This was a gig I’d been looking forward to for a while – three great bands on one bill. These days it’s quite normal for the venue to be half empty for the support bands with lots of people staying in pubs and only arriving for the headliner, but that certainly wasnt the case tonight – even before The Treatment came on, the venue was probably 90% full and people kept on coming in. This meant that when The Treatment took to the stage at 7.30pm they were playing to a capacity crowd.
The Treatment have been going from strength to strength lately with some great tours, most recently supporting KISS and Motley Crue on their US tour – an impressive tour for any band to be on, let alone a band who’s members are so young (I’m not sure any of the band are actually old enough to drink alcohol in the US).
With that experience then there was no danger of nerves tonight, and as expected this young Cambridge rock band got things off to a great start. Starting with ”Drink fuck fight” from their debut album, the band were putting ona great show and judging by the number of people cheering, singing along or dancing, they’d got plenty of fans in the crowd. The set suffered a break half way through due to technical problems with the bass, but after apologising they decided to ”carry on even though the bass will sound shit” (in truth it didn’t sound that bad at all). The setlist was split fairly evenly between songs from the debut album and new material, and I have to say – based on how good it sounded, I really can’t wait till they take a break from touring and record the new album.
It’s very very rare to see an opening band go down as well as The Treatment did tonight – they got a fantastic reception from the crowd, and deservedly so – this is a band that is going to keep getting bigger and better.
The Treatment setlist:
Drink fuck fight
Don’t look down
Departed
She’s too much
The Doctor
Get the party on
Shake the mountain
Photos of The Treatment’s performance – http://www.festivalphoto.net/pictures&concertID=24450&artist=The+Treatment
Next up was FM. Considerably older than The Treatment, their music and stage performance is more laid back, but no less enjoyable. All three bands tonight are quite varied musically but are similar enough to appeal to a lot of the same fans, and FM’s AOR goes down very well tonight, with ”That Girl” and their cover of ”I heard it through the grapevine” going down particularly well. FM have a new album due out early next year, and I’m certainly looking forward to that.
FM setlist:
I Belong to the Night
Don’t Stop
Only Foolin’
That Girl
Metropolis
Over You
Burning My Heart Down
Bad Luck
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Photos of FM’s performance – http://www.festivalphoto.net/pictures&concertID=24451&artist=Fm
Finally it was time for tonight’s headliners – the legendary Thin Lizzy, who have enjoyed a new lease of life since recruiting former Almighty singer Ricky Warwick.
With a band that’s been going as long as Thin Lizzy then finding enough strong material to fill a setlist isn’t a problem – what must be a problem for them though is deciding what to miss out, and tonight they miss out some real classics – ”Waiting for an alibi” and ”Emerald” being two notable omissions from the setlist. Despite this there are still plenty of classics in the set and it’s a really good show. I do have to question the running order though – despite ”The boys are back in town” being a classic song, it got a far more muted reception than ”Whiskey in the jar” which in my mind would have been a far better song to end the set with. ”Still in love with you” is a great song, but tonight it felt too long and drawn out, and lost quite a lot of the pace and atmosphere that had been built up – thankfully coming just before ”Whiskey in the jar” then the crowds energy level was soon restored and most of the crowd were singing along – it really did feel like the song they should have ended the night with.
Overall it was a great set from Thin Lizzy – and indeed from all three bands on tonights bill. A great lineup of bands and a great night of music.
Thin Lizzy setlist
Are You Ready
Jailbreak
Don’t Believe A Word
Killer On The Loose
Chinatown
Dancing in the Moonlight
Massacre
Angel of Death
Still In Love With You
Whiskey In The Jar
Sha La La la la la
Suicide
Cowboy Song
The Boys Are Back In Town
Encore:
Rosalie
Black Rose
Photos of Thin Lizzy’s performance – http://www.festivalphoto.net/pictures&concertID=24449&artist=Thin+Lizzy
