First gig of 2023 and what a great start at the Leadmill in Sheffield
First up was Airforce formed in 1987by Guitarist Chop Pitman and featuring former Iron Maiden drummer Doug Sampson. A great six song opening set with strong vocals from Flavio Lino who joined the lineup around 3 years ago. With clear Maiden and Judas Priest influences the band went down really well with the early Sheffield crowd. Flavio has a great on stage personality overflowing with enthusiasm, closing with Sniper I was really impressed. Check out this band live as soon as you can and take a listen to 2020 release Strike Hard.
Second up was London based Voodoo Six, bursting onto the stage with opener Something For You. Again great stage presence from these guys who played a solid 7 song set. Highlight for me was Falling Knives a driving hard rock track which has over 1 million streams on Spotify.Singer Nik Taylor-Stoakes mentioned that this tour was the bands first post-covid venture on the live scene and did he looked glad to be back! Bassist and band founder Tony Newton entertained.. photographer heaven!
The band have a headline tour in February so go and check them out live, you will not be disappointed.
So onto headliner British Lion and its no secret that Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is on bass, forming the band to allow for gigs in smaller club venues. I caught Maiden at Download Festival last year and was hugely impressed, tonights gig was clearly not on that scale, however it definitely didn’t disappoint. Opening with This is My God the band took us on a 17 song journey through latest album release The Burning plus a taster of new material. Singer Richard Taylor has a great voice and strong stage presence. The band naturally have an Iron Maiden influenced sound but with enough unique edge so as not to feel like a carbon copy. Standout tracks for me were Lightning and The Burning both of which have driving drum tracks, on that point what a fantastic drummer Simon Dawson is!
Closing with Eyes of the Young the Leadmill crowd clearly appreciated what was a fantastic night of hard rock.
If you haven’t seen British Lion they have a number of dates left on the current UK tour, so I would urge you to check them out, ticket prices are very reasonable for what’s on offer.. how does Steve afford that huge tour bus outside?…
Great night.
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