Whole Lotta Metal Tour

Well, I went to the show in my home town last night, and ladies and gentlemen, it was superb! For a feeble fifteen quid you get over two hours of rock classics, performed by three tremendous singers. The band are as tight as David Coverdale's trousers from the 1976 Purple tour, the light show was better than half the bands I've seen, and the sound was excellent, even in Hull's notoriously echo-laden City Hall.

Tony Martin needs no introduction, and it's great fun to see him hammering out Deep Purple, Whitesnake, UFO and Free material among others. He also does a little Black Sabbath segment with 'Headless Cross' making an appearence followed by a storming 'Paranoid', which is worth the entrance fee alone - lets face it, it's as close to seeing Sabbath as you'll get now. Seeing him take a verse of some Zeppelin stuff and providing excellent backing vocals on Bon Jovi and Queen tracks was another treat. Tony's high range is completely intact (which I was pleasantly surprised at) and when I talked to him after the show I am happy to report he is as friendly, approachable and appreciative as Glenn, which is how it should be. That reads ditto for everybody in the band however!

Carl Sentence I knew nothing about, but he could handle the highest of high notes and provided a jaw dropping finale to 'Whole Lotta Love'. Judas Priest and Iron Maiden were similarly well performed and he sure looked the part of a rock frontman. I'm now wondering why I didn't know anything about this guy before.....

The star of the show for me though was the boards very own MM, Matt Moreton. I'm not saying that just because he's a Glenn fan, I'm saying it because he was the best. An awesome voice which delivered Metallica, Whitesnake, Ozzy, Queen and Thin Lizzy material without any problem is enough to convince me, and his range was so vast he took the really high stuff on 'Headless Cross' to boot. He was full of energy, a great frontman, hard working and a jolly nice guy too. He'd better stay away from my karaoke night though, because even the great Gaden would have trouble blowing this guy away. I can't pay any bigger compliment than that.

Most rocking moments - Tony Martins 'Highway Star' which at one point, I thought the balcony was going to collapse, the serious headbanging of Matt's 'Ace Of Spades' and all three guys ending with 'Whole Lotta Rosie', which prompted some loon to leap on the stage to headbang all by himself in a pair of dazzlingly white brand new trainers. Nice one - another great ambassador for my home town.

UK residents, if you love classic rock music, show your love and go to a show. You're paying peanuts by most shows standards and this is a bunch of real professionals busting their ass. Go, I urge you. It's well worth it!

JG

"How can you lose, when you're destined to be a winner?"

I was happy with the shot because it looks like Tony's pointing at me as if to say "Hey, look who I'm with!"

I was surprised at Tony's new look when I saw him on the M3 website, but now I'm used to it I think it looks cool. Those aren't tattoo's Todd, it's designer head shaving. Whoever did it has done a great job!

JG

"How can you lose, when you're destined to be a winner?"