Tonight is all a bit last minute for me. Normally attending gigs, especially if they fall on weekends, requires some advance planning and family juggling, but I only found out about this event when a friend contacted me at the eleventh hour and told me that he was planning an equally last-minute trip down from Nottingham to attend. And here lies the rub – hardly anyone else knew this show was happening either.
So poorly publicised was it, that even the venue didn’t seem to have room for a poster for the event (although to be fair given that the walls were plastered with publicity for the endless tribute bands that dominate the live circuit, that’s all right then). The turn out was correspondingly low (although again to be fair on the other side of Cardiff, Fuel was hosting a sold-out Marillion tribute band, so that’s all right then). Which pisses me off no end, because if live music is such a money spinner for these venues, why will no-one turn out for original artists, especially ones of the calibre we get treated to tonight?
When I arrive openers White Skies (10) are a song or two into their set, and already lifting the mood very well indeed, despite the thinness of the crowd. A new band of old hands, these gentlemen have plenty of experience to draw on, and consequently their brand of Melodic Hard Rock bordering on the AOR draws on this very well indeed. Experience makes it sound easy, but to craft songs that don’t sound tired and formulaic under these circumstances is another thing entirely, and White Skies do so with considerable panache.
I have not come across these chaps before, but with a set largely comprised of 2022’s debut album Black Tide I was impressed enough to splash out on a copy of the record. In fact, so generous was the support slot’s run time, that the band pretty much played the whole thing, as well as airing new single If This Is It (Get Ready). The songs themselves are all very well structured and consistently so, but the live delivery was on another level. Frontman Mick White has a huge amount of energy, stage presence and a fantastic set of pipes and within no time at all the crowd is thoroughly on side. In fact, I was concerned that these chaps may be in danger of blowing the headliner off the stage… because these chaps owned it utterly for the duration of the time I spent standing there watching them.
Ten (10, what else) are unlikely to be found in such a position.
The band have been relatively quiet of late, and this is the first full UK tour they have done for what seems like an eternity, which probably impacted the turn-out, but again publicity is key. It’s also not helped that their label is notorious for not taking tour support seriously, but the band have done more live performances in the last couple of months than they have in a decade, so to some extent need to rebuild their profile and remind people that they exist. The fact that there were people from all over the country, plus a gentleman who came all the way from Germany especially proves that this is a band whose absence had left something of a void.
It's been many a moon since I last saw them live, and the first with this line-up, despite the fact that it’s been more or less stable for a decade, but they clearly are all very comfortable together, with a chemistry that positively bristles from the stage. I’ve also lost track of their more recent recorded output over the last few years, and technically this is a much overdue tour for of both 2023’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and Here Be Monsters, but Ten pulled out a set list that ran the gamut of the decades, with only one song from those last studio sessions and does not disappoint.
Frontman Gary Hughes may look a little more grizzled than last time I watched him perform, but my word the years have not diluted his presence, power and voice one iota. The band flawlessly flow with him, and the fifteen odd song set positively rushes by. The turn out has been bolstered by the time they hit the boards, but this audience makes up for its numbers with a full throated voice, and looking round the room there are a lot of smiling faces here, because Ten have been sorely missed. And it would seem that they are properly back, with a new album on the way, and more UK shows next year and I for one am very glad to see them do so.
When I arrive openers White Skies (10) are a song or two into their set, and already lifting the mood very well indeed, despite the thinness of the crowd. A new band of old hands, these gentlemen have plenty of experience to draw on, and consequently their brand of Melodic Hard Rock bordering on the AOR draws on this very well indeed. Experience makes it sound easy, but to craft songs that don’t sound tired and formulaic under these circumstances is another thing entirely, and White Skies do so with considerable panache.
I have not come across these chaps before, but with a set largely comprised of 2022’s debut album Black Tide I was impressed enough to splash out on a copy of the record. In fact, so generous was the support slot’s run time, that the band pretty much played the whole thing, as well as airing new single If This Is It (Get Ready). The songs themselves are all very well structured and consistently so, but the live delivery was on another level. Frontman Mick White has a huge amount of energy, stage presence and a fantastic set of pipes and within no time at all the crowd is thoroughly on side. In fact, I was concerned that these chaps may be in danger of blowing the headliner off the stage… because these chaps owned it utterly for the duration of the time I spent standing there watching them.
Ten (10, what else) are unlikely to be found in such a position.
The band have been relatively quiet of late, and this is the first full UK tour they have done for what seems like an eternity, which probably impacted the turn-out, but again publicity is key. It’s also not helped that their label is notorious for not taking tour support seriously, but the band have done more live performances in the last couple of months than they have in a decade, so to some extent need to rebuild their profile and remind people that they exist. The fact that there were people from all over the country, plus a gentleman who came all the way from Germany especially proves that this is a band whose absence had left something of a void.
It's been many a moon since I last saw them live, and the first with this line-up, despite the fact that it’s been more or less stable for a decade, but they clearly are all very comfortable together, with a chemistry that positively bristles from the stage. I’ve also lost track of their more recent recorded output over the last few years, and technically this is a much overdue tour for of both 2023’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and Here Be Monsters, but Ten pulled out a set list that ran the gamut of the decades, with only one song from those last studio sessions and does not disappoint.
Frontman Gary Hughes may look a little more grizzled than last time I watched him perform, but my word the years have not diluted his presence, power and voice one iota. The band flawlessly flow with him, and the fifteen odd song set positively rushes by. The turn out has been bolstered by the time they hit the boards, but this audience makes up for its numbers with a full throated voice, and looking round the room there are a lot of smiling faces here, because Ten have been sorely missed. And it would seem that they are properly back, with a new album on the way, and more UK shows next year and I for one am very glad to see them do so.
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