Once more we were a bit divided on what to do on this specific Saturday but as I had never seen Girlschool before, this was the one, we chose to attend!! Our friend Rui joined us, so before going to the Dome to witness this amazing line-up, we had a bit of cheese, chorizo and a nice bottle of red wine to start the evening!!
When we got to THE DOME (which is a 20-minute walk from our home) AIRFORCE was already midway “Fight”, their opening track as I think they started a bit earlier than it was announced!! They displayed their laidback, NWOBHM influenced music which set the rest of the evening!! Flávio Lino, their Portuguese singer, was in a very nice mood and with a bit of banter here and there kept the crowd on their feet and singing along!! They delivered songs from both their albums, “Judgement Day” from 2016 and “Strike Hard” from 2020, although leaning more on the most recent one, with great tracks as “Band of Brothers” or “Son of the Damned” bringing the first signs of headbanging!! Not too much, as the crowd was a bit already on the veteran side, so must be careful with the neck eheh!! Chop delivered the goods on the guitar, Tony Hatton maintained the beat with the thick bass lines and it’s amazing to see Doug Sampson still kicking the drums like there’s no tomorrow!! They closed with “Sniper” and left the Dome with a couple of more fans in the crowd for sure!!!
Next came RAVEN, which we saw almost a year ago at The Black
Heart (weird, right?) playing the 40 years of “All For One”!! The band of the
Gallagher brothers brought a ton of energy to the stage, and a lot of good
humour as well, especially the faces that Mark does while playing the guitar!!
They opened with “Stay Hard”, followed by “Hell Patrol” and “The Power” showing
that this was going to be a set which would roam through their vast career, not
forgetting their most recent one, “All Hell’s Breaking Loose” which came out in
2023!! John, always pounding the bass while running around, singing with a headset
gave him that freedom, was blasting away through songs which took a lot of the people
in the Dome back in time, mainly when they went for “Rock Until You Drop”, a
song released more than 40 years ago, or their 1982 singe “Crash Bang Wallop”
with which they closed their set!! Can’t go before talking about Mike Heller,
which is been drumming with them since 2018, who is a damn freaking machine,
always putting the tempo up and away!!
The beer was flowing, the mood was very good at The Dome and next we had ALCATRAZZ, which if I'm being honest, were the band I wanted less to see!! But I also didn’t have anything better to do so I watched their show!! Although I came out of it not impressed a lot of other people seemed to have enjoyed it quite a lot, so no harm, no foul!! For what I understand there are a couple of Alcatrazz’s line-ups with this one bringing as sole founding member keyboardist Jimmy Waldo!! They delivered a good set of a Heavy Metal, a lot of show off from their guitarist, good vocal skills by their frontman, who I think used to play with Rainbow, and if I’m not mistaken, they played a couple of cover songs from that band and a bit more melodic that I wanted at that time!! Nevertheless, it was entertaining and fun, and a couple of catchy songs like “Don’t Get Mad.. Get Even’ or “Battlelines”!!
Last band hitting the stage was the one I was more looking
forward to see, GIRLSCHOOL and the ladies did not disappoint!! What a display of energy and
happiness!! They looked really happy to be on stage and that is contagious!!
They opened with “Demolition Boys” from their 1980 album, which is a banger to
start, then flew through their career not forgetting the latest album, “WTFortyFive?”
from which they played “It is What It is” and “Are You Ready” (this one as
encore and with the guitarist from Alcatrazz making an appearance)!! Kim’s
vocals are top notch, Jackie delivered some good riffing and solos, Tracey
delivered the goods in the bass guitar with a lot of energy and Denise kept
everyone tapping the foot!! The concert was a breeze, it passed way faster than
what I was expecting, but that happens when you are having fun!! Of course, I
had a totally fan-boy reaction when they played in a row, “Race With the Devil”,
“Bomber” and “Emergency” (my favourite Girlschool song), it was fun to see the
crowd singing and headbanging with the band, and the Dome was lit with energy
and air guitars!! It took me a while to see them for the first time but man,
did I enjoy it!! Highly recommended if you haven’t seen them yet!!!
Later on, we had Sophie Woodard spinning some records at the
Black Heart, and as we love her choice of music, we headed down to Camden to
drink until the night was young again!! She didn’t disappoint, and I think we
left the pub when it closed but I can be mistaken!! The epilogue of a very enjoyable night!!
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