#8: Slash - Slash

Ghost
Crucify The Dead
Beautiful Dangerous
Back From Cali
Promise
By The Sword
Gotten
Doctor Alibi
Watch This
I Hold On
Nothing To Say
Starlight
Saint Is A Sinner Too
We're All Gonna Die

Slash - guitar
Chris Chaney - bass (except on 'Watch This')
Josh Freese - drums (except on 'Watch This' and 'Starlight')
Lenny Castro - percussion (except on 'Ghost', 'Doctor Alibi', 'Watch This', 'Nothing To Say', 'Starlight' and 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Ian Astbury - vocals and percussion on 'Ghost'
Izzy Stradlin - guitar on 'Ghost'
Ozzy Osbourne - vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Taylor Hawkins - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Kevin Churko - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Fergie - vocals on 'Beautiful Dangerous'
Myles Kennedy - vocals on 'Back From Cali' and 'Starlight'
Steve Ferrone - drums on 'Starlight'
Chris Cornell - vocals on 'Promise'
Andrew Stockdale - vocals on 'By The Sword'
Adam Levine - vocals on 'Gotten'
Lemmy Kilmister - vocals and bass on 'Doctor Alibi'
Dave Grohl - drums on 'Watch This'
Duff McKagan - bass on 'Watch This'
Kid Rock - vocals on 'I Hold On'
M. Shadows - vocals on 'Nothing To Say'
Rocco DeLuca - vocals on 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Iggy Pop - vocals on 'We're All Gonna Die'
Produced by Eric Valentine, Kid Rock and Big Chris Flores

If you'd asked me in 2009 if Slash was going to release one of the best rock albums in recent memory, I would have told you that there wasn't a chance. I believed his best days to be far behind him, with Velvet Revolver's 'Contraband' being the last glimpse of how great he can be when he believes in what he's doing (which itself was the first time he'd shown that ability since leaving Guns N' Roses earlier). Since then, a series of moves made by him, as well as his lacklustre performance on Velvet Revolver's 'Libertad' had me convinced that his career from then on was to be a series of cynical cash-in's and virtual retreads of his past material.
Then in the first half of 2010, Slash released his first true solo album, and blew me away once again. Going the Carlos Santana route of writing songs for a series of guest vocalists to add their own lyrics and melodies to, 'Slash' turns out to be a surprisingly eclectic album, taking in punk, thrash metal, and even Spanish guitar as well as Slash's trademark bluesy guitar swagger. The guest vocalists range from the obvious old school legends (Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop), to the best voices in rock n' roll today (M. Shadows, Andrew Stockdale), to the downright bizarre (Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas).
Surprisingly, it's the track with Fergie - 'Beautiful Dangerous' - that stands out as the best song on the album. She might not show it in her day job, but this girl can really rock given the right incentive. Other highlights include (but are not limited to) 'By The Sword' featuring Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, and the instrumental 'Watch This' featuring Duff McKagan on bass and Dave Grohl on drums (this has the makings of another great supergroup!)
The only real disappointments are the tracks sang by Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy. Myles can be a fantastic singer when he keeps to his natural baritone voice, but as soon as he begins stretching his voice to near-castrato levels, which is what he does to excess during both of the songs he's featured on here, he just sounds awful. Like Axl Rose circa 2002, in fact. That said, Myles has proven to be perfectly capable singing the other songs on the record in a live setting in the last years of touring, and will be the sole vocalist on next year's follow-up. Hopefully he'll be singing more like he does with Alter Bridge on that one.
Ultimately, though, Slash has proven that he still has some great riffs hidden in that top hat of his, and his credibility has been restored. Hopefully that'll last for a while....


Oh... back to the drawing board, then, eh?

Listen Here: Slash – Slash

#9: Filter - The Trouble With Angels

The Inevitable Relapse
Drug Boy
Absentee Father
No Love
No Re-Entry
Down With Me
Catch A Falling Knife
The Trouble With Angels
Clouds
Fades Like A Photograph

Richard Patrick - vocals, guitar, programming
Mitchell Marlow - guitar
John Spiker - bass, programming
Mika Fineo - drums
Produced by Richard Patrick and Bob Marlette

Richard Patick and co. return to form after the patchy 'Anthems For The Damned'. In fact, not only is this a return to form for the band, but also the best that they have ever released, despite not having a 'Hey Man, Nice Shot' style crowd-pleaser.

Listen Here: Filter – The Trouble With Angels

#10 - Smashing Pumpkins - Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 1: Songs For A Sailor

A Song For A Son
Astral Planes
Widow Wake My Mind
A Stitch In Time

Billy Corgan - vocals, guitar, keyboards, electric sitar
Mike Byrne - drums
Mark Tulin - bass
Kerry Brown - congas on 'Astral Planes'
Ysanne Spevack - violin, viola
Linda Strawberry - backing vocals

Produced by Billy Corgan, Kerry Brown and Bjorn Thorsrud

Billy Corgan's reconstituted Smashing Pumpkins entered the new decade with a novel idea. 44 songs, all released for free to download online, with a physical E.P. to be released after 4 songs have been made available. 'Songs For A Sailor' is the first E.P. to be released.
Entirely recorded by Billy Corgan, Mike Byrne (who replaces original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin), and temporary stand-in Mark Tulin (standing in for Ginger Reyes, who left the band to concentrate on her new family, and Nicole Fiorentino who had yet to be brought into the band), the songs on this record are definite growers. I wasn't a huge fan of any of them until repeated listens opened up their beauty to me. A perfect example of this is 'A Song For A Son', which on the face of it is just a simple piano melody that breaks down into some fairly impressive guitar theatrics.
The thing about the way these songs are being released is that Billy doesn't have to focus on any particular style to make the songs fit together, and it shows. There are shades of folk, and pop here, and other than the aforementioned guitar, the rock that the Pumpkins are known for is hardly anywhere to be seen.
There is a little bit of fumbling on here that shows that he's still getting used to this freedom, but overall this is a very strong set of songs.

Listen to/download these and all other 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' songs that have been released, here: http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/pages/home

Guns N' Roses and the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame

So, it's official... Guns N' Roses will be inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame next April. As soon as I heard the news, I sent three tweets to the band as well as Slash and Duff. One, a sincere congratulations for an honour that's well deserved. One a jokey reminder for someone to let Izzy know (I can actually see him not having any idea about it until it's already happened otherwise), and the other a plea to "please please PLEASE DON'T fuck it up".

Some people may confuse that plea for a plea for a reunion of some kind, but it's not. I love the current line-up of Guns N' Roses and 'Chinese Democracy', and think that what Slash and Duff have been doing on their own for the last few years is some of the best music they've ever recorded. I don't want to see any of these to come to an end because they've decided they want to tour together again. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if there is a reunion, whatever those guys had together would already be long gone.

No... I just want them all to be civil with each other for just one night. And by all, I mean the line-up that created 'Appetite For Destruction', as well as Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke and the current line-up together! Maybe there should be some room for Buckethead, Brain and Robin Finck, too. If they want to throw people a bone by having the original guys go up and perform, that'd be amazing, too, as a one-off. But that would just be a bonus... to have all of them there together would be the main goal. I'm really hoping that's not too much to ask for.

Of course, the Hall itself will have to do its part, too. In my opinion, if they want to avoid repeating the shambles with Van Halen, the worst thing they could do is tell Axl that the current line-up aren't going to be included. He's really fired up and proud of the band he has now, and has spent the last 10 years trying to convince the world to embrace the present, and let go of the past. The success of this has been mixed, but the current US tour appears to finally be doing this. If the HOF refuses to acknowledge them, that's a sure-fire way to turn the ceremony into an embarrassing drama. On top of this (and this next statement may piss people off), I think a large reason for the induction is the current line-up. Not because of their contribution to music, exactly, but because 'Chinese Democracy' and the last ten years of touring have kept Guns N' Roses an ongoing concern, with people always talking about what Axl is up to, etc. etc. They didn't give the world (or indeed the Hall Of Fame) a chance to forget about them. Contrary to popular belief, Axl has never tried to deny credit where it is due, even to people he doesn't like, so I'm pretty sure he'll accept that the original line-up needs to be included.

I know that in the long run, the Hall Of Fame doesn't matter - its relevance has repeatedly been called into question in recent years. But it's still a huge honour that 25 years after 'Appetite For Destruction' the band are still considered relevant enough to be included in such an exclusive club. People complain about the bands that have never been inducted, but a lot of those bands haven't made the required and sustained impact on music that their fans believe them to have, and it's the exclusivity of the thing that makes it so special. It's not something that will make any difference to the world, but it's a positive thing, people!

And wouldn't be nice if we could still think of it as a positive thing come April?

That Top 50: #26-11

So I got really behind on this countdown. For that reason, I'm going to do all of #26-11 en masse so then I'll only have the top ten to do in the couple of weeks until Christmas. I'll try to be more organised next time I attempt something like this...

#26 - Social Distortion - Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes

Mike Ness and co. return six years after their previous album. They sound exactly as you remember them, which is equally refreshing, and frustrating (would it be too much to ask to try something a bit different?). But still a highly entertaining record.

#25 - Riot In Rhythm - Vicious Circle

These guys from Seattle produced one of the best albums in years. Proof that there's still life in the Seattle rock scene, yet.

#24 - Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs - Alone In This Together

Star Anna is more proof of Seattle music's promise in this new decade. Star has one of the most beautiful voices in music at the moment, as well as the backing of some pretty major players in Mike McCready of Pearl Jam (who appears on this album), and Duff McKagan.

#23 - Tarja - What Lies Beneath

The former Nightwish vocalist turns out her third solo album. Just before being fired from Nightwish, she made several comments in interviews about how much she hates rock and metal music, but you can't tell from this album that is pretty much Nightwish-lite. It's still very good, though, with Tarja's voice still being as strong as ever.

#22 - Sixx:A.M. - This Is Gonna Hurt

Everyone who knows much about me knows that I hate Motley Crue. To me they embody everything that was wrong with mainstream rock music during the 80's. The very reason why the world was crying out for something that we eventually received in Guns N' Roses, and later the music that got labelled "grunge". So I did not expect to like this album. Amazingly, I consider it one of the best albums of 2011. It's all pretty straight-forward with no real risks taken, but Nikki Sixx, Dj Ashba and James Michael have produced some of the best straight hard rock albums in recent years.

#21 - Dropkick Murphy's - Going Out In Style

The Celt-punk rockers from Boston returned with their trademark mixture of originals and alternative takes on traditional Irish music. It's solid, as usual.

#20 - Deftones - Diamond Eyes

After the release of the amazing 'White Pony' back in 2000, Deftones seemed to lose their way, with their self-titled album and 'Saturday Night Wrist' being patchy at best - though with some decent tunes in there. After a near fatal car crash involving bass player, Chi Cheng, the band abandoned their planned album and started from scratch with 'Diamond Eyes' which found the band on top of their game. Cheng eventually awoke from his coma, and is slowly showing signs of improvement. Hopefully it won't be too long before he's back with the band and they continue work on 'Eros'.

#19 - The Pretty Reckless - Light Me Up

Taylor Momsen was Cindy Lou Who in The Grinch. Then she starred in Gossip Girl. Then she became a musician who appears to be trying too hard to live up to "shocking" behaviour began with The Runaways and carried on with the "riot grrrl" movement in the 90's. Imagewise, she's a complete attention whore with an attitude problem. Musically however, she is more than capable. This album was a real surprise to me, because it's actually very good. Hopefully she grows up soon, because I think she could be capable of something truly great in a few years.

#18 - My Chemical Romance - Danger Days (The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys)

Yet another big surprise. My Chemical Romance is one of those bands that always had a few songs that I could listen to, but never managed to hit me as anything very special. Then 'Danger Days' was released, and the completely absurd and over-the-top comic bookness of it all came across as inspired rather than gimmicky. For the first time, they sound like they're having fun... which enables the listener to have some fun, too.

#17 - Black Label Society - Order Of The Black

Zakk Wylde's band seem to release an album annually, which with any other band would equal over-saturation. With Black Label Society, it only seems to make them improve. The earlier BLS releases had some strong moments, but as time has gone on they've managed to actually make strong albums. Nowhere is this more prevalent thant he amazing 'Order Of The Black'.

#16 - Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

The Dutch symphonic metal band release a concept album complete with a comic book tie-in.

#15 - Ozzy Osbourne - Scream

Ozzy Osbourne proved his many critics wrong last year with the release of 'Scream'. Whereas after the release of the decidedly mediocre, 'Black Rain', people were claiming his best days were behind him, this could actually be his strongest non-Sabbath release.

#14 - Weezer - Hurley

Another band who have managed to pick themselves out of the pit of mediocrity in this decade, Weezer released their best album since 'The Green Album'... and most say that even that paled in comparison to 'The Blue Album' and 'Pinkerton'

#13 - Apocalyptica - 7th Symphony

The Finnish four-piece (formerly four cellists, but now three cellists and a drummer) come back with another strong effort, despite the strength of their guest vocalists drying up. When your most impressive vocalist is Gaving Rossdale, you'd think that you have a problem, but Apocalyptica prove that this isn't necessarily the case. His track 'End Of Me' is actually just as strong as the group's previous collaborations with Corey Taylor and Cristina Scabbia.

#12 - Return To Earth - Automata

Return To Earth is a metal band featuring the head of Bald Freak Records (Ron Scalzo, aka Q*Ball, aka the eponymous Bald Freak), and drummer Chris Pennie of the awful band the Dillinger Escape Plan. From the opening track, this schizophrenic freak-out of a record puts people on a rollercoaster ride that never lets up. All I can suggest is that you seek this one out, because I can not describe it any better than that.

#11 - Joss Stone - LP1

Since the age of 16, Joss Stone has been one of the most promising vocalists of this generation. Her first two albums featured a few songs that really showcased what she was capable of, but she quickly fell victim to record label interference, resulting in 'Introducing Joss Stone' - an album that took any positive thing about those two albums, and threw them out of the window, resulting in a mess. Disappointing sales led to the label indefinitely delaying her follow-up 'Colour Me Free!', until Joss eventually brought herself out of her contract along with the rights to the record and released it herself. That album was just as bad, but it did free her up to do what she wants when she wants as an independent artist.
'LP1' - produced by former Eurythmic, Dave Stewart - is the first result of that new-found freedom. And finally, at the age of 24, Joss Stone is living up to the potential that everyone saw that she had 8 years ago. Stone and Stewart have crafted an album that's equal parts soul, blues and rock n' roll in the exact same way she should have been encouraged to all along.
This year's SuperHeavy project (along with Stewart, Mick Jagger, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman) has proven that this album wasn't a fluke. I look forward to hearing 'LP2' that is being worked on now.

Duff McKagan's Loaded at the Garage

Okay, I'd promised this review to a friend of mine last week and never got around to writing it until now. People who know me or have read any of my previous blogs raving about this band will probably see me as quite biased. So to begin with I'll say that whereas I've never seen this band play badly, I have seen them play shows that I don't think live up to what they are capable of.

The most recent of those was earlier this year at Donington Park's Download Festival. Once again, they didn't play badly, but there was a problem... they were on the main stage. Absolutely amazing to see a band like that on the main stage, and it was a great opportunity for them, but it made it clear to me that they are not a band that thrives on a larger stage. Along with the actual music being played, the quality of Loaded shows relies on the energy that the band and audience feed to each other. On a large stage, that's not possible. You could say that about any bands I suppose, but I think there is a big difference between a band that is meant to play large stages, and a band that is best viewed in a small sweaty club on a stage too small to contain all of the personality's playing. Later in the day, I saw Korn who are one of the former. For Loaded small, raw and sweaty is where they belong.

The very definition of that was the second time I saw the band play back on their UK tour in support of the 'Wasted Heart' E.P. back in 2008. The show was at Nottingham's Rock City, in a room that can't have more than a 200 capacity, with a stage only just big enough to fit all four band members. I was lucky enough to be on the barrier to witness Duff McKagan, Mike Squire, Jeff Rouse and Geoff Reading play one of the greatest shows I've ever been to in my life, if not the best.

I specifically mention that one, because it's so hard to top that show that it is a truly impressive feat that last week's show at The Garage came such a close second. Playing a well-balanced set between material from their albums, as well as a few choice covers that delve into Duff's back-catalogue, Duff, Mike, Jeff and Burke Thomas (filling in for Geoff Reading's replacement, Isaac Carpenter) played 90 minutes of non-stop raw rock n' roll, starting with three tracks from the bands most recent album, 'The Taking'.

Other than the tracks from 'The Taking', and the previous album, 'Sick', the real treat was hearing songs from the band's debut album 'Dark Days' that haven't been given a live airing in some time (most notably the title track, and 'Wrap My Arms'), as well as a couple of impromptu tracks not originally on the setlist. At one point, just before the acoustic section of the evening when Squires had just set up his acoustic guitar and getting ready to play 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory', Duff suddenly enquired, "is she really goin' out with him?".... yep... next came three quarters of the band playing The Damned's punk classic 'New Rose' whilst Mike had to quickly change back to his electric guitar. It's nice to see that there's still room for spontonaeity in rock n' roll sometimes. Not quite as amusing, but apparently 'Wasted Heart' wasn't originally meant to be played either.

As great as it was, though (and it was great), it's about time Loaded play more of their own material instead of falling back on old GN'R/punk covers. Not that I don't like hearing those songs, and I'm all for having a couple of them in the set, but 7 of 19 songs is a bit much.

Executioners Song (from Wasted Heart E.P./The Taking)
We Win (from The Taking)
Dead Skin (from The Taking)
Sleaze Factory (from Sick)
Dark Days (from Dark Days)
Seattle Head (from Duff's Beautiful Disease/Dark Days)
So Fine (Guns N' Roses track from Use Your Illusion II)
Wrap My Arms (from Dark Days)
Sick (from Sick)
Good News (Neurotic Outsiders song)
Cocaine (from The Taking)
Your Name (from The Taking)
Lords of Abbadon (from The Taking)
New Rose (The Damned cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?)
You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory (acoustic) (Johnny Thunders cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?) - ends with a singalong of GN'R's Patience
Wasted Heart (acoustic) (from Wasted Heart E.P./Sick)
Attitude (Misfits cover/from the Guns N' Roses album, The Spaghetti Incident?)
Dust N' Bones (Guns N' Roses song from Use Your Illusion I)
It's So Easy (Guns N' Roses song from Appetite For Destruction)

Loaded were supported by Riot:Noise and Dear Superstar. I've known Martin, Riot:Noise's singer for years thanks to the Velvet Revolver forum, and until last week every time they've somewhere I could get to I've always had something else that needs doing, or know money for travel/tickets. I was beginning to think I'd never see them, and when I finally did, I was not disappointed. They played a strong set including the one song that I knew well - 'Never Wrong' - and ending on a fantastic rendition of a song called 'Fight The People'.

Dear Superstar is another story. Their singer obviously thinks that he is a rock star already from that swagger he obviously thinks makes him look cool. A note for everyone it may involve... it takes a certain type of person to walk around a stage like that and look cool. If you're not that kind of a person, you just look like a twat. Dear Superstar's singer looks like a twat. An incredibly creepy twat who likes looking directly into people's eyes with a murderous kind of look that I can't help but think he believes is a sexy look. This could all be forgivable if the songs were good, but... well. "Damn your damn religion", is the most hilariously awful attempt to be controversial I've ever heard in song lyrics. Maybe if it was the 1950's it wouldn't be so funny, but this is a world which has Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor in it. Hell, even Lady Gaga does a better job of controversy. All of this combined left me struggling (and failing) to keep a straight face throughout their set.

Smashing Pumpkins at Brixton

Ever since Billy Corgan announced the return of The Smashing Pumpkins without founding members James Iha and D'Arcy Wretzky back in 2006, a lot of criticism has been leveled at him, some fair, some not. Of the former: Yes, he is incredibly arrogant with his head wedged firmly up his ass - although I have to add that this has always been the case. Yes, ever since he's joined Twitter his insanity is becoming more and more clear, from his rants about climate change being a fraud despite all evidence to the contrary, to his jumping on some even weirder conspiracy bandwagons (chemtrails, Billy? Really!?). And yes, he does tend to take himself far too seriously.

Of the latter: No, it's not impossible for a band to keep up its high standard with only one or two original members. No, the comeback album, 'Zeitgeist' was not the disaster that it has been portrayed as. No, a band shouldn't just go out and play the hits once they reach a certain age, and no, when selfish people decide to leave a show early because they're playing new material, he was not wrong for berating them. Especially when the new material is of the quality showcased last night at Brixton Academy, where they played a perfect mixture of old ('Window Paine', 'Geek U.S.A.'), new (six tracks from the soon-to-be-released 'Oceania', and two from the work-in-progress 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope'), familiar ('Siva', 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings') and obscure ('Starla', 'Frail And Bedazzled') tracks. In fact,take a look at the setlist in full:

Quasar (from Oceania)
Panopticon (from Oceania)
Starla (from Pisces Iscariot/I Am One B-Side)
Geek U.S.A. (from Siamese Dream)
Muzzle (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
Window Paine (from Gish)
Lightning Strikes (from Teargarden by Kaleidyscope)
Soma (from Siamese Dream)
Siva (from Gish)
Oceania (from Oceania)
Frail And Bedazzled (from Pisces Iscariot/Siamese Dream outtake)
Silverfuck (from Siamese Dream)
Pinwheels (from Oceania)
Pale Horse (from Oceania)
Thru The Eyes Of Ruby (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness) - this song featured an extended outro which included parts of I Am One
Cherub Rock (from Siamese Dream)
Owata (from Teargarden By Kaleidyscope)
My Love Is Winter (from Oceania)
For Martha (from Adore) - one of the most epic moments of the night

ENCORE
Zero (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)

People hoping for a greatest hits set were surely disappointed, but anyone just willing to take in whatever the band were willing to throw at us appreciated an epic set combining hard riffs (from both guitars and drums), soaring guitar solos and gentle balladry as only the Smashing Pumpkins can. The perfect example to draw from here is the rendition of 'For Martha', which seamlessly combined all of these elements into one of the most awe-inspiring and grand moments of the night. I was worried when I'd seen that the band had been ending the regular set with a track from the ultra-mellow electronica-tinged 'Adore', but they created an arrangement worthy of the rest of the set.

When the band first appeared with two tracks from 'Oceania' followed by a rarely played live B-Side, I thought that whereas Billy and the band which now includes guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Nicole Fiorentino and drummer Mike Byrne were firing on all cylinders, I'd be extremely disappointed by the reaction of the crowd. Fortunately however, it seems that their timid response was largely due to their lack of familiarity with the songs, and not through a lack of appreciation, as as soon as the first chords of 'Geek U.S.A.' rang out the energy picked up, and soared even higher as they went into 'Muzzle'. This subsided whenever new material would be played, but unlike the shows in the U.S.A. in which people would leave whenever a new track was played, the crowd at the Brixton Academy would listen attentively and genuinely seemed impressed with the tracks from 'Oceania' - which if live performances are anything to go by, could possibly be the best Pumpkins album since 'Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness' - although the two tracks from the much less accessible 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' didn't seem to go over quite as well. If people haven't heard those songs, yet, they should head over to http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/ and download the ten tracks released for that project so far (they're all free!). They really do grow on you after a while.

Unlike Guns N' Roses - a band in a similar position what with only having one original member left - who make sure almost everyone in the band gets a spot of their own to showcase their skills, the Smashing Pumpkins prefer to let their performance of the songs themselves do the talking for them. Almost every song featured at least one solo from either Billy or Jeff, with the pair of them duelling on a couple of occassions, and channeling Scott Gorham and John Sykes in a guitar duet. For the 21 year old Mike Byrne, his moments came in the heaviest parts of the set - most notably 'Silverfuck'. As the replacement for Jimmy Chamberlin - previously the only original member other than Billy to still be around - Mike had a lot to prove, and I can safely say that I actually didn't miss Jimmy one bit. Finally, the beautiful Nicole Fiorentino got a chance to let loose during the extended outro of 'Thru The Eyes Of Ruby' with the riff from 'I Am One' (also the riff from Black Sabbath's 'Zero The Hero'... also the riff from Guns N' Roses' 'Paradise City'). Nicole really impressed me both with her bass-playing (I believe she's a much more proficient bass player than D'Arcy Wretzky and can't wait to hear what she brings to the table on 'Oceania'), but also for her backing vocals during the new tracks.

The encore which included 'Zero' and 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings' came complete with the warmest crowd reception of the night. Feedback overheard when leaving the venue was incredibly positive. I have a feeling that at least in Europe, 2012 could be a big year for this band.

On another note: during 'Siva', I'm pretty sure Billy ad-libbed the line "Billy Corgan's bald and can not sing". I'm not sure though.