Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: June 2024
There’s plenty of stuff to keep us rockin’ as summer arrives (TBC). The reliably mainstream Bristol Sounds finally dips a tentative toe into metal with a day headlined by Skindred. If your taste is for something heavier, we’re also welcoming Brazilian all-female death metal act Crypta and hailing the return of High On Fire. It’s quite possible that you’ll be able to hear Pink Floyd’s Echoes played twice, in very different styles, at the Bristol Beacon this month, as it’s in the repertoire of both Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets and Rodrigo Y Gabriela.
St. George’s, June 4
is needed now More than ever
Having belatedly celebrated their 2019 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Fleece last April, these British Invasion survivors remain a potent live act, with septuagenarian founders Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone still at the helm after more than 60 years. Expect to hear all the classics, plus highlights from the band’s 1968 masterpiece Odessey & Oracle.
Thekla, June 7
He’s always been an articulate, chatty fella has former Little Angels/current Wayward Sons frontman Toby, so this blend of acoustic performance and anecdotage promises to be enormous fun, drawing on his four decades in the business of music. Hopefully, he’ll share some of his fun yarns about Motorhead’s Fast Eddie Clarke and Saxon’s Biff Byford. Big Bad Dave Kemp from Wayward Sons will also be on hand to add musical muscle.
Exchange, June 13
An all-female Brazilian death metal act? What’s not to love? Crypta were formed by bassist/vocalist Fernanda Lira and drummer Luana Dametto after they left the thrash metal act Nervosa, eventually joining forces with guitarists Jéssica di Falchi and Tainá Bergamaschi. Their second album, Shades of Sorrow (out now on Napalm), was named as one of the 10 best death metal albums of 2023 by Metal Hammer. They were also on the bill with Morbid Angel in Illinois last year when that deadly tornado caused the roof to collapse immediately after their set, killing one punter and injuring 28 others.
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
Bristol Beacon, June 17
Pink Floyd co-founder Nick Mason brings his Saucerful of Secrets to Bristol for the first time after playing a great show at the Bath Forum back in May 2022. For the uninitiated, they concentrate on playing early psychedelic Floyd stuff, up to and including Echoes. Alongside drummer Mason, the band comprises former Floyd bassist Guy Pratt, ex-Blockhead Lee Harris on guitar, Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp on guitar and vocals and Dom Beken on keyboards.
Thekla, June 18
Last time the Oakland sluggers played Bristol, back in June 2022, they were deafeningly loud (in Motorhead stylee), so expect some serious damage to be caused to the infrastructure of the good ship Thekla tonight. Matt Pike’s trio have finally got around to releasing a new album, Cometh the Storm – a follow-up to 2018’s Electric Messiah, whose title song won a Grammy (Best Metal Performance).
Bristol Sounds: Skindred, Reef, Kris Barras Band
Canons Marsh Amphitheatre, June 22
Something of a first for Bristol Sounds, which has previously boasted little to appeal to rock fans: a whole day of rock, most of it fairly local. Newport’s splendid ragga-metallers Skindred get to headline, having hit number two in the UK album chart (and secured a slot on BBC Breakfast TV where they were interviewed by the baffled presenters) with current release Smile, and subsequently selling out Wembley Arena. We last saw them at a packed Academy back in October. Also on the bill are Somerset rockers Reef and Torquay’s very own Kris Barras Band. Former cage-fighter Mr. Barras has moved firmly away from blues-rock towards metal with his new release Halo Effect on Earache. There’s a mixed bag further down the bill, but two Bristol acts well worth a look are Mother Vulture, who trade in classic rock with ‘punk rock energy’, and rock/metal/punk/hardcore mob RXPTRS.
Bristol Beacon, June 23
Grammy winning Mexican former buskers Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero rose to fame with their fiery acoustic covers of metal and prog classics (notably songs by Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd – though they’ll also cover Slayer if you shout loudly enough). But you can’t really get away with doing that forever without being pigeonholed as a novelty act, so they’ve also released several well-received albums of their own compositions, the latest being 2023’s In Between Thoughts . . . A New World.
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, SWX, July 3
Preacher Stone, Louisiana, July 13
Love with Johnny Echols, Fleece, Aug 1
ArcTanGent Festival: Meshuggah, Animals As Leaders, Baroness, Ihsahn, etc., Fernhill Farm, Aug 14-17
Hawkwind, Bath Forum, Aug 16
Nile, Fleece, Sept 5
The Dead Daisies, O2 Academy, Sept 20
Cannibal Corpse/Municipal Waste/Immolation/Schizophrenia, Bristol Beacon, Sept 25
Battle Beast, Marble Factory, Oct 3
Steve Hackett, Bristol Beacon, Oct 5
Visions of Atlantis, Exchange, Oct 7
Orange Goblin, Fleece, Oct 10
Eivør, Thekla, Oct 12
Blues Pills, Thekla, Oct 15
Starset, O2 Academy, Oct 17
Fu Manchu, Marble Factory, Oct 22
Lacuna Coil, O2 Academy, Oct 26
Cradle of Filth, O2 Academy, Oct 27
Focus, Fleece, Nov 13
Therapy?, O2 Academy, Nov 15
Baroness/Graveyard/Pallbearer, Marble Factory, Nov 21
Delain, SWX, Nov 22
Massive Wagons, SWX, Nov 23
VOLA, SWX, Nov 26
Pitchshifter, Thekla, Nov 26
Gun, SWX, Dec 7
Jethro Tull, Bristol Cathedral, Dec 11
The Rick Wakeman Yuletide Christmas Show, Bath Forum, Dec 18
Eyehategod/Goatwhore, Marble Factory, Dec 19
Fish, Bristol Beacon, Feb 26
Wardruna, Bristol Beacon, March 21
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