooper and Gilby Clarke and some of the members were apparently involved with legendary Guns N Roses tribute band, Gunz N Rozes. This may help explain the bands incredible talent at writing four (and hopefully alot more) of the best hard rock anthems we’ve heard in many a year. Even Scottish hard rock act Wired Desire would have trouble competing with the sher perfection displayed by M$D.
Kicking things off is Livin’ In The City. What can you say? Blistering, assaulting, catchy, savage, cutting, riffage fueled monster? All the terms we’ve used before fail in the task of describing how kick ass this song is. It swaggers like Stephen Tyler in the seventies and hits harder than Lemmy would in a brawl. The song is just so full on and full of guitars and gritty street rock vocals. All this considered, it’s possibly the weakest song on the playlist. It begins!
Goodnight NewYork is everything Livin’ In The City was and more. The guitars are like something handpicked from an AC/DC anthem. The riffs are unrelenting in their power and the changes, hooks, choruses, bridges everything are just fantastic. The vocals on the chorus just pull the song up so many notches you’d swear you were in the Himalayas…the Himalayas of rock! (Jesus, seriously TT? ‘The Himalayas of rock’! Pity your writing doesn’t match the bands – Ed)
When we first ran through the tracks, third song – The Last Icon sounded a little dodgy. There’s always some element of reeking cheese with bands that try to write this sort of a song, but fear not as the band pull it off with exceptional style. The Last icon is a tribute to fallen rock legends such as Bon Scott (AC/DC), Elvis Presley (The King – Bitches!) and John Lennon (Hippie). The intro is compiled from recordings of news reports from the days of Presley and Lennon’s deaths and the song starts off far more melodic and stripped back than the previous numbers. Before you think ‘here comes another Nickelback’, the band spice things up and some added riffage and attitude turn the song from Swiss Approved Product to thoroughly enjoyable, respectable slice of hard rock balladry.
Last but certainly not least, is the hard stomping, heart beating, fist belting anthem, show closer, curtain stopped, encore bound Fire Your Guns. Gritty, dirty, nasty vocals delivered with incredible force. Singer Phil possibly has the best hard rock voice of any band Ireland’s ever produced but the talent doesn’t stop there. Bam and Andy’s guitars give the song that razor slicing edge all good hard rock bands need. Their solo’s, riffs, melodies agh, everything is just amazing. The drums are just constantly smashing the hell out of everything and a pumped up bass completes Tickets There’s current favorite Irish hard rock group’s lineup. Fire Your Guns is just so incredibly full on and as catchy as Hell’s express train. Highway to hell? More like Armageddon marching hordes on the Autobahn to hell’s centre.
Final opinion? Well, they’re alright. I mean, if you want to hear some of the best hard rock songs that have ever come out of Ireland, possibility the world, then I guess you could check them out. Every second their album isn’t in our hands we become more and more depressed. The more we realize we haven’t seen this band in their five years together we become depressed. This is a band worth checking out, loving, praising, financing, following and hyping up. Hell, these guys are so good they’re worth you heading out and building your own venue just so you can see book them.
Ohhhh wow, so much killer rock here you’ll go mental. Back from the pub? looking for some unbelievably savage tracks to start the buzz for MJ passing time?? Load em all, listen in order and enjoy. Damn it folks, Tickets There wants a radio show!
What happened folks? In the mid 50’s, Mr. Elvis A. Presley walked into Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and became the very first, the best, the symbol, legend, embodiment and icon of rock n roll. Like Sid Vicious to Punk, Frank Sinatra to big band, Johnny Cash to country and western or even Dana to lunatics, Elvis was the total hero, founder and creator of rock n roll. Don’t listen to music nerds, geeks and critics (ahem), Elvis started everything. Forget who influenced him, forget who wrote for him and forget who marketed him, Elvis was it.
Ever since the Kings death, music has flourished through the efforts, talents and hard work, creativity of various people and constant changes in popular culture. From Elvis, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis in the fifties, rock expanded and produced the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and many others throughout the early sixties. Before long Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, Cream and many more appeared. The Doors came out of the west coast.The Who went rock, Led Zeppelin were formed and Jefferson Airplane stayed touring after Woodstock. Just before things could get civilized, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple came out. Queen, Clapton, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stooges, Alice Cooper, T-Rex, KISS,…the list is endless people. Then came the 80’s, when pop reached a true peak before the ever looming wave of commercialism took it’s firm grip and strangled the genre, until it’s credibility was lower than Gary Glitters. On the other hand you had Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, U2, Judas Priest, OZZY, Slayer, Sepultura, before the end of the decade when Nirvana, The Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Blur, Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, The Pixies, Joy Division, The Happy Mondays, New Order (yes the 24 lot), Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails and then (phew this is a long one) onto Marilyn Manson, The Foo Fighters, Weezer, Korn and so on before the late nineties and boom…nothing happened……funnily enough, fuck all has happened since. How in the hell did almost five decades of amazing, astonishing and diverse creation suddenly grind to an almost complete stop?
Things seemed to fall completely off course. Metal bands suddenly merged rapidly with dance music and rap. Korn had dabbled but so did Aersomith and nothing happened to them. Instead of Angus Young and the D belting out solid, hard hitting blues rock anthems you had fat ugly guys in costumes roaring at you about being bullied and still being virgins living in their mothers houses. Metro sexual, stylish geeks whining on about falling and crying about some girl next door that Lemmy would probably kidnap and turn into a hooker on sun-set before the night’s out. These guys in fitted suits, wearing ties with spiky hair, tattoos and dog collars were mixing Kraftwork with the eighties glam rockers like Twisted Sister, Poison and the likes while wearing their hair like girls. And I don’t mean the old style of hairy bikers drooling over a bar counter girly style, I mean a female hairdresser on a night out style. Like they were trying to keep disobeying the nagging disapproval from generations past and pushing things to some ridiculous limit that nearly goes full circle.
As for Pop music, that fell into the hands of TV companies, dance got old and turned into some demented, hindered state of destruction while indie music became overwhelmed by a horde of Eco-Friendly, Voices of poverty, injustice, animal cruelty and environmentally conscious millennium hippies. Voices that turned away from Indies recreational drug use, love and loss, party image and transformed it into a voice for all the issues in the world rock stars shouldn’t give two shits about, at least not on stage. The likes of Tom Yorke, Chris Martin, Bono, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and all that other horse shit. Their songs were so impotent, corpses of tax attorneys could laugh at them. Complaining, moaning and whining about the poverty and cruelty in the world they wouldn’t think of donating their profits to. Bands that appeal to societies total dregs. Bored children, housewife’s, grandparents, indie fans, jocks and just about every member of the heard the western world boasts. Droning brought to extremes of the human soul to a point it becomes so bogged down in ego, insincerity and boredom it would fail to shock a timid kitten.
Metal fell even more of the pits as the old genres piled up with hopeless hack impersonators before bursting at the seems into millions of decaying breakaways. Nu-Metal even buckled (not a bad thing, pile of shite aswell) as Emo broke through their last stand along with nu-punk and metal became even more appealing to the ugly, fat rejects of social society and the fashionable, jock culture more than ever before. After Radiohead’sCreep on the jukebox American Idiot and the Killers would follow and all the trendy’s and Goths alike would bop along. Metal was again infiltrated by main stream culture and unlike before the last ‘icons’ weren’t strong enough to tear it right back for the people of society who used the music as it should be used. Not for pusses crying and ugly nerds to find shelter. Metal is the music for the angry soul (sounds gay I know but hey, I am smoking in case you hadn’t noticed), the serious partiers, the ‘dangerous’ people of society.
Rock N roll lost it’s fight much earlier. After the Guns N Roses era came to a close, few rock bands ever managed to reach those heights again. Don’t even bother with the Killers and The Kings of Leon…or The Strokes bitch. I’m talking about real fucking n roll. The kind of rock n roll that made all the bad things bands these days demonize like drinking, sex, destruction, rebellion and a good hearty message of Fuck You to anyone who bothered them, fun!. Elvis shock things up, the Stones defined it, Aerosmith brought it miles higher while AC/DC put the fucking boots on before Guns N Roses perfected it in every single sense of the word.
The world is losing it’s icons. Right now I can’t think of any that have come out since the early nineties. I mean a true icon of rebellion. Pete Doherty, and Amy Winehouse make a mockery of drug addicted musicians which, throughout the history of music, have written some of the most amazing music ever created. The Beatles, Jim Morrison, The Grateful Dead, Hendrix, Keith Richards, Janis Joplin, Kobain etc. Bono, Yorke and Martin take the places of people like Neil Young with his stories, Springsteen and his zest for life and Bowies ever changing persona, image and style only to replace it with gilt tripping, giver of life wannabe humanitarian ideologist façade while they doge taxes and pontificate to fans what they should do, wear, believe in, live and breath. Forget ‘think for yourself’, the message was spelled out in bold impact lettering and strangely enough, a discontented mass fell for it, hook line and sinker.
That’s pretty much where we are in my eyes. I’ve forgotten many of the previous generation’s true greats but there’s only so much you can write in an hour and keep semi-coherent. I’ve also neglected some of the better talents to emerge on the international scene and some of the worse ones. Arcade Fire and MGMT to name a couple. But that’s how I see things, pretty much that black and white. Most of the old styles got confused, disjointed, lost in translation and overwhelmed in image, style and forced restrictions and beliefs and turned them into uninspired shells of their former selves. I’m not saying charity is bad, I’m not saying there’s no credibility in any of the new bands these days and I’m not saying looking after the environment is wrong, animals should be mistreated, people shouldn’t be nice to each other and drugs are good. I believe the exact opposite of each one and a conscious attitude is essential to the basic fabrication of mankind’s cohabitation together and civilized society. What I’m saying is people should learn this from other sources like parents and a proper education rather than one of mankind’s forms of entertainment. Aren’t we allowed to relax, switch totally off and dream sometimes with the horrors of some societies and the worlds problems being shoved in our face at every fucking turn?
Maybe there was one message spelt out by one of the golden age icons that we should listen to is the words of Jim Morrison.
“When the music’s over, turn out the lights, turn out the lights,”
Oh it’s getting serious now folks, First Download and Hellfest and now Graspop and Sweden Rock have unleashed the beasts for next year’s festivities. Both have fairly enticing attractions so the pressure is now on for decision making.
Sweden Rock Festival: 3,4,5,6 JUNE 15
'Ticket's There' - Irish and International Music Blog 