Theia
Kyle Lamley (vocals, guitar) / Ash Lamley (drums, percussion)
I had never heard of this band and was unaware of any support (for Magnum) so I was taken completely by surprise as I entered the venue to find their equipment on stage. I had to have a quick Google to see what’s what…
In Greek mythology, Theia (also called Euryphaessa, meaning “wide-shining”) is one of the twelve Titans, the children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus. She is the Greek goddess of sight and vision, and by extension the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value. This incarnation of that name is a heavy metal fraternal duo; older brother Kyle takes care of the singing and guitars, whilst younger sibling Ash knocks hell out of the drum kit.
As the pair took to the stage, they employed cheesy theatrics to grab the attention of the audience with a large placard reading ‘APPLAUSE’ which flipped to say, ‘MANIC SCREAM‘, with some of the audience obliging on both counts. Ash took his place behind the drums wearing an enormous pair of sponge hands – all very childish, but mildly amusing.
What followed was metal (in the style of Biffy Clyro, I’m reliably informed). I had been wondering whether a bass player was going to join them at some point but, no, all such niceties – including backing vocals, keyboards and extra guitar – were clearly covered by a laptop. The pair ripped through an eight song setlist in just over half an hour and did a fairly decent job of warming up the growing throng for the evening’s headline act. Audience appreciation grew stronger towards the end of the set and by the finish they were clapping along cheerfully. The brothers were confident and upbeat throughout, clearly happy to be out touring and in support of a band with some real clout.
But this wasn’t music that I particularly enjoyed, so if you want to read a perhaps fairer or more balanced and detailed review of their performance you will probably need to look elsewhere. Did I enjoy them? No, not really. Would I go and see them again? No, not a chance; not my cup of tea at all, I’m afraid.
Setlist: Fire; Blue Heart; The Day; No Crisis; There’s A Boy; Electric Witness; Hoo Woo; Back In Line
Magnum
‘The Monster Roars’ tour
Bob Catley (vocals) / Tony Clarkin (guitars) / Rick Benton (keyboards) / Dennis Ward (bass, backing vocals) / Lee Morris (drums, percussion)
This was my second visit to this venue in just over a fortnight having been to see Focus there on 28th August. I like it. The Picturedrome is a small, welcoming establishment with unrestricted views throughout and seems to be frequented by people who are there for the right reasons – no drunks or music snobs looking for trouble, just aging rockers wanting to see their equally aging heroes. The sound is good too and, unlike many of the larger venues that I frequent, they are happy for the fans to take photographs of the artists (always a bonus if one runs a blog like this or likes to print photos for a scrapbook, etc.) But I miscalculated quite badly on this occasion leaving myself with great difficulty when it came to parking. Who would have thought that Magnum would have a large fan-base which would pack the place to the rafters? 🤷🏻♂️ Well, not me for starters.
The general demographic for the kind of gig that I tend to take in these days is a small sprinkling of teenage girls, a few thirty-somethings, and then a plethora of fat, balding men with moustaches and beards, tattoos, bedecked in black band t-shirts and with petite but aging wives/partners on their arms (yours truly being the exception in most cases!) Tonight was no different, and the band’s merchandising stall was doing a brisk trade knocking out t-shirts at thirty quid a pop.
I have a few Magnum albums, most notably their huge selling ‘Wings of Heaven’ with its catchy, anthemic tracks, so when they came to a venue close enough for me to make the effort (well, an hour and a half away anyway!), I thought that I’d give them a go. This was yet another Covid-delayed gig; originally scheduled for February 2021, it took place well over eighteen months later, and with a new album to promote – ‘The Monster Roars’ released in January 2022, the band’s 22nd studio album – Magnum were in fine form.
As a neutral, or at least someone unfamiliar with the majority of the band’s songbook, I feel perfectly qualified to give an unbiased and fair account of this gig. With the audience warmed-up by support band Theia, Magnum took to the stage to tumultuous applause, much cheering and American whooping (don’tcha just hate that?) and kicked off with a rip-roaring version of the classic ‘Days of No Trust’. It quickly became apparent that the audience were going to be very happy regardless of what was on offer in the 90-minute set. There were lulls in the proceedings, notably the newer material, but there were enough classics to keep everybody happy. Highlights for me were the opener, followed by ‘Les Morts Dansant’, ‘All England’s Eyes’, ‘Wild Swan’, ‘Kingdom of Madness’ and ‘On A Storyteller’s Night’, but if you were there then I have no doubt that your favourites would have been different. For me, it was just a pity that there was nothing from their 2004 ‘Brand New Morning’ album; I have a real liking for ‘The Scarecrow’, but it was not to be. The audience clapped cheered, sang along and generally jumped around as required – no chairs on the dance floor for this gig, unlike the previous ones when I had been in attendance.
Front man Catley is a real showman with his constant gesturing, posturing and milking of every last second of applause at the end of each song. As he sang he took time to shake hands with many on the front row, and went on to make the day of some chap in a Steampunk-style top hat by wearing it as he sang and posed for photographs; nice touch! Fellow founder-member Clarkin on guitar remained pretty much impassive throughout, concentrating on simply being the best that he could, whilst the rest of the band also took a back seat, with the exception of Ward on bass who helped out with the vocals. And, call me picky, but were some of those keyboard runs flat? Maybe not…
All in all this was a good gig, one that was well worth the journey – and the parking stress! If they’re on tour near you and you like your late 70s-90s rock you could do much worse than catch them. Highly enjoyable!
Setlist: Days of No Trust; Lost on the Road to Eternity; The Monster Roars; The Archway of Tears; Dance of the Black Tattoo; Where Are You Eden?; The Flood (Red Cloud’s War); The Day After the Night Before; Wild Swan; Les Morts Dansant; Rockin’ Chair; All England’s Eyes; Vigilante; Encore: Kingdom of Madness; On a Storyteller’s Night; Sacred Hour.
Gigs'n'Stuff 