sábado, 30 de abril de 2011

Road Report: London. Wolfsbane, The Borderline. Sa. 09.04.11. English Version. Part 2/2.


By Larry Runner.

The Eureka Machines was the guest invited band for this special show. They were unknown to us. I had heard a couple of songs on their myspace and I didn’t like too much. But I loved it in this concert. They wore a smart and black uniform, even with the same shoes and same white tie. They tested some movement choreographed plan to make the show much brighter. I would like to see them again someday, but I guess it won’t be difficult to enjoy them in Spanish stages.
Rock without too many complications, which sometimes reminded me Green Day but The Eureka Machines are even harder than the American’s.

Afterwards forty minutes show and some adjustments on stage, the stars of the night appeared on stage. At last... there they were. Twenty years of waiting for me. Finally, I was going to see them in concert. Wolfsbane on stage and I was in the front row. The waiting was over, the dream was come true, the effort was rewarded.


The first to appear was Steve “Danger” Elliot, the drummer. He was whom the past of the time more affected. He’s completely bald, but then we must see that he was not the only one. He began to beat his battery and a moment later Jeff Hateley jumped to the stage short-haired. The next one was the guitarist Jase Edwards, the best kept well, with all his hair and beard. Attacked with the first chords of a song that I didn’t know at all, the first surprise of the performance. Finally up Blaze Bayley jumped to the stage and began to sing. A “new” theme to open. Limo, which comes in the new ep, that this same night went on sale and It was the song that really broke my schemes. It appeared in a demo long time ago, about the end of eighties, and it was not released on album until this new work in 2011.



Most of the people were perplexed, but then things changed with the next song, Black Lagoon, which was continued by another classic even bigger, Killing Machine, a song that I don’t quite understand why it was excluded from the compilation and which once appeared in the first album Live Fast, Die Fast. Money to Burn, from the same album, was followed. The beginning had been fantastic, but with the passing of the minutes was going to be better.

The Eureka Machines

With Totally Nude I was sure it was going to be a great concert, it seemed to me impossible that had spent seventeen years of separation, the temperature kept going up and remaining in the forefront was a risk for our bodies.

Blaze Bayley

Then It came one of the rare moments of night’s stillness. Bayley hosted us a new song, a preview of that it will be soon a new long-playing record. The title Did It For The Money, it could not be more appropriate. It was written in answer to criticism by some other sector of the press. They criticized  that the band had only gathered for the money. However the reality wasn’t that. The gathering had taken place only for the fans’ request that we had been so fussy insisting that they had to be back on the road again. Did It For The Money is a hard theme. The first time you listen to,  it enters on  your head and you are going to hum it all day long.

Then came the song with the Spanish title, Loco. It was amazing to see everyone singing the chorus: Renegade! High Roller! I’m Loco, Loco - motion! The crowd went really crazy as the song said. The first row was going to be crazy and monitors began to move from their site to the continuous avalanches.

The beautiful Broken Doll was followed by Kathy Wilson and I could check that is probably one of the greatest songs of the band, at least  it was the song that became the craziest people. It was a true pleasure to see people singing to exhaustion “Now all hell’s breaking loose, down at Little Kathy Wil’s Place!”. The ep with that tittle, is my favourite work of the band, and I think it was the most favourite song for The Borderline’s people that night. 

The punk recouped 85’s demo GSB was the last experiment till the end. It reminds me, as It happen to their older songs to 80’s Van Halen, with David Lee Roth.

Jeff Hateley

From here there wasn’t any time off and they were going to show us their most emblematic songs, althought it is sure that each one of us would have missed his favourite songs.  I Like It Hot, Man Hunt, Steel, Ezy, Black Machine, Temple Of Rock, la country Dead At Last,  You Load Me Down ... There wasn’t any time to rest. If you had wanted to have another beer,  it was sure that you would have lost something great. Musically the time hasn’t passed for them. 

Steve “Danger” Elliot

Maybe their physical appearance had changed a lot but they are much better musicians today than in the 90’s and  They sounded as if they had always been together. Jeff Hateley is jumping all the time as a young man and we all could see that Blaze should lose some kilos, but his voice is in good time now. Jase is a guitar phenomenon, but he is the most static of all.  And Steve should be a tacky dressing, but it is a fantastic drummer.

These are some cd’s that I took signed to my home

They ended their show with Paint Town in Red and  we went away happy. I did not stay longer at the Borderline and even I  didn’t expect to try to talk calmly to them. I declared satisfied with all that I had lived ind those hours. Normally when I live an event like this, I remain so sad, but this time I left the place happy and full of energy. Honestly, when I left The Borderline I was one of the most graceful person of the earth. I had been one of 275 lucky ones that I had seen a unique concert. I had just seen the return to the stage of a British legend. Maybe in Spain people hadn’t assessed them as they deserve, but they are great in the UK.

Jase Edwards

I missed Money Talks and I thought that  they were going to give us the surprise playing Born To Run. This did not happen, but I did not care. Nineteen songs. We weren’t going to ask them more after 17 years out of joint.

I came back home full of  memorabilia. With the signed exclusive t-shirt, 13 CDs and 1 DVD signed too, the set-list and even a Jeff Hateley’s pick that gave me in hand.

Back side of the conmemorative T-shirt.

They were fantastic and this experience will be one of those that I’ll never forget.  It was an event that I will be always grateful to my girl. The effort was great, but it was very, very worthwhile. Who knows if someday I may live an experience as great as this. 

Next day, early in the morning, metro, train and flight to Asturias.

London forever.


Clicking on the images can be viewed in a larger size.

Thanks to my wife for helping me in this English Version and for the wonderful company in London.
I'll be forever grateful for this dream come true.

This is the second of two parts.

© Larry Runner 2011.

4 comentarios:

Julie Sutton dijo...

another brilliant account! Well done Larry! :-))

Wolfsbane dijo...

Thanks dude loved your review. Dx

DJ Polo dijo...

Very cool mate

DJ Polo dijo...

Very cool mate