The night starts with Skam – a local three-piece band. Despite them going on stage a mere ten minutes after the doors opened, there is already a decent sized crowd. They have a classic heavy rock sound which clearly went down well and certainly impressed me. They’re fun to watch too – their bass player is very animated and moves around like ACDC guitarist Angus Young.
Next up was The Union. Their intro tape is The Strawbs song – ”Part of the Union” and as it plays the fans are clearly getting excited. I last saw the band at the High Voltage festival in 2010 and hadnt been very impressed, so didnt have very high expectations. Happily though, tonight’s show was an excellent one with the band on great form and they really impressed me – either they were having a bad day when I saw them last, or they’ve improved a lot in the last 18 months – either way I’d happily go and see them again in future.
The nights headliner was The Answer. Yes I know fans of The Union will say it was a co-headlining tour, but in my eyes when one band tops the bill every night then they are the headliner – if its a co-headline tour then they’d alternate. It’s clear from the start why The Answer are the headliners tonight – they’ve got so much power and energy than The Union and are definitely the better band on the night.
They kick their set off with ”New day rising”, from their latest album (Revival) – and this proves to be the first of many songs from the album in tonights set with most of the album being played (8 new songs in total). It’s great to see the new material going down so well with fans and Cormac Neeson works the crowd superbly well. The band put in a great high energy performance to end the night on a high. A great set from all three bands.
The Union setlist:
Watch the river flow
Black gold
Tupelo
Saviour
Step up to the plate
Obsession
The remedy
Cut the line
Easy street
Black Monday
Sirens song
The Answer setlist:
Intro/solo
New day rising
Under the sky
Vida
Faith gone down
Come follow me
Trouble
Nowhere freeway
Preachin’
Tornado
Too far gone
Revival
Encore:
Waste your tears
