Tag Archives: tribute band

Live review: On Thin Ice – Pink Floyd tribute at Blackbox, Hastings 6/3/26

Rock music, Live reviews, Hastings music scene, , , , , , , ,

While someone banging out some half-decent AC/DC or Stones covers will invariably bring a smile to my face, when it comes to Pink Floyd you’ve either got to get the sound bang on or else it’s simply not worth bothering. And while I was never lucky enough to see the original Pink Floyd, I’ve seen a few Pink Floyd tributes over the years, from the internationally-renowned (Australian Pink Floyd) to the downright dodgy (remaining nameless to spare blushes).

Formed in 2014 and hailed as one of the UK’s leading Pink Floyd tribute acts, proudly proclaiming their commitment to authenticity, I had high hopes for On Thin Ice and was not disappointed.

Performing three sets that delved into songs from across the band’s career, the first set began with a convincing selection of classics from the Syd Barrett-era Floyd, followed by a couple of tracks from Meddle before moving on to a mammoth rendition of songs from Dark Side of the Moon. It was all done in QUAD sound, too, with four channels of sound filling the room, echoing the original Pink Floyd tours of the late ‘60s and ’70s and ensuring maximum sonic impact in terms of those memorable special effects on albums like Dark Side.

Mish B, one of two female backing vocalists, did an absolutely incredible job taking on the lead vocal for ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ and received rapturous applause for her own take on that stunning, other-worldly performance which session singer, Clare Tory, will always be best remembered for (Tory’s second most memorable performance being the theme song for BBC’s Butterflies, for all you trivia fans out there.)

After a short break, we are into the second set, which is a celebration of the Wish You Were Here album that is every bit as good as their exploration of the Dark Side of the Moon, before ending in an epic performance of ‘Sheep’ from Animals. It’s great to see Hastings’ Blackbox back on the circuit. As a gig venue it pretty much does what it says on the tin, a long oblong box painted completely black with the stage at the front and the bar at the back. The sound is great, the guitars, keyboards, sax and vocals are mind-blowingly authentic and in a venue like this you can half close your eyes and mentally transport yourself to some huge stadium somewhere seeing the real thing.

After another short break the third and final set, focuses on the band’s later studio albums with a couple of tracks from The Wall, and a track apiece from the post-Roger Waters albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, before drawing proceedings to a close with a stunning rendition of ‘Comfortably Numb’.

The guys (and gals) do put every ounce of effort into making themselves sound as close to Pink Floyd as humanly possible so if you are looking for a night of Pink Floyd classics in a live setting, On Thin Ice are absolutely worth checking out.

https://www.onthinicefloyd.com/

Related posts:

Review: ‘Their Mortal Remains’ Pink Floyd Exhibition at the V&A

Rock: album review – David Gilmour ‘Rattle That Lock’

Live review: The Counterfeit Stones at St Mary in the Castle, Hastings 12/10/19

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , ,

This review was also published on the Gig Buddies website here

From the camp swagger of a stand-in in Mick Jagger, to the fag-in-mouth rock star posturing of a wanna-be Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards to endless tongue-in-cheek between-song banter (“Don’t worry we’re not going to be doing any of the recent stuff”) a night with the Counterfeit Stones is as much theatre as it is rock gig. However, they play just great and capture the sound of the 60s and 70s Stones really nicely.

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Photo credit: artist publicity

From the very early covers (‘Carol’ and ‘It’s All Over Now’) through to the era-defining Jagger/Richards compositions of the mid 60s (‘Time Is On My Side’, ‘Get Off My Cloud’, ‘Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown’, ‘Satisfaction’ et al) through to those perennial giants of late 60s/early 70s rock mega-stardom (including ‘It’s Only Rock n Roll’, ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Honky Tonk Women’) the band kept true to their word of not playing anything released in the last thirty years. The disco-funk of ‘Miss You’ from 1978 and what many consider to be the last really great Stones song – ‘Start Me Up’ (released in 1981) were the most recent material that made the set-list tonight.

Aside from their tongue-in-cheek personas and schoolboy humour stage name’s the band are highly competent musicians who play well together, the Nicky Hopkins soundalike adding a real touch of authenticity. Outfit-wise they eschewed the hounds-tooth jackets or menacing black suits of the early Stones and gone for a late 70s/early 80s Stones look.

The full band are:

  • Nick Dagger is played by Steve Elson.
  • Keef Rickard is played by Stuart Fiddler
  • Charlie Mott is played by John Prynn.
  • Ronnie B Goode are played by David Birnie.
  • Bill Hymen is played by Steve Jones.
  • Nicky Popkiss is played by Holger Skepeneit.

I work for a charity called Stay Up Late which campaigns for adults with learning disabilities to be able to choose the sort of lifestyle they want to live and we also run the successful Gig Buddies project across Sussex. Accompanying me to the gig was Daniel who is one of our participants and an active campaigner for the charity as well as being an avid gig-goer.

Daniel’s verdict: “It was brilliant. I enjoyed dancing. I thought I’d bring my earplugs just in case but I loved how loud it was. Afterwards, I managed to get the whole band’s autographs.”

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https://www.thecounterfeitstones.com/

Motörpace (Motörhead tribute) at The Carlisle, Hastings 20/8/16

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , ,

My review originally appeared in the Hastings Independent 1/9/16

When there is so much excellent original music being performed live around the town should the Hastings Independent be reviewing tribute bands? It’s a moot point and for much of the past couple of decades I’ve been pretty dismissive of the whole tribute band scene; but two things began to change. Firstly, being exposed to world-class tribute acts, like Australian Pink Floyd, appearing on festival line-ups alongside original artists and experiencing first hand the sheer quality of the musicianship, regardless of whether it was original or not. Secondly, reflecting on the legacy of some truly iconic acts in the wake of a seemingly endless succession of rock star deaths in recent months, not least one Lemmy Kilmister at the end of 2015, and concluding that it would be a particularly severe case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face to refuse to celebrate and enjoy the music of, say, David Bowie or The Eagles or Motörhead in a live setting just because the instigators are no longer with us. No-one ever got sniffy about the artistic validity of the Royal Philharmonic performing an evening of Beethoven so should celebrating the music of some of rock’s greatest icons really be that much different?

So here we are at The Carlisle then to witness the Motörhead tribute act, Motorpace. First, however, the band as they put it themselves “are their own support act” and rattle through a number of heavy metal staples by the likes of AC/DC, Metallica and Judas Priest before doing a full second set in full-on tribute band mode. Wisely, apart from the bass player/vocalist sporting some Lemmy-esque facial hair and a vaguely rock n roll-ish leather hat, the band avoid the temptation to play-act the roles of the former members of Motörhead and instead concentrate on getting the sound right; which they do with devastating precision. All the essential ingredients are there: the fast and furious bass-playing rumbling away like some industrial power tool, the hoary, growled vocals, the blinding guitar solos, the power drumming. It goes down really well with the Carlisle crowd which has swelled significantly by the time the band come on stage to do their main set in tribute to Lemmy and co. Punters lap up the likes of We Are The Road Crew, The Chase is Better Than the Catch, Overkill and, of course, Ace of Spades as well as more recent material like Thunder & Lightning from Motörhead’s final studio album, Bad Magic.

I’ve certainly become far more philosophical about tribute acts. If your entire experience of live music was to be nothing but an endless stream of tribute acts, each aping the glory days of bands gone by, that would be rather sad indeed; but as part of a balanced musical diet I see absolutely nothing wrong with taking in the odd tribute concert. This is especially so when the quality of the performance is as good as that delivered by Motorpace this evening.

https://www.facebook.com/motorpacetrib/?fref=ts

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2016-09-06 12.43.50

Related reviews:
Motörhead – Bad Magic
Motörhead at Hyde Park