Music Live - Titans of Tribute
Published on November 12th, 2009
Thanks to everyone who came to see us at Music Live at the Birmingham NEC this past Sunday afternoon. Hi-on headlined the event entitled 'Titans of Tribute', on a bill which recreated the 1988 Donington 'Monsters of Rock' festival with the UK's finest tribute bands. Also performing on the day were UK Guns n' Roses, Megadeth UK, Yankee Rose and the amazing Dressed to Kill, all of which put in stunning performances. We had a great time and were well looked after thanks to Jordan and the Music Live team - thank you for all your help on the day.
Unfortunately the day didn't go quite according to plan. Speed Harris had to leave us in the early hours of Sunday morning to attend to a family emergency meaning we had to cancel our Helloween tribute performance (Hulloween) which was due to start proceedings at the NEC as Helloween did all those years ago at Donington Park. We also had to hastily draft in someone to fill Speed's mighty boots. We once again thank the organisers for being so understanding of our situation on the day.
Standing in for Speed was the excellent Kev from the Yorkshire based Iron Maiden tribute band Iron-on Maiden. Kev got the call at 8:00am and was at the NEC by lunchtime, ready to take the stage and save our bacon. Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to Kev, who played a blinder and got us out of a tight spot. What a hero!
Hi-on Maiden at Music Live '09
Bruce Dugginson
Dave Hurry
Swifty and Kev
The Trooper
Many thanks must also be given to our good friend, and amazing session drummer, Jonno Lodge, who's credits include Biomechanical and about a zillion other bands. Jonno stepped into the breach while Nicko "I'm not bloody doing Helloween" McBrain Jnr. was away on a European tour with his original band The Worldonfire, supporting Oceansize. Jonno played sensationally, especially given his fatigue - he'd been up and down the country gigging before joining us on Thursday, and had to go to Birmingham in between the Pontypool and Kettering shows to play at Music Live in a different capacity! Another hero. He will also be joining us in Swindon and Crewe in a couple of weeks time. Jonno has a brand new website, go check it out here: www.jonnolodge.com
The other hiccup was regarding our stage set. Those of you who saw us at The Brook in Southampton on Thursday night will have noticed a large erection or two onstage (and no, I'm not talking about the spandex!). Our fantastic artist pal Mark fabricated and painted an absolutely epic set of backdrops and sidedrops in an effort to recreate the Iron Maiden 'Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour' stage set, and what a brilliant job he did! Ice Eddies and all! We had commissioned all this with the Music Live show in mind.
Kev from Iron-on Maiden steps into the breach
Clive Blurr - aka Jonno Lodge
Eddie's gonna get ya, no matter how far!
Titans of Tribute
Kev and Swifty salute the Music Live masses
Unfortunately, the NEC could not allow us to put up the scaffolding and backdrop due to time constraints regarding the strict 20 minute change over between bands. This was a bit of a blow, especially given the problems that Sunday had already presented us with. However, we carried on regardless and put on what we hope was a blinder of a show. Fear not however, as we will be rolling this production out again in the not too distant future at more venues around the U.K. and Europe, so keep your eyes on the website for more news.
We were joined onstage for 'The Trooper' by rock drummer extraordinaire Robin Guy, whose impressive CV features none other than Bruce Dickinson, Faith No More, Dee Snider, All About Eve, GMT and many many more. Robin is a hell of a drummer and a very nice chap to boot - a pleasure to share the stage with!
Thanks again to everyone who made this weekend possible - including all at The Brook, The Hog & Hosper and Sawyers Venue. Up the 'kin Irons!
Many thanks to Kay Oakley and Jess Tilley for the photographs.
|
