Avernus
Underworld Rally
Roadhog
and Deathwish
Hamilton
House Farm
30th
August 2015
After witnessing some superb
comedy acts the previous day at the Underworld Rally, there was no detour to
Fleetwood this time and so we rolled up early to catch the atmosphere well
before we needed to be there.
We caught a few acoustic acts who
had set up outside on a small grass verge and there was one guy Sam Wise with
a brilliant voice who proved he could multi-task by keeping his young son Brandon
amused – while dad played guitar, the young lad sat on his dad’s knee, later
dad was presented with a bobble hat which he put on and after that he was
playing patter cake with one hand - all while playing his guitar and singing.
After his set Brandon took to the mic and started to tease the audience with
his dance moves and sung a few lines of Rammstein’s Du Hast – this kid was
probably about 4 or 5 (same height as me – knee high to a grasshopper) and all
the bikers were encouraging him. This kid held the audience in the palm of his
hand and as he said into the mic “Did you enjoy that?” he was met with loud
clapping and cheering from an enthusiastic audience, definitely a natural and
one to look out for in the future of entertainment!
Amazing musician Sam Jones
The star of the Rally - Brandon
The other members of Roadhog
didn’t turn up for quite some time after we had arrived and at one point we
thought we had lost drummer Raymondo Wong and his other half Jan, as they
missed the turning for the Rally and ended up at Lancaster University 15 miles
away – talk about dodgy Sat Navs lol!
A lonesome Hen
Goat
Have you heard Roadhog are playing tonight??
Oggy's Goat
The head of Fred Avernus (and Oggy)
Jan, Ray, Oggy and Neil plus Goat
Once the rest of the band arrived
it was a case of just setting up and sound checking – all in a day’s work for
this well-established band, and soon were going through their sound check
paces, while Jan and I picked a table closest to the stage.
It was a bit of an anxious time
for Roadhog as with it being the last day of the Rally people were a little
thin on the ground and the barn was looking quite empty as the band set up –
however, as the band started sound checking, they were like bees to a honey pot
and very quickly the venue filled up to magnificent proportions – it was if
everyone was waiting for Roadhog to go on and then congregated inside grabbing
the nearest table armed with cans of ale, and which then fueled the band to do
the most damage – musically speaking!
It has to be mentioned here that
Ian Green the DJ for the evening was absolutely brilliant. He was friendly and accommodating and his
music superb! There was nothing that this guy didn’t have in his overwhelming
collection – it fair boggled the mind to see so much music brimming over in the
little black cases – so if anyone needs a DJ Ian Green is your man!
Mike and Diane enjoying a Roadhog moment!
Joker
Pne Pitstop second left and gang
As the gig got going, the dry ice
pumped out to annihilation level and obliterated Roadhog in the process, plus
the lights that were behind the band were right in your face making photo
taking rather fruitless, however, I did manage to capture a few good ones.
Roadhog were literally firing on
all cylinders and lots of people commented that it was one of their best
performances ever!
** Highlight was when Jan went to the bar and asked for a Prosecco and ice in a tall glass - the bar staff were in hysterics!!!
The band played all the usual rock
covers with gusto, and the usual banter and change of lyrics that they are now
well known for was well being truly aired, but that and the atmosphere from all
the bikers mixed into the set was a real recipe for enjoyment.
Kev’s playing was faultless, Ray’s
beats were thrilling, Neil’s bass was thumping and Oggy’s vocals spot on, it
really was the best set I have seen them
create and that was because everything had now fallen into place. Great atmosphere, beer by the truck load and
friendly people who could wish for more?
The set was sheer magic with each
member of the band pulling out all the stops and delivering 100%. The sound was
out of this world, although the lighting and dry ice machine were a bit of a
hindrance truth be known, but that was just a minor flaw.
The band gelled completely and belted
out some great tracks to an unruly room of bikers – it was superb to watch it
all unfold.
After Roadhog came Deathwish an
old school hard rock/metal band from the North West who sing covers from Dio
and Ozzy, as well as the more raucous metal from Megadeth and Metallica,
although a few ‘not so metal enthusiasts’ decided to leave the venue before the
band had a chance to prove their metle - but it was still packed and the band
put on a highly vitriolic set for the more hardy metal heads who wanted to head
bang – not just dance and strut their stuff!
Deathwish
You wouldn’t like to meet these
guys in a dark alley, I tell you now, although they are all good spirited goes
without saying really, but have that air of menace about them.
A lot of the bikers preferred the
old classics rather than the more vehement riffs of Deathwish – although I love
the classics, but I did say earlier, that what was needed was a good long
injection of surging metal to dust off the cobwebs and boy did I get it!
Not so keen on Metallica or
Megadeth but Deathwish delivered Sandman like troopers.
The raging riffs were plentiful
and the torrential beats were in copious amounts, just slightly disappointed
that the band didn’t play their own material but apart from that I thoroughly
enjoyed the set.
The only track I wasn’t fussed on
was Seek and Destroy as it goes on far too long and the band played it twice,
but there wasn’t much to complain about in the face of all that metal.
A bit before the end of
Deathwish’s set Ant the band’s frontman announced that there were Go-Go Dancers
appearing and everyone’s eyes turned to the right of the stage and there
appeared 3 unusual outlines of 3 males, one with really long curly hair, the
other wearing a ‘loud’ 2 piece and a beany hat and the other was Fred Avernus
himself complete with horns.
Fred didn’t look too amused and
glared at the band and audience, the guy with long hair was going ape-shit and
the third guy looked so mal-nourished I wanted to buy him some chips to put a
bit of meat on his bones.
It all added to a very eventful
evening and one that shall be talked about for a long time to come.
~~~~~~
A big ‘Thanks’ to Avernus MCC for
putting this truly amazing event together, Hamilton House Farm owners for the real bogs! Dodgy, Ian Green for the DJ sounds – great
collection of music! The sound techs Peter Knight and Lynda Lamb for their
expertise, Owen Reverend McKenna the gentle giant for the photo despite it not turning out so well, The Avernus Marshalls for keeping the venue spotless, the comedy acts (Rick Hulse, John Porter, Roger Monkhouse and
Greg Cook) on the day before and being absolutely hysterical, Jan for being her
crazy self – Love ya gal! Charlie and Jan Brown, Jilly and Manny, Joker, Pne Pitstop, Michael and Diane Lloyd, Ozzy and Deb, Roadhog, Deathwish (and fluffy) for the
fantastic musical entertainment, the 5 chickens, 2 geese and the goat, Sam Wise and Brandon for the acoustic entertainment and
special thanks to my wonderful other half for looking after me and making my belly
ache with his whacky sense of humour – love you Oggy!
Oggy
Too cute not to pet
Me enjoying a can of Strongbow
Owen the gentle giant and lil old me
Sorry I couldn't make it!!
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