Magnum - Rock City Nottingham

The first gig on our mini tour of the week started by us joining the queue outside Rock City at the front.
We made a bee-line to the usual front left section & the long wait was finally over.
Not long & then Neonfly graced the stage, it was touch & go as to if they would be there, as over the weekend they had their tour van broken into & all their gear robbed by some toe rags.
However a lot of people rallied together & provided them with instruments to use, most bands would be down beat & reflect that in their performance, but these guys absolutely kicked butt.

Instantly, Neonfly became one of the best bands i have ever seen support Magnum, their set wasn't mega long, infact it left me wishing that it hadn't ended when it did, which considering how much i'd been looking forwards to Magnum taking to the stage must be a sign of how good a support they were.

Then it was time...

The lights dropped & the intro to Live 'Till You Die started...
It seems like the perfect intro song to get everyone fired up, probably almost as good an intro as Back To Earth, although I would still love to see that re-introduced as an opener.
Next came Black Skies... Freedom Day... Dance of the Black Tattoo...
Blood Red Laughter... then the next of the new songs, an instant classic Unwritten Sacrifice... was followed by How Far Jerusalem... & Les Morts Dansants... which were obviously outstanding.
Next followed my personal favourite track off the new album Falling for the Big Plan... then it was time for goose bumps... The Spirit... All My Bridges... All England's Eyes... Vigilante... Kingdom of Madness...

Could they have any more left in the tank? Damn right they could...

Too Many Clowns... what a Rock'n'Roll tune
And, just as you thought the gig couldn't possibly couldn't get any better, the closing song...
Sacred Hour! the end to a fantastic gig, ear ache, a sore throat & sore hands, the tell tale sign of a quality concert & it was all to come again at the end of the week at Holmfirth.

Foreigner, Europe & FM - Wolverhampton Civic

We managed to get to the front of the queue & were deliberating whether to go to the balcony or where to stand, but then we decided to make a dash for the front & so ended up right at the front.

I must admit i was only looking forwards to FM (who we follow around at many gigs & have a few more of their's to go to yet this year)

FM's set was to short IMO & before we knew it, it was over.
Europe didn't float my boat (many people may well enjoy them, but they just don't do it for me)
Foreigner i was expecting to be all ballady & really didn't expect them to be any good......

How wrong was I about Foreigner? They absolutely Rocked with a capital R, I can honestly say there wasn't one song that I thought "oh that wasn't so good", every song was a cracker.

If I had to pick a stand out song that blew me away, it was Starrider, the blend of lights, music & song that was like going on a progressive rock style time warp, out of this world.

After the gig, the wife managed to aquire a set list & a guitar pick from Foreigner....

Lets hope they play over here again, because i need another fix :)