Leadmill, Sheffield – 07/01/23
The iron Maiden extended family is a supportive and close affair. Evidenced not just by the acts that Iron Maiden themselves have as support, but the ‘side project’ groups too.
Tonight at the Leadmill, we see Airforce open up, a group that Steve Harris had a hand in setting up, drummer Doug Samson was in Steve Harris’ band ‘Smiler’ in the 70’s and he also played a stint in Maiden, prior to Clive Burr joining the group.
Airforce delivered a really solid 6 song set, my only critique is that I wish it had been longer. They started ten minutes after doors opened and were done by quarter to 8! Now I know that there’s still two bands to get through, but even an 8pm finish would have been great. They are a really strong band and I especially liked the song ‘Heroes’. With a familiar sounding riff, that finds itself somewhere between Sabbath and Maiden and a great sounding vocal line too. I really enjoyed this opening set and it was a super start to the night.
Up next is Voodoo Six, a band who I think are absolutely brilliant. I love the bands sound; slightly American sounding, with a huge British underbite. There quite simply isn’t another band out there that sound like Voodoo Six.
The energy onstage is magnificent. Bass player and founding member Tony Newton isn’t a ‘let’s stand at the back and remain unnoticed’ type player. He was all over the place, treating the tiny Leadmill stage more like the stage at Wembley. Guitarists Matt Pearce and Tommy Gentry really gelled and the guitars, especially Matt’s goldtop Les Paul sounded amazing. Joe Lazerus is one hell of a drummer and singer Nik Taylor Stoakes grabbed you with the first song and didn’t put you down until they got to the end of their set.
Opening with ‘Something For You’, the set only featured one song from the bands latest album ‘Simulation Game’, with the majority of songs being pulled from the bands 2013 album ‘Songs to Invade Countries to’. ‘Falling Knives’, from the aforementioned album follows and then one of my favourite Voodoo tracks; ‘Gone Forever’.
The whole band are so incredibly tight, which is amazing, considering they had one rehearsal the day before the tour started. They were drafted in as replacement for Coney Hatch, who had to pull out.
The band continue their set and bring proceedings to a close, again, all too soon, with Your Way. This is a stunning song, with the band all firing on full cylinders! An absolutely killer set. And if you’re not familiar with Voodoo Six, you need to catch them live!
After a quick changeover, British Lion enter the stage to their signature intro music and launch into their first song, ‘This is My God’. I love watching lead singer Richard Taylor on stage, he has such a strong physical presence onstage and I feel he has really grown into the role now and really owns it! The set is a great selection of songs from across the bands two albums, we are even treated to a brand new song, from the as yet, untitled third album.
At a British Lion gig, there are so many highlights, they are a really great band. I really like ‘Judas’, it goes without saying that ‘Spitfire’ and ‘Burning’ are sublime and are possibly becoming signature British Lion tracks. ‘Bible Black’ is an incredible song, especially when you hear it live, I love the opening guitar line and that chorus is so catchy, it’s been stuck in my head ever since.
The band always say they don’t do encores, they just play right on through. Why stop, go off and then come back on, when they can just carry on and not kill the energy. And by the time we hit the final few songs, they are not just at number 11, they have well and truly surpassed that!
‘A World Without Heaven’, ‘Last Chance’ and ‘Eyes of the Young’ close the show and wow, what a show it was. Steve Harris is a machine on the bass, he has possibly one of the most recognisable bass sounds of the last forty years. He puts as much energy into this tiny little venue as he does when he plays the biggest stages in the world with the ‘other band’.
As the final notes of Eyes of the Young rang out, I started contemplating Steve Harris’ motivation for doing this. I saw him December 2021, with British Lion, then since then he’s toured Europe with Maiden, I saw him blow the roof off Download, he’s done the States and now he’s on another British Lion tour before doing the European festivals with Maiden and then I’m seeing Maiden on their summer tour of the uk in just a few months time.
I think for Steve, British Lion is a true labour of love, this is what he is passionate about. There’s something special about seeing the whites of the audiences eyes, in a tiny club, something that a Maiden show can’t offer him anymore. This is Steve Harris’ true artistic expression and dare I say it, (Maiden fans, don’t shoot me!) the songs he wants to write.
Whether that is the case or not, what I do know, is that seeing British Lion was a great way to kick off my 2023. What a great gig to start proceedings off with.
