Tuomaslotte's Best Live Shows of 2010

This year I saw quite a lot of local gigs which is nice since you're not spending so much money for an big arena gig and trying to get to the venue somewhere that seems like a distant land to you. Here they are in chronological order :D

Lostprohets @ Southampton Guildhall 26/2/2010 - I have been a fan of Lostprophets since Liberation Transmission so I was estatic when I heard they will be coming to Southampton Guildhall to do a live show; even though me and my cousin were seated we still had an awesome time listening to the music. When favourites such as It's Not The End Of The World, Burn Burn and Town Called Hypocrisy we were singing a long like mad. I was suprised but mega chuffed that they performed my ever favourite Lostprophets song Can't Catch Tomorrow. I've just found that one of the support acts were Kids In Glass Houses; after seeing a fantastic live set from them I hope to hear more from them. Hope to see Lostprophets again real soon.

HIM and Dommin @ Bournemouth O2 Academy 18/3/10 - I will say now I am a massive fan of the goth rock scene; dark lyrics with haunting melodies that send shivers down your spine I just love it. Anyways I went to this gig by myself but when I entered the venue I completely forgot about that since I loved warm welcoming vibe the O2 Academy brought; I went to buy some merchandise first before finding the best possible spot to see the bands. Once I did the lights went down for the first band Dommin were due to play first; I had only heard a few songs by Dommin that I really loved so I was looking forward to their set. The smoke made their entrance mysterious, which say a lot about the band, soon the drums were heard; the opening song New was about to play. This entrance was definately one of the best I had seen; they then played one favourite song after another. My Heart Your Hands, Tonight and personal favourite Dark Holiday all performed beautifully. Their closing number I Just Died (In Your Arms Tonight) was just fantastic; the whole crowd were singing along. Waiting for HIM patiently my excitement was gradually buiding up; those particular moments where you are waiting for a band you love to come on stage just make you realise how much you actually love the band. Suddenly the last went to down; my excitement was almost ready to be released. A love song from the 50s played which at the end of HIM appeared and the first few bars of Like St Valentine were heard. From that I knew HIM were well underway. It was truly a wonderful wonderful set; they played classics such as Kiss Of Dawn, Wings Of A Butterfly and Funeral of Hearts along with new album ones such as Heartkiller, Scared To Death and Love The Hardest Way. It was during HIM's set I had met the band Dommin which was amazing; they were so lovely and down to earth. This was definately a magical concert with two brilliant bands.

The Bon Jovi Experience @ The Brooke; Southampton 14/8/10 - This was a couple of months after I had seen Bon Jovi at The O2 Arena. I thought this was a great way to spend a night out with the girls; a lively warm venue, a bar and a band playing tribute to world wide superstars who still rule the earth today with anthemic hits since It's My Life, You Give Love A Bad Name, Bed Of Roses and the show stopper Livin On A Prayer. The lights went down and the girls started to scream, it was as if Bon Jovi were appearing on stage since the frontman looked so much like Jon Bon Jovi. One anthemic hit after another this night will definately be one I will never ever forget.

New Device @ The Edge Of The Wedge; Portsmouth 15/9/10 - One of my bands of 2010 and hope to see more of in the new year; this gig was my second time seeing them after an outstanding set at The Soul Cellar in Southampton. Wondering down a lonely street trying to find this intimate cosy venue was definately worth it; it was this night where I watched and listened to the south's best up an coming bands. With the likes of MG & The Juggernaughts jumpy, bouncy guitar solos, Toxic Shock's sucessful debut, The Light Divided's melodic, heartfelt tunes and New Device's energetic performance were all enough to make this gig one of Tuomaslotte's best live shows of 2010.



In Darklight @ The Hobbit; Southampton 8/10/10 - Another one of my bands of 2010; seeing them at the same Soul Cellar gig as New Device and loving what they had to offer I went to any gig I could get to. This one will always stick out in my mind as being one of the best with their fresh indie boy look and sound. I loved this enjoyable set of alternative, experimental rock songs that you can just hum to and it's amazing these guys also took a few minutes to sign the album I had bought along. Along with other bands from their record label Angry Badger they are one of the south's best up and coming bands; I think this gives them a great start for 2011. 

Dear Superstar @ The Joiners; Southampton 10/12/10 - I wrote a review about this recently; I meant it when I said this was the best gig of 2010 for me. Everything about this gig was just amazing; the lively warm atmosphere, each band performed a distinguished performance and a lot of pleasant people. It was also at this gig where I saw a sight that will definately make history of fans ways to get the attention of bands; the ultimate mosh pyramid, a human pyramid made up of those crazy rockers who moshed to Jenna's Revenge.

Dear Superstar @ The Joiners; Southampton 10/12/10

It was suprising really; on my way to The Joiners Radio 2 was playing in the car. It was a jungle themed hour so there were songs from The Jungle Book and others about hippos and crocodiles yet after to listening to it I still felt in the mood to rock. I has also finished Santa's helper duty so I was feeling particularly estatic about this particular gig since two of my favourites were to be there.....Dear Superstar and Jettblack.

I arrived at The Joiners when I heard the first band Ancient Shamans playing so I went through to the stage area. I could tell a lot of their songs had Native American influences behind it and to put that with AC/DC like guitar riffs and Black Stone Cherry style vocals is just incredible; titles such as Wild Horses and intrumentals that reminded me of the film Pocohontas. Vocalist/Bassist Sam Ashton could easily be the next Micheal Balzary a.k.a Flea from the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers with his killer bass playing skills. Overall great set and truly energetic performance.

Ancient Shamans homepage

Now I had only heard one sample on MySpace by Jenna's Revenge and liked it; so I was intrigued what they had to offer. Jumpy, fun and melodic guitar riffs were only just the beginning to this band's remarkable set once vocalist Sic was heard the set was complete. His passion and energy reminded me very much of Jack Black; he even sounded like Jack Black as he sang. At this point the crazy rockers started the mosh pit, which I got caught in....well joined in with. It happened to be Jenna's Revenge CD Launch tonight as well which was more than perfect; as you can guess I bought their new CD that you will see a post about soon. Oh one more thing I must mention is that during the last few minutes of this performance a pyramid of moshers was made; this was definately an epic sighting in my rock gig encounters and hopefully will see again.

Jenna's Revenge homepage

Jettblack were the band I was looking forward to seeing the most that night; excitedly waiting whilst they performed sound checks, I don't think being hyper from drinking a pint of Diet Coke calmed me down either. Once the sound checks had been done and they were in starting performance position the chants started; 'JETTBLACK! JETTBLACK! JETTBLACK' was heard throughout The Joiners particularly from the crazy moshers. After successfully opening with Slip It On Jettblack were well under way. I bought their album back in October so I was looking forward to most of the songs being performed; the anthems Two Hot Girls and Get Your Hands Dirty were performed to the utmost perfection and Not Even Love bought a tamer tone to the evening. Closing the set with a cover of 80s anthem Dangerzone which was requested by the fans was just fantastic. They definately brought a stadium like vibe to a small music venue and meeting them afterwards was just an awesome experience; they were more than happy to sign a picture,be in a photo with me and just generally chatting. I shall definately be hoping to see them live again in the new year.

Jettblack homepage

I hadn't heard much from Manchester hard rockers Dear Superstar until only recently. I was at the bar when they were performing soundchecks and talking to two lovely girls I had met during Jettblack's set. I heard the first chord Dear Superstar's opening song and rushed in; the music area wasn't full of many people as Jettblack but in some ways that was a good thing. Straight to the front to get the best possible photos, not feeling claustrophobic and interaction with lead vocalist Mickey Satiar (who I had met at the bar earlier....lovely lovely man). Watching him on stage he definately owned it with his energetic prescence and charisma; it was also so wonderful to know that a song means that much to the artist when they performed the ever epic Live Love Lie. I thought sounded better live than on the CD; they also performed a lot of new ones from their upcoming album, which will be released next year. Anthems of the night Brink Of Destruction and Brothers In Blood were definately performed very very well too, got the crowd energetically showing appreciation by singing along and jumping to the music. Overall Dear Superstar definately pulled off a rather outstanding set; a lot better than I thought they would be. I met the rest of Dear Superstar afterwards; Amadeus (WHAT AN AWESOME NAME), Benj and Stew, wonderful guys who I had a photo with. I didn't care that they were sweaty....I love sweaty rockers :P. Unfortunately didn't get to meet Adam but hopefully next time. Look forward to seeing you in 2011 guys and can't wait for the new album.

Dear Superstar homepage 

This night reminded me why The Joiners is my favourite music venue in Southampton; all the bands that night created a lively, energetic atmosphere with lots of love and it's one of few venues I've been to where every band gets the crowd moving. It certainly happened last night and in all honesty this was definately the best gig of 2010. This is the first post I have added photos to.