We got into the Ballroom just as G.U. MEDICINE were coming on or, as Jet pointed out, the GUM Clinic as the name stands for Genito Urinary medicine: is one of the most interesting things about this band apart from the fact that they come from Barnsley in Yorkshire. Apart from that, that failed to live up to the name being nowhere near sleazy or sick enough as they played their hardcore punk/metal almost by the numbers. It was well played but had nothing to keep the audience's interest and certainly no memorable songs.
I also find it odd how a hardcore-sounding band would start to get people to clap along to the songs instead of trying to get a circle pit going or some moshing to break out, especially when they are on as mismatched a bill as this one was.
Next on and almost as forgettable as G.U. Medicine were SLAVES TO GRAVITY, another band who didn't live up to a cool name. They were average landfill indie rock with spiky haircuts and no real personality in the songs or the music and they never kept my attention or the attention of larger sections of the crowd. About the kindest thing I could compare them to is the harder end of Shed Seven's music which isn't exactly inspiring. I wouldn't have a clue who they think they are playing for as the Buckcherry fans certainly weren't interested.
Finally BUCKCHERRY arrived and it has to be said the last time I saw them they were awful: a tired band who seemed to be going through the motions coasting on the affection of the fans.
Well this time they were back to sounding like the lean mean cliched glam metal machine and they are back with a hunger to promote last year's All Night Long CD and to play at the Download festival and the Metal Hammer awards show. From the moment the come on they were firing on all the cylinders.
Josh Todd was in fine rasping voiced snake-hipped form and the first song to get everyone going was Rescue Me. It conforms to the band's blueprint of subject matter being all about sex and drugs and rock and roll and therapy sessions, while new songs like Oh My Lord sound just like the old songs. Quite why they feel the need to write a song like It's A Party other than to ram home exactly what the bands demographic is escapes me, but the celebratory feel is rammed home by All Night Long and the old hit Next 2 you.
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By the time they get to Lit Up and actually allow themselves to jam a bit and play with the song, Josh tells us once again that it's about his first time taking cocaine. By now, you know exactly where they stand.
Dirty Mind sounded good and sleazy and Keith Nelson and Stevie D had a bit of a guitar battle over that one before they went all therapy session on us with Recovery. That was followed by Sorry wherein they list all the things they are Sorry about and while it's as close as they get to a ballad it's also a big enough hit to be used to help ramp up the energy building to the close of the set, wherein the place then goes mad for Crazy Bitch: a song that really sums the band up and is a perfect closer.
The encore was (I think) Crushed which was a slow song followed by Out Of Line to rock us to a close and leave the crowd wanting a little bit more of what it has to be said is one of the more cliched metal bands about. On their day, Buckcherry are great fun to see live and thankfully this show was on of those days. On this form they might not even be blasted off stage every night by Papa Roach on their forthcoming american tour. We can but live in hope.
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