Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: May 2024
Not wishing to blow my own trumpet too loudly here, I’ll briefly mention that my new book, The West’s Greatest Rock Shows 1963-1978: Lost, Forgotten and Previously Untold Eye-Opening Tales from the Gigs You’ll Wish You’d Seen is published this month by Bristol Books. There’s a launch event at Waterstones in the Galleries on May 2. Do come along. Tickets are available here. Ticket holders also get a fiver off the cost of the rockin’ tome.
Fleece, May 15
is needed now More than ever
First night of a big-value Brit alt-metal co-headlining tour. Leicester post-metallers Maybeshewill are celebrating the tenth anniversary of their recently remixed and remastered Fair Youth album and the release of their fifth album, No Feeling is Final, with their first show in Bristol in a decade. The increasingly impressive Kent-based BOSSK return after their sold-out show at the Exchange in 2021. Expect to hear much from their highly acclaimed Migration album and the new one, .4.
Thekla, May 16
Doing symphonic metal on a budget is always a challenge, as this stuff cries out for grand productions and lavish orchestration, but Norway’s Sirenia don’t seem to mind being on the club circuit. They’ve also put together a strong line-up for their first full UK tour, under the Symphonic Metal Nights banner. With 11 albums under their belt, the latest being 2023’s 1977 (the year of band leader Morten Veland’s birth), they’ve got no shortage of material to play tonight. Support comes from Italian symphonic/power metallers Temperance, unveiling their new singer Kristin Starkey, and Czech outfit Symphonity, who’ve just released a live album and DVD entitled Marco Polo: Live in Europe.
Bath Forum, May 17
Okay, so he’s at the softest end of the soft rock spectrum, but that self-titled debut album from 1987 remains an absolute cracker and this is the first time he’s ever come our way on tour. Marx also boasts the distinction of being the only male artist in history to reach the US Billboard top five with each of his first seven singles (Don’t Mean Nothing, Hazard, etc).
SWX, May 20
Gig of the month? Quite probably. Fabulous Polish proggers Riverside return to SWX, where they played the best gig of 2019, in support of their great recent studio album ID.Entity (number seven in Prog magazine’s Albums of the Year list for 2023 and number four in the same mag’s readers’ poll). Support comes from excellent French band Klone, who we last saw supporting Devin Townsend at the Academy, and will tonight be playing an acoustic set.
Fleece, May 22
Veteran Italian doomsters, who’ve returned after a brief covid-era hiatus with a new drummer and taken a turn into psych/prog territory. Their 10th album, Hidden, will be released on the Neurot label a few days before this show.
Fleece, May 30
Atmospheric US black metallers touring their new Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge EP, which follows their major label debut, Primordial Arcana. They prefer to perform by firelight, though quite how that’s going to work at the Fleece remains to be seen.
Thekla, May 30
Friday afternoon at last year’s ArcTanGent festival: Australia’s Caligula’s Horse turn up to play their first show on British soil in four years. And what an absolute joy their brand of choppy, melodic prog-metal turned out to be amid all the extreme, experimental and alt-metal elsewhere on the bill. Now they’re back with a terrific new album, Charcoal Grace, on the Inside Out label. Hopefully they’ll play the epic 24 minute four-part title track tonight. Highly recommended to anyone who loves modern prog-metal in the VOLA/Voyager/Leprous vein.
Bristol Beacon, May 31
Following the sad death of Alan White, de facto leader Steve Howe is now the sole remaining ‘classic Yes’ member of the current Yes line-up. But Jay Schellen is a very able replacement for White, becoming the third American in the current line-up alongside singer Jon Davison and bassist Billy Sherwood. Former Buggles fella Geoff Downes remains on keyboards, having now served more time in Yes than Rick Wakeman. Although they’ve got a new album, Mirror to the Sky, to promote, this is being billed as the Classic Tales of Yes tour, with a career-spanning set promised, reaching all the way back to 1970’s Time and a Word. Rather fabulously, there will also be a section celebrating the 50th anniversary of Tales from Topographic Oceans (which was actually released 51 years ago, spending two weeks at number one). What’s more, Roger Dean will be present with a gallery of his art in the foyer.
Main pic of Yes: © Gottlieb Bros
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
The Zombies, St. George’s, June 4
Toby Jepson, Thekla, June 7
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Bristol Beacon, June 17
High On Fire, Thekla, June 18
Bristol Sounds: Skindred, Reef, Kris Barras Band, Canons March Amphitheatre, June 22
Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Bristol Beacon, June 23
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
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
Focus, Fleece, Nov 13
Therapy?, O2 Academy, Nov 15
Delain, SWX, Nov 22
VOLA, SWX, 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
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