Well, I arrived at the venue at 6:50pm for my
interview with the lovely Rich Ward at 7.00pm,
which went well. This did unfortunately mean that
I missed the Jokers, but I was told they were
good!
Halcyon Way is an Atlanta based metal band and
friends of Fozzy. They exploded onto the stage
with more energy than I’ve seen for a while!
Their songs had catchy melodies and the sound
was spot on – no horrible feedback! The
guitar playing was clean and since hearing their
recordings I have to say they sound exactly the
same! Top quality guys they are too, as I was
bustled about by the enthusiastic crowd and ended
up by the merch stand where I got talking to Chris
from Halcyon way (who by the way, is very very
tall and very very nice). Having been given free
stud including a demo CD by them, it’s clear
that they want to be famous and I for one, think
they deserve it. Their live performance was great
fun to watch and lovely to listen to! Yes, metal
is lovely.
After a short break the Essex boys Forever Never
graced us with their presence. A band I’ve
seen before and thoroughly enjoy. Their distinctive
sound won the crowd over with relative ease and
soon most of the room was bustling about to the
sounds of their brutal guitar and equally brutal
vocals. They played a variety of their songs,
including T.I.T.S which got the expected crowd
reaction. The performance was, as always with
Forever Never, energy charged and full of angst
and testosterone but lacked something; maybe it
was because I felt they didn’t fit quite
right with the other bands playing. Don’t
get me wrong Forever Never is a good band and
they are great guys I just feel perhaps not the
right choice to gig with Fozzy?
Finally, it was time for Fozzy. Now I’ve
followed Fozzy since about 2003, but have never
had the chance to see them live before so this
was a little bit exciting for me and I have to
say they did not disappoint one bit. Following
the recent release of their fourth studio album
‘Chasing the Grail’ I was honestly
intrigued as to what they were going to play.
I hoped for lots of the new album because personally
I loved it. They opened with my favourite song
‘Under Blackened Skies’ and from that
moment the crowd were moving – not once
did they stop. It’s no surprise really when
every member of the band (bar the drummer of course)
kept moving throughout. If anyone in that room
had gone in thinking Fozzy were just some wrestler’s
side project they would have left knowing this
was serious business, Fozzy aren’t just
the pet project of WWE superstar Chris Jericho,
they’re a band jam packed with talent and
they give off an energy that is quite simply infectious.
If you haven’t heard of Fozzy give them
a chance and if you haven’t seen them live
– where the hell have you been?!
All in all, brilliant show and a brilliant night!
Halcyn Way 4/5
Forever Never 3/5
Fozzy 5/5
Review By Lauren Dauny |
