Latest Rock News - Album & Live Reviews

To be released 2027 via Fronteirs Music Srl

Review and photos - Jai Dee

Originally prompted by a ticket alert that Steve Earle would be playing in Glasgow, I was intrigued to discover that this would be as part of The Waterboys’ ‘Fisherman’s Blues Revue’ and also at the OVO Hydro (an arena and quite a step-up in size from both acts’ normal touring venues). Given that it was the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ album which had first got me into The Waterboys’ music when it was released, attendance wasn’t even a question for me and a ticket was duly bought. By 1988 The Waterboys had already released three albums before ‘Fisherman’s Blues’, they had enjoyed some chart success and “Whole of the Moon” had become a staple in many a student union around the country. With its more traditional Celtic folk feel, ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ was different, grabbed my attention and has never let go. It simply didn’t sound like any other music around at that time … although some Celtic folk influences could also be heard in Steve Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’ album released in the same year. As an album, ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ also provided the hook to make me go back to The Waterboys’ earlier albums, to discover what I had missed and to follow them since. The recording sessions for ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ are now legendary. Spanning a number of sessions recorded in different locations over two years this was an incredibly fertile period for The Waterboys. In addition to creating the original album these sessions have subsequently led to the release of – ‘Too Close To Heaven’ (a follow-up collection of songs from the sessions); a remastered Collector’s Edition of ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ (including an additional CD of previously unreleased songs); ‘Fisherman’s Box’ (a 6 CD collection of unreleased songs and alternate takes); the recent ‘Atlantic Rain’ (3 CD collection of unreleased songs); the ‘Strange Boat’ EP (5 additional unreleased songs due to be released later in September, but also available to buy on this tour); and the ‘Magnificent Seven’ (a 7 CD collection of unreleased and live songs recorded during this period and the recording of their next album ‘Room to Roam’. Rarely can the recording of one album have led to such a creative outpouring and surge, and provided such a rich musical legacy. Given the wealth of material recorded, it was not known how much of this might be played during the ‘Fisherman’s Blues Revue’ and how and where Steve Earle might fit in. Glasgow, as the opening night of the tour, provided the first chance to find out. As such, I approached the gig with much anticipation or in the words of the late Tim Curry who sadly died recently, “antici …….. pation”. Touring without a support act, tonight was to take the form of The Waterboys playing two sets. Yes, please. Opening with “Don’t Bang the Drum” and also playing the beautiful “How Long Will I Love You” and classic “Whole of the Moon” within the first five (yes, five) songs, it was clear that this was going to be a special night with such big songs played early. Throw in “Glastonbury Song” and “A Girl Called Johnny” between these and you could make that very special. Dispensing with formalities, Mike Scott (on vocals, guitar and piano) had introduced the band early on - James Hallawell (piano and backing vocals), ‘Brother’ Paul Brown (Hammond organ, keyboards and backing vocals from Memphis, now Nashville-based), Aongus Ralston (bass and backing vocals, from Ireland), Eamon Ferris (drums, also from Ireland), Roar Øien (pedal steel guitar, from Norway) – who all matched the energy and passion of the songs, none more so than ‘Brother’ Paul Brown. When he was not energetically playing his distinctive Hammond organ with Yamaha keyboard tied on top, he was wielding a large white keytar (or “white thing” as described by Mike) and darting around the stage swinging and soloing with his pre-programmed synthesiser recreating an electric guitar and making sounds to put many a guitarist to shame.  Having started so strongly and played their biggest hit so early, the question could have been how to follow that. Not a problem. From off stage came the wonderful and so familiar sound of Steve Wickham’s fiddle, as the former Waterboy played the unmistakable intro of “We Will Not be Lovers” while slowly walking on stage to join the band and lead them in song, as the audience roared and welcomed him back into the fold. The richness of the band’s sound only increased with Steve’s contribution and this was followed with “Medicine Bow” and “The Raggle Taggle Gypsy” (a song title which could have been made up to describe Mike Scott and his fellow musicians perfectly had it not been a traditional folk song) during both of which ‘Brother’ Paul and Steve musically fenced with their fiddle and keytar and whirled around the stage. Taking things down a little, their cover of Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing” was up next – at the risk of heresy, for me, one of the few covers which is better than the original, then the melancholic “Strange Boat”, before bringing the first set to a close with “Dunford Fancy” and “The Stolen Child”. If I’m honest, I’m not a fan of bigger gigs and arenas. Sitting in the circles, the sound can sometimes be touch and go, and you can feel more like a spectator watching a gig rather than being part of it; The Waterboys’ music is very difficult to stay still to, and I’d wanted to be part of the gig, so had deliberately bought a standing ticket. I found myself down the front only 3-4 rows from the stage for most of the first set, but then moved to the side when the heat built up and where a number of fans had deliberately moved, so they could kick their shoes off, dance freely and get lost in the wonder of The Waterboys’ music, before I settled on the rear of the floor area for the second set. In all of these areas, Mike’s vocals were really clear and the band sounded great. After a short break, it was time for the second set. The band, including Steve Wickham, return to the stage, this time also with Steve Earle who volunteers that “The Waterboys are one of only three bands I ever wanted to be in”. Things start as I had expected they might – Steve puts on his mandolin and the band kick into a wonderful version of “Copperhead Road”. The last time I saw Steve play live was a solo acoustic gig at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh and here he was playing an arena as part of The Waterboys and couldn’t have sounded happier. But, here’s where things change and were completely unexpected. Mike Scott takes a break for a few songs and The Waterboys become the house band and back Steve on a number of his own songs - “Guitar Town”, “My Old Friend the Blues”, “I Ain’t Ever Satisfied” and his latest single “Volver A Celaya” before which he movingly talks about the problems in his country, and friends who he has worked with who have lived and worked in the States for many years and built lives there, but who might now originally be thought of as “illegal” and could face being forced to leave the country. Mike returns to the stage and the band launches into an unexpected and great cover of the Stones’ “Dead Flowers”, before Steve Earle leaves The Waterboys to close the set with a run of the urgent “When Will We Be Married?”, “When Ye Go Away”, “Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?” “Come Back to Galway” and “A Bang on the Ear”. It’s all back on stage for the encores – the always-uplifting “Galway Girl”, the untamed wild singalong beauty of “Fisherman’s Blues”, “Further Up, Further In” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”. Wow. Just wow. While we could grumble and the gig might have lacked some of the deeper cuts from the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ sessions which we might have hoped to hear live, this was a stunning and magical night of music which I’m still processing. The faces may have changed, but Mike Scott has surrounded himself with a group of excellent international musicians each one of which is a master of their instrument(s). It would be wrong to single out any one musician. Individually and collectively, the quality of the music was captivating. The Waterboys have written some timeless songs and layered on top of this is a high level of musicality and ability. When playing together they only inspire each on to greater musical heights and the addition of Steve Wickham and then Steve Earle tonight only elevated this to greater heights. The Waterboys took a couple of risks tonight. They booked an arena – could they fill it? While it wasn’t sold out, it was pretty full. Would a revue format and without a support act work? Absolutely, and you need to do this again - ten songs from Fisherman’s Blues, big older songs and fan favourites played early, Steve Wickham back on the fiddle, Steve Earle playing as an honorary Waterboy and being backed by them – with some of the best musicianship you are ever likely to hear on one stage. Does live music get any better than this? I don’t think it does. If you get a chance, get out and catch the revue while it’s still playing. Fisherman’s Blues Revue: upcoming tour dates – 3 September – Valencia, Roig Arena 5 September - Dublin, 3Arena 7 September – Oslo, Spektrum 8 September – Stockholm, Filadelfia Convention Center 10 September – Amsterdam, Afas Live 11 September – Antwerp, Olt Rivierenhof 12 September – London. O2 GMcA Phone photos by GMcA

NEW ALBUM THE ALLFATHER AWAKENS DUE 2ND OCTOBER

Danish Rockers Head Out for Shows With Rene Shades

Bad Wolves Will Donate Proceeds From “Jolene” releasing 31 st August, to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Her Honour

The book has taken over two years to compile with the band’s involvement and features hundreds of rare and unseen pictures from the group’s incredible history across more 670 full colour pages.

BLACK SPIKES Dissect Human Existence with Vice-Ridden Ydos

new EP " Catch The Silvertrain" is out 23rd October.

new album 'Transcendence ' is out on 4th September on Attic Records.

NEW ALBUM THE ALLFATHER AWAKENS DUE 2ND OCTOBER VIA METAL BLADE RECORDS

Un-Alive from Pol'and'Rock 2025 Out September 25, 2026 via Napalm Record

As somebody who’s never touched a recreational drug, and barely even bothered with alcohol, I’m not sure that I’m really Hawkwind’s target audience. But despite being pretty boring and sensible, the psychedelic warriors are the reason I’ve ventured to the beautiful Mount Ephraim Gardens this evening. It’s not the first time they’ve headlined A New Day Festival, nor the first time the band have performed reasonably near to where I live, but I’ve missed them on every occasion - a situation I’ve been determined to rectify. Less a gig, more of an immersive experience, it’s quite something to be part of an audience cloaked beneath lasers and lights, an effect enhanced by the position of the stage at the base of a gentle slope. The band appear largely silhouetted against a colourful backdrop, often giving the illusion of whizzing through some alternate dimension - apt for a band who invite us to sing along to ‘Traveller of Time and Space’. Far from conventional headliners, catchy singalongs are not really the order of the day (though opener ‘Right to Decide’ is easy enough to pick up). ‘Levitation’ is spectacularly heavy, the bass hitting you in the chest with a real wallop, centred around a characteristically hypnotic riff. Pleasing in its eccentricity, ‘There Is Still Danger There’ blends a spoken word interlude with washes of synths before inviting you to dance. ‘Underwater City’ follows, elegant and pretty, a gentle instrumental with the risk of being lost on short attention spans. And yet, the festival is the busiest I’ve seen it, young and old convening to appreciate this enduring ‘space rock’. The power of Hawkwind to transcend age is reflected on the stage; Founder Dave Brock turned 85 just a couple of days ago, and drummer Dylan Clarke is a fresh-faced 18. It’s pretty incredible that Brock has been the driving force of the band for more some 57 years; he’s looking (and sounding) remarkably good on it. For a man who seems to be looking ever skyward, Brock is a down to earth presence on stage, jokingly referencing ‘Born to Go’ as being “from the 70s… the 1870s”. Yes it’s old, but it’s a classic, as sprawling and entrancing as it ever was. I’m not sure anyone anticipated ‘Silver Machine’, but it’s a welcome surprise, and the perfect conclusion for an excitable festival crowd. A band unlike any other, Hawkwind continue to exist quite apart from anything else. It’s the closest to a trip I’m ever likely to experience, and that’s good enough for me! Phone photos by Laura DQ

21 August 2026

OUT NOVEMBER 6th 2026 VIA FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL

Firstly I would like to acknowledge the great work done by the Summer Sessions accessibility team, this is the first concert that I’ve used their services and everything from car parking to accessible seating was flawless. Gates opened a good thirty minutes before the main gates to allow people onto the platform before the general public descended into the arena. Accessibility area had QR code scanners for ordering food, soft drinks and merchandise which was promptly delivered by volunteers from the Beatson Cancer Centre, blankets were even provided later on the night as the air turned cooler. There was a sensory area as well as British Sign Language area with staff signing for the people in the deaf area. Taking to the stage at 20:15 and opening with Plainsong, The Cure delivered a main set that was a mixture of fan favourites and album tracks lasting over two hours and finishing with one of the early hits “Boys Don’t Cry” which amazingly after forty seven years is carrying as much excitement now as it did when released way back in 1979. The audience were treated to stunning vocals from Robert Smith accompanied by pounding drums from Jason Cooper, haunting key’s from Roger O’Donnel, body thumping bass vibes from Simon Gallup and screaming guitar chords from Reeves Gabriel. Let’s also not forget Simon’s son Eden on guitars and keyboards and a cameo appearance on A Night Like This from Gabriel Cooper on saxophone who is drummer Jason Coopers son. The encore treated us to know less than eight top twenty hits, which gave the 30,000 crowd a night to remember. 

Sitting in the car heading towards Glasgow city centre for another gig, like every other journey to whatever venue I'm going to, contemplating how tonight will pan out. It's not to a new venue, tonight I am in one of my favourite venues, I am heading "home" to Ivory Blacks. I have no fears about tonight, so my mind drifts off onto a topic I rarely really think about. What is music? Try to describe music without using the word music in any way. Even getting out of the car and going into the venue, this has taken over everything that is in my head. I head in early bypassing security, tonight's gig is another from my friend Frank, owner of Stigmata Promotions, all the usual greetings pass and I head into the venue still thinking What is music? Here is what I come up with. Please bear with me, there is a relevance to tonight's gig. As simply as I can explain what I think it is. Music is a group of rhythmic sounds, put into a form to make some sort of sense, but it's not just a clinical order, music also has feelings added, a song then has lyrics too, they can be complete gibberish right up to the author bearing his or her soul for everyone to see. When it is released it is then what we as individuals, take from it. We can make it a worldwide hit, a cult piece, or to the other extreme, something we don't ever want to hear again. On to tonight's gig, the act opening tonight's show is a local musician going by the name The DDN. The reason for the above point is relevant to The DDN. The best way to explain The DDN would to say he is an experimental electronic musician. Imagine the legendary Scottish artist Calvin Harris playing Freeform Jazz. Not something that is a topic usually featured here at Rockfiend. There have been very few times where I have omitted a band from a review, In my time at Rockfiend this has rarely happened, and never with a Rockfiend photo pass. I will say here, at Rockfiend, we try to be positive towards any performance. I was raised old school, " IF you cannot say something nice, don't say anything". I enjoyed some of what The DDN played and some I didn't. As I said, not something that appears often in Rockfiend, but because I liked some of his set, I have included him in this review. At the end of his set he humbly thanked everyone for coming along early for his set and let everyone know where to buy his albums. Next we have a duo that has something very special. Witch Of The Vale are a minimalist duo, fitting into the ethereal and coldwave genres in Gothic music, and also very haunting. Erin Hawthorne's voice is truly moving. Imagine Enya with a Scottish accent. A few years ago I was standing alongside Actors frontman Jason Corbett, he stated "that woman's voice is incredible!" tonight's headline vocalist Pete Mills agreed after tonight's show. There was a delay of several minutes in starting, there were a few technical issues, no sound in the monitors was one. however, Omar, the sound man was on the case and had it sorted quickly.  I could list a bunch of superlatives about Erins voice and every one would be true. After every song tonight there was a few second gap before there was applause, simply because the audience were mesmerised with Erin, to be honest, this happens every time I've seen Witch Of The Vale. Even the music is minimalistic, it is hard to explain, it's more like a background harmony to Erins voice. They don't even have a setlist. I was about to go off on a direction to say Witch Of The Vale are not a duo to dance to, however, there have been a few remixes in the past that you can dance to, which I have played when DJing at Club Stigmata (sorry for the shameless self promotion). Erin has a new performing partner onstage, I never caught her name, but as she was wearing a cat mask, I'll call her Cat, well until I get a proper name. Cat moved rhythmically with the music behind a keyboard, at one point, it looked like she was trying to play with her left foot! As I said above, Witch Of The Vale are minimalist, there is no interaction with the crowd, not even naming songs, even at the end of their set, Erin finishes the song and says "We are Witch Of The Vale" and leaves the stage. In the early days, (another band I saw from their first ever gig) Erin was extremely shy, there was no interaction, maybe it has carried on as part of the minimalist performance. I do use the word a lot, but if you take the time to see them live on stage, Erins voice will soothe your soul, no matter what you listen to, you will then understand minimalist. Following on from my point at the beginning of this review, Music, and for that matter, music genres are personal. If you look on tonight's headliners social media The Sweet Kill call themselves Post Punk, Darkwave and Gothic Rock. Music genres are created primarily by fans. For example, back in the late 1970s early 1980s, the term "Goth" didn't exist, but there are people who listened to certain bands and dressed a certain way got tagged a Goths, which they embraced. Now if that group of people got together and followed a band from the beginning, bought all their records, bought tickets to see the band play live and bought whatever merch was available, that band becomes that fan groups band, and if that group happens to call themselves Goths, then that band is now a Goth band, and it doesn't matter what Andrew Eldritch or Siouxsie Sioux say. I really love the both of them too. Meanwhile. Tonight's headliner, The Sweet Kill are Los Angeles based, primarily multi talented Pete Mills, (who I find out later that he is actually Canadian) put a band together to perform live. I'll be honest here, I only really knew one song before tonight's gig. As I have said before, when Frank Drake promotes a gig in Glasgow, I know, no matter who is on the bill, I know it is going to be a good night, Frank hasn't let me down yet. I love going to gigs with an open mind, not knowing a band, going to see them for the first time, you don't know if they will be good, bad or indifferent. It is a great way to "discover" new music to add to your library. Tonight, The Sweet Kill have a fifteen track setlist, which I have. The first two songs "Destroy" and "Masters Of War" set up how this set was going to span out. After the second song it felt like I had known this band for a long time, songs like "Evil" and "Creeper" felt like old favourites! When they got to song seven, there it was, the only song that I actually knew, "Darkness", I actually stopped shooting during this song, something I try to avoid doing. Other stand out songs were "Blood Red Roses" and "Forbidden", which was the penultimate song. Like a lot of modern bands, they didn't have a final song then an encore. Pete told us about the rest of the bands tour, playing a lot of places they have not played before, including Amphi festival, then played their final song, which was a cover, and what a song to finish their set, Nine Inch Nails epic "Hurt" This July has been the hottest July in a long time here in Glasgow, again there was a lot of sweat in the air. Tonight's crowd would have loved for the band to play on, who really wants a band to stop? All four members of The Sweet Kill were done for the night, they put everything into their performance, they deserved all the applause they got. A lot of bands, when they finish, head downstairs to Ivory's "green/changing room" to recover for a few minutes before coming back to meet their fans, not The Sweet Kill, while the rest of the band packed away their equipment before joining frontman Pete, he went directly to their merch table, signing autographs and posing for photos with the sweat still running down his face. I don't know what it is about a Goth gig in Ivory Blacks, but people keep handing me their phones and ask if I can take their photo with members of bands. I will admit here, I'm not the greatest using a phone. With tonight being another Stigmata Promotion gig, I usually wait until the crowd has left the venue, I get the band to pose for a couple of promo photos. I doesn't happen every time, especially if there is a club night afterwards, but I always try. If you don't know Ivory Blacks, before heading into the main gig area, there is a spot where people can stand at the venues logo in lights, and a huge pair of wings, bands love to pose too, but only if there is time to do so. If you don't know any of tonight's bands, even if you do know, head on over to your favoured social media streaming service and give them a listen to, even take in a video or two, you might find something to add to your own playlist. See you at the barrier. Photos by Jai Dee Photography

If these vampires turned up at your window, you’d feel compelled to invite them in.

DUE 15TH JANUARY 2027 VIA REVAMP / WARNER MUSIC