Ten / Serpentine / White Widdow - Sheffield - 25/05/2012

[Rockingbear]

TEN / SERPENTINE / WHITE WIDDOW

Sheffield Corporation - Friday 25th May 2012

White Widdow

I was really looking forward to this show since it was first announced and could not believe that the ticket price was only £12.50, plus £1.00 booking fee. Based on the latter it would be very hard to criticise any of the bands’ performances. Fortunately, there was basically very little room for criticism throughout the whole evening.

I, like many, made sure of any early arrival at The Corporation so as not to miss the early start (7.10pm) of Australia’s finest export since AC/DC, White Widdow. British summertime arrived this week with a vengeance and the latter was intensified in the shoebox that is the Sheffield Corporation.

The early nerves, that were in evidence at the start of last year’s Firefest set, were nowhere to be seen and the band hit the ground running with the tremendous “Cry Wolf”. This song to me embodies everything that was and is still great about melodic rock music.

“One More Day” was the first of five tracks taken from their eponymous 2010 album followed by “Strangers In The Night” that showcased the great harmonies within the band.

“Cross To Bare”, from the debut album, is the only track that I would have personally swapped for another from the sophomore release “Serenade” as it is one song that, unfortunately, that highlights the fragility in lead singer Jules’s vocals.

Another personal favourite, “Tokyo Rain” went down well with the ever-increasing crowd. The sound, for such a small venue, was surprisingly good with only the occasional reverb’. The mix was very well balanced enabling us to hear, in equal measures, the guitars of Enzo and keyboards of Xavier.

New drummer, George Kristy, looking like Philthy “Animal” Taylor, beat the living hell out of his kit throughout the whole show.

“Change Of Passion” and the ballad “Do You Remember” underlined the improvement in Jules Millis’ vocals since last year’s aforementioned Firefest.

The set was brought to a rousing climax with “Broken Hearts Won’t Last Forever” and White Widdow had got the evening off to a great start and set the bar high for the next two bands.

1 Cry Wolf
2 One More Day
3 Strangers In The Night
4 Cross To Bare
5 Tokyo Rain
6 Change Of Passion
7 Do You Remember
8 Broken Hearts Won't Last Forever

Serpentine

I have only just recently been listening to the two excellent Serpentine albums and started to appreciate what great songs are on both releases. My main issue with them is that I can find Tony Mills vocals a bit nauseating at times.

By the time Serpentine hit the stage The Corporation was near to full capacity and the temperature was through the roof!

I was impressed with Serpentine last year when they put in a brilliant performance opening Firefest 2011. That was the first time that I had heard Matt Black and was very impressed. Through his Facebook entries I know that Matt has been vigorously practicing over the last few months and it’s true that “practice makes perfect”.

The gauntlet had been clearly laid down by White Widdow and Serpentine duly picked it up, opening with an impressive salvo of “Deep Down (There’s A Price For Love)”, “Lonely Nights” and “Philadelphia”.

Matt obviously fancies himself as a bit of a stand-up comic and kept the very hot, largely partisan, crowd, entertained between songs. He commented that it had taken White Widdow over thirty-six hours to get to the venue as opposed to his twenty minutes, Matt being a local Barnsley lad.

By the time the band hit “In My Blood” the stage looked more like a sauna with the perspiration pouring from them by the bucket load. We, the audience, were not faring much better!

“Heartbreak Town” was another evening highlight going down particularly well. “A Touch Of Heaven” and “Dreamer” gave further opportunity for guitarist Chris Gould to shine. Chris certainly earned his corn tonight as he not only played a blistering set with Serpentine but also acted as guitar tech for both White Widdow and Ten!

Once again, the sound, was very good with an excellent mix – a slight improvement on the previous band, White Widdow.

“Whatever Heartache” brought Serpentine’s well balanced set to a fitting climax and they left the stage to a hero’s reception.

1 Deep Down (There's A Price For Love)
2 Lonely Nights
3 Philadelphia
4 In My Blood
5 Heartbreak Town
6 A Touch Of Heaven
7 Dreamer
8 Whatever Heartache

Ten

I have been a fan of Ten for most of their career and think that Gary Hughes is a brilliant songwriter, however, this was my first time seeing them live.

Now for those that know The Corporation the stage is small to say the least! There is just about enough room for three people up front, literally on top of the front row of the crowd. You can still see the whites of their eyes even if stood at the back. Ten, being a six-pieced band certainly filled the stage and had to be precise in their movements to avoid clocking one another/

They opened with the first track from last year’s excellent “Stormwarning” album “Endless Symphony”; not the perfect choice for set opener in my opinion. The sweat from the bands before had made the stage like an ice-rink and Gary almost came a cropper during the first number. I had the misconceived perception that this band took themselves far too seriously, however, I was happily proven wrong, Gary joking about his slip on stage.

The title-track from their fifth studio album “Spellbound” really kicked the set into gear. By the time the band hit their third number, the Rainbow “Stargazer”-esque “Ten Fathoms Deep” it was clear that they had largely been unaffected by the fifty per cent line-up change earlier in the year. A special mention must go to new guitarist Dan Mitchell who was a real shredder and, if not mistaken, was wielding a seven-string axe. The rhythm was kept perfectly in time by stalwarts John Halliwell (guitar), Steve McKenna (bass) and new drummer Max Yates. The line-up is completed by the wonderfully named keyboard player Darrell Treece-Birch. Again a great mix and full credit to tonight’s sound engineer.

The superb AOR of “After The Love Is Gone” from the 1996 eponymous debut went down exceptionally well with the now smoldering crowd.

Nine minute epic “The Robe” was simply out of this world and included Gary mimicking the “Go North…” intro from the album.

“Stormwarning” appeared to divide the rock fraternity on its release last year, however, it seemed that all in attendance this evening thought it was a good album. The next two tracks are my personal favourites from that album, the ultra-catchy “The Hour Glass and the Landslide” and the terrific ballad “Love Song”. If I did have a minor criticism about Ten’s set then it would be playing three in a row from “Stormawarning”; I personally would have preferred another old classic instead of “Book Of Secrets”.

The Thin Lizzy influenced “Red” from the album “Spellbound” had the crowd in full voice and brought the main set to a crescendo. As there is nowhere for the band to go except through the crowd at The Corporation, it is a pointless exercise leaving to come back on again as Gary soon realised.

“Pretend we’ve left and come back on. Thanks for coming out tonight and here’s a party song to end with.”

Cue: “The Name Of The Rose”, an absolute epic to bring an almost perfect evening to an end.

Kiss lay claim to be the “Hottest band In the World”, however, tonight, in The Corporation, three other bands put in their claim for the title!

Roll on Firefest 2012…

1 Endless Symphony
2 Spellbound
3 Ten Fathoms Deep
4 After The Love Is Gone
5 The Robe
6 The Hourglass And The Landslide
7 Love Song
8 Book Of Secrets
9 Red
10 The Name Of The Rose