British Lion/Tony Moore's 'Awake' - The Liquid Rooms Edinburgh 10th January 2023

Steve has probably been the most important figure in UK metal over the last forty years or so and to be fair, he’s wearing it well; filling out his vintage ‘Whale Oil Beef Hooked’ vest nicely and still using Alf Garnett’s old West Ham scarf as a bass strap. He’s a national treasure, bless ‘im, and the faded Maiden fan-boys and younger metal-heads that packed out the venue were very pleased to see him up close.

The band certainly put on a show for them too. Singer, Richard Taylor looks lean and lithe as he rips through the opening trio of biblically named songs; ‘This is my God’, ‘Judas’ and ‘Father Lucifer’ and he throws in some nifty-looking boxing moves to boot. The band are a very tight unit and they’re clearly enjoying playing together and being in front of a decent-sized and invested audience. As with The Dead Daisies, it’s probably a treat for the players to have a wealthy benefactor in the band as they seem to have a nice bus, a smart stage set-up and good crew around them but their musical performances are certainly top-notch too. A soaring and glorious ‘Legend’ is an early highlight in a set list which is almost equally drawn from both of their albums. ‘Spit Fire’ is the song that comes closest to a classic Iron Maiden “gallop”, but generally the songs are less epic and more melodic than prime-time Maiden but they do have the “woah-oh” factor and a good portfolio of solid hard-rocking gems.

I was attracted to this gig by the very positive feedback derived from their 2023 shows, whereas responses to British Lion’s recorded work to date has generally been a little bit underwhelming. I certainly found them to be an excellent live band and I was particularly drawn to what I believe were two new songs; ‘2000 Years’ and ‘Wasteland’. Hopefully, the writing triumvirate of Hawkins, Taylor and Harris have another album in them and that might help redress the balance. They finished up with ‘Lightning’, ‘Last Chance’ and ‘Eyes of the Young’ and sent the punters out into the night with a warm glow.

The evening got off to a slightly different start with the delivery of a one-man multi-media show entitled ‘Awake’. The performer was Tony Moore, who was briefly a member of Iron Maiden in 1977, playing keyboards (yes keyboards)! He has also played live with Cutting Crew and when not performing music, he has made a living running pubs and clubs amongst other ventures.

There is a theme running through it all and the set is bookmarked by the opening tune ‘Awake’ and the closing song ‘Asleep’. A big screen in the middle of the stage is a central part of the show and the

visuals are quite something. Tony himself, is an engaging and confident performer and he interacts well with a largely enthralled audience who pay rapt attention throughout. He switches between electric guitar, acoustic guitar and keyboards and at one point, is accompanied on screen by two versions of himself and at another he plays keyboards while an A.I. Tony simultaneously plays a guitar solo on screen. Some of the CGI graphics are excellent with Godzilla, JFK and a skeleton orchestra making appearances at various times. Tony has a few costume changes up his sleeve too, including a scary mask, so there is plenty going on to keep folks entertained.

Musically, it’s proggy with a strong Pink Floyd vibe. At times the songs are introspective and highly-personal and at other times Tony addresses high-level world issues. Much of the work was done during Covid when Tony was caring for his mother and also defying government advice for musicians and others to re-train and this inspired the heartfelt songs ‘Just One Night’ and ‘Dear Life’. Tony re-connected with his old friend Steve Harris around that time and the Maiden man has provided valuable support and encouragement to the project. It is hoped that an album can be released later in the year but as a show, this was absorbing, interesting, highly enjoyable and definitely well-worth seeing.