Eagles Of Death Metal - Anchor Lane

Local band Anchor Lane were the openers. They played a short set consisting of heavy, riff driven songs filled with intricate solos and rhythms worthy of headbanging to. Their sound was good with guitars, bass and drums all sounding punchy but still clear. The vocal mix was incredible and every word was easy to make out. My personal favourites of the set were their fantastic performances of ‘Finished for Twelve’ and ‘Annie’. Furthermore, their brief performance of ‘We Will Rock You’ was very good and the audience participation during the infamous hook was very fun. These guys are definitely worth checking out live as they sound phenomenal.

Eagles of Death Metal were next on and despite a rocky start with amps cutting out during the first few songs they managed to put on one of the most energetic live shows I’ve seen in a while. The sound was very well balanced, with distorted guitars sitting comfortably in the mix and the fuzzy bass tone was extremely cool. The band played a great selection of songs from their entire career including classics such as ‘I Want You So Hard’ and ‘Wannabe in L.A.’. These songs went down a storm to the audience of this packed venue. The drums sounded so powerful throughout the gig. Everyone knows cowbells are cool, but I’d never heard one played with such ferocity as I did at this gig. The punk vibe of ‘Cherry Cola’ was a great change of pace and had the whole venue singing along to it’s simple yet effective chorus. The band also played some very interesting covers including ‘Moonage Daydream’ and ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ amongst others including a solo bass performance of ‘Ace Of Spades’. They even brought Slim Jim Phantom (of Stray Cats fame) out to perform with them part way through the set. This eclectic mix meant that the gig never had a dull moment. These covers were also great picks because the audience responded so well with fans cheering for the band for the entirety of their set. Towards the end of the set, frontman Jesse walked from the stage all the way upstairs to the Garage balcony area where he stood on the edge and played an absolutely stunning guitar solo. To say the audience were shocked is an understatement. My personal favourites of the set were ‘I Want You So Hard’, ‘I Love You All The Time’ and ‘Moonage Daydream’. I can safely say that this gig was unlike any I had ever been to in the past and I will not be forgetting it any time soon. Eagles of Death Metal have all the features of good old-fashioned rock n’ roll: chunky riffs, catchy lyrics, bucketloads of attitude, you would be a fool to miss out on seeing them if they are playing a show near you.