13/7/2010 Stereo Juggernaut & Belladonna @ the Purple Turtle

Subject	Stereo Juggernaut & Belladonna @ the Purple Turtle
PostedDate	7/13/2010
	It's Tuesday night at Camden's Purple Turtle and the place isn't that busy. The headliners are Belladonna (not to be confused with the ex-Anthrax singer's band!) from Italy, but they have asked to go on before Stereo Juggernaut and the promoters have said OK. I feel sorry for Stereo Juggernaut as it seems that they've been shafted by this decision and will end up playing to an empty room, as often happens to the last band as everybody buggers off after seeing the band with the most support. As it happens, Belladonna haven't exactly packed the place out either. And so the Italian Goths take to the stage. There are a reasonable number of people here to see them, but not loads. They are quite a decent band if you like that sort of thing, but apart from the guitarist they don't have a huge amount of stage presence. Belladonna are worth a look, but I don't think Lacuna Coil have anything to worry about just yet. Things don't turn out as bad as I feared for Stereo Juggernaut and there are actually quite a few people who have stayed behind to see them. They do have a small but loyal following of their own though, so really they are just as worthy headliners. The songs currently on their MySpace don't really sound at all like the band do live - on stage they are far more of a ROCK band. In my opinion 'Fade Away' (now taken off their MySpace player) is their best song, and it sounds excellent tonight. I think frontman Ben plays a bit more lead guitar than usual - he's actually a pretty good player, but doesn't tend to show it much by taking solos. The band's set ends as it often does with a mini stage invasion - encouraged by the band. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday night at all.