I am pleased to say these guys are still crazy! Their huge love of 1980's heavy metal seems a bit tongue-in-cheek - or is it? A bit like Anvil or The Darkness you are not sure if you should take them seriously or not but you can't help but be drawn in by their sheer enthusiasm and obvious love of what they are doing.
I saw this band a few times back in the day and they were always amazing! They are still enormous fun.
They look like they aren't taking it seriously, but they are actually very good musicians. Like Judas Priest or The Darkness they know what they are doing is ridiculous - but it is ridiculous fun. Sometimes it's good just to be entertained, and lets face it - a lot of heavy metal is rather silly isn't it? But it's fun - and who doesn't like fun? OK - some people don't, but that's their problem. Electric Eel shock are a celebration of all that's ridiculous and all that's fun in heavy metal. Deal with it. Or go to the bar and be miserable and moan to your mates about how some people don't take heavy metal seriously enough. The thing is, this band do take heavy metal seriously - but that doesn't mean you can't have fun while you are doing it!
However seriously (or not) you choose to take Electric Eel Shock they are enormously entertaining as long as you want to come along for the ride. I very much enjoyed seeing them again and was thoroughly entertained.
Now in the best Monty Python style "And now for something completely different".
It's only Dogs D'Amour innit? Well actually it's 'Tyla's Dogs D'Amour' - probably for legal reasons. It's actually Tyla and whoever he can rope in to play a set of classic Dogs songs. But through various lineup changes over the years and completely changing every member of the band more than once it's all those great songs that keep people coming back to see them. Tyla is maybe the last great rock 'n' roll poet and the sleazy debauched tales he tells in his songs draw you into his dark rock 'n' roll world. This is a band with a loyal following who will sing along to every song - and they really do have some great songs.
And so onto the headliners. Ex-Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe has been doing this a long time now, and he's got pretty good at it. In fact he was pretty good at it back in the early 1980s with Hanoi Rocks, and then with his own solo career after Hanoi folded - and reformed years later. He's still sticking to the same formula now - but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Michael has a really great band, including his former Hanoi bandmate Sami Yaffa on bass, latter day New York Dolls guitarist Steve Conte, and Black Halos/Amen guitarist Rich Jones.
The setlist contains some Hanoi Rocks classics as well as a load of stuff from Michael's other bands like Demolition 23 as well as his solo stuff. Naturally his current band's latest album 'One Man Gang' is featured as well. This guy is still one of the best frontmen out there and puts a huge amount of energy into the show - including jumping off the stage and taking it out to the people singing while standing on the bar. See how far he is from the stage!
A top night of rock action from some 'blast from the past' acts who can still cut it today.
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