ROCK

Bit of a random one for a wet Tuesday night, but yesterday I went to see A Whole Lot of Metal at Croydon’s Fairfield Hall. It was bloody good fun actually. Those guys really did rock. All–seat auditorium could have dampened the atmosphere, but the band exhorted people to get out of the seats and crowd around the stage. Most complied. The pretty lengthy set was a run–through of 70s and 80s rock covers, with only one song by most artists being played. I think the only exceptions were Sabbath (Headless Cross and Paranoid), Whitesnake (Fool for your Lovin’ and Here I Go Again) and Led Zep (Whole Lotta Love and Rock and Roll). The performance, the musicians and the vocalists seemed pretty damn good to me and it was an enjoyable night, although it was all slightly weird (i.e because it was a bunch of aging rockers who never quite made it to the really big time playing a set of covers to a half–empty hall of Croydon’s finest on a rainy Tuesday night, straight after the bank holiday weekend as well).

Some comedy characters in the audience too, ranging from young kids up the front (Sabbath T–shirts), to bald old rockers (old rock–chick wives in tow, original Sabbath T–shirts), to true mentalist super–fans (constantly head–banging, trying to touch the band at any opportunity, very sweaty T–shirts). A few Mums and Dads at the back as well, I suspect. Given that demographic, not exactly sure what I was doing there, in the shirt I’d worn to work and a pair of chords. But good craic nonetheless.