Support Acts: Spiders

London O2 Islington Academy, Thursday the 6^st of December 2012

Review by Yiannis (John) Stefanis

December has always been a very busy month gigs wise, with many bands choosing the United Kingdom as the place to celebrate and end their, hopefully, successful touring season.

Graveyard is a band I have been dying to see live since the moment I first held their latest studio album “Lights Out” in my hands and so I was not prepared to allow anything from stopping me visiting the O2 Islington Academy on the day of their show, not even a pesky wisdom tooth…

For an unexplained reason I felt the urge to arrive at the venue in time to catch the set of the opening act, Spiders – a band that I had not heard of before. My instincts have never betrayed me before and today was no exception. Spiders turned out to be one explosive-sounding, energy-driven, 60s-sounding Swedish Hard Rock quartet featuring well-established members of the Gothenburg retro Rock scene.

John Hoyles has earned his chops as a member of Witchcraft, Axel Sjober is actually Graveyard’s drummer and Ann-Sofie Hoyles is one of the most soulful and, at the same time, rough-sounding singers heard since the days of Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane). Lack of knowledge of the band’s material means that I sadly cannot report which songs were performed tonight, however, I did hear form a few really excited members of the audience commenting straight after the band’s set how much they liked renditions of “High Society” and “Gracious Man” – both featured on the band’s 2011 EP “Spiders”. Classic Rock doesn’t sound much better than this so you may want to check these Swedes out ASAP!

Tonight’s gig was a celebration of all things Swedish and so I was not surprised by the fact that the music blasting through the speakers, while Graveyard’s road crew were preparing the stage for the band’s show, consisted exclusively of songs from Scandinavian Rock bands. It did not take long for the quartet to storm the stage either and they did so with much style and energy, kicking off the proceedings with a killer rendition of “Industry Of Murder” – the opening track of their latest opus “Lights Out”.

While all the passion and energy needed to make this a truly enjoyable experience was there, the sound quality was not the right one for such a show, I have to say. The rhythm guitar was too high in the mix and the sound was way too powerful which means that all the soft lead melodies and nuances that make Graveyard’s music so very special were lost, to the point that I felt inclined to wear earplugs – something that I normally only contemplate doing during a Motorhead gig.

Sound issues aside, the band’s set was sonically and rhythmically varied, keeping the audience on its toes throughout the one and a half hours. Much to my satisfaction, tonight’s set list was predominantly based on the band’s latest opus and songs like “Slow Motion Countdown” and “Hard Times Lovin’” really stood out.

Having said that, the ‘motley’ crowd seemed equally pleased when compositions from the band’s previous two releases such as “Hisingen Blues”, “As The Years Pass By, The Hours Bend” and “Thin Line” were performed – songs which enabled the rhythm section of Rikard Edlund (bass)/ Axel Sjöberg (drums) show off their unique skills, the latter attracting my attention throughout the show. You know how they say that time flies when you’re having a good time?

That certainly was the case tonight when “Goliath”, the last song of the band’s main set, was performed after what felt like only minutes since the band first stormed the stage. Following an enthusiastic round of applause and people’s screams demanding an encore, the band returned on stage perform three more songs, one from each of their albums, with “Endless Night” stealing the show with its sheer power and flamboyant guitar work.

Following this impressive climax the band quickly took its last few bows and left the stage as urgently as when they first set foot on it one and a half hours previously, leaving the audience quite sweaty but also extremely satisfied!

Graveyard’s vintage Hard Rock is the style of music that best manifests itself in a live environment and I am truly convinced that tonight’s show would have been among the highlights of the year had the sound person done their job better. As things stand, what we all experienced was a passionate, technically adept and well coordinated performance by a band which is currently experiencing a massive and well-justified interest from many different groups of music lovers and it is really only a matter of time before venues such as the O2 Islington Academy become too small to host them.

Graveyard Set List:

Main Set:

“Industry Of Murder”
“Hisingen Blues”
“Seven Seven”
“Slow Motion Countdown”
“Ain’t Fit To Live Here”
“Buying Truth [Tack Och Forlat]”
“Uncomfortably Numb”
“As The Years Pass By, The Hours Bend”
“The Suits, The Law & The Uniforms”
“Hard Times Lovin’”
“Thin Line”
“Goliath”

Encore:

“The Siren”
“Endless Night”
“Evil Ways”

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)