Thunder - You Can't Keep a Good Band Down

Last Thursday I was off to Wolverhampton Civic Hall, to photograph one of my all-time favourite bands - the British legends that are Thunder. I was shooting and reviewing the gig for Birmingham Live, and you can find my piece online right here. This was the ninth time I've seen Thunder, and the fourth time I've photographed them, and as ever, they put on a superb show.

Once more, the band showed everyone how to put on a rock and roll concert, playing a great set that covered their entire history together. They also have great lights, which makes my job shooting them a lot easier.

I love this next shot - it sums up vocalist Danny Bowes perfectly!

It's always great fun shooting Thunder, and this time was no different. It was great being able to add plenty more decent shots to my live portfolio.

Here's some more shots from the night for you.

Harry James was back behind the kit having missed the earlier part of the tour due to problems with kidney stones. He's a real crowd favourite, and he still hits those skins as hard as he ever has.

I was really pleased with my shots from the night, and here's a few more of my favourites.

If you like my shots please leave me some comments, and maybe even have a browse of the rest of this blog to see if I've shot any other bands that you like.

That's it for my Thunder pics. I've also got a few pics in the newest issue of Powerplay Magazine, so why not see if you can find a copy to flick through? I'll be back on here soon with pics from Simple Minds in Birmingham.

Alter Bridge rock Wolverhampton

Last night I headed to Wolverhampton Civic Hall to photograph one of my favourite bands in the whole world - the amazing Alter Bridge. I was covering the gig for Birmingham Live, and you can find my review right here. First up were Scottish five-piece Logan, a band I know and respect.

The band are great to watch, but what makes them stand out is the vocal talents of singer Kenny Collins - this guy has one hell of a voice.

I actually interview Logan for Powerplay Magazine back in the summer of 2006 in Nottingham, and I just don't understand how they are still unsigned. They deserve to much bigger than they are, and they are one of the best live bands you could ever wish to see. Oh, on this next pic, the two guys are brothers - there's not a mirror on stage!

The guys just keep on getting tighter as a live band, and it was great to be able to see them again having missed out on their UK tour in July.

Logan are a great band, I urge you to check them out if you're into grunge or melodic hard rock - support talented British unsigned bands!

Then it was onto the main event, Alter Bridge - easily one of my top five bands of all time. I've seen them play seven times now, and they just keep getting better each time round!

Alter Bridge's frontman, Myles Kennedy, is one of the best singers you will ever hear (he's also a damn fine guitarist) and, as usual, his performance was excellent. Myles has been suggested as a possible singer for Led Zep if Robert Plant doesn't want to reform, which would be pretty interesting. He could easily pull it off, I just hope that, were it to happen, it wouldn't halt the progress of Alter Bridge. Anyway, here's some shots of Myles.

On lead guitar is one hell of a player - Mr Mark Tremonti, a guy who can shred with the best of them, and who really knows how to write some amazing riffs. A very nice bloke as well!

On bass, another top guy - Brian Marshall. While I was still at uni, I interviewed him for my radio show, creating a general knowledge quiz especially for him. He scored a mighty 7 out of 20 and was highly entertaining throughout. Oh, and he's an awesome bassist as well.

The band is completed by Scott Phillips on drums, but he was too far away for me to get any shots of him. As I've already said, Alter Bridge live are amazing, and last night was no exception. In simple terms, they totally rocked.

Last time Alter Bridge were over here, in January, I was lucky enough to go backstage pre-show and photograph the guys as they chilled out and warmed up. It was a brilliant experience and I can't thank them enough for letting me do it. you can see some of my pics from then on the third page of this gallery here. Here's some more live stuff.

One of the highlights from the set was the reception that followed "Blackbird" - i don't think I've ever heard that much applause at the end of a mid-set song in my life, and they completely deserved it. It is definitely one of their best numbers.

OK, I'm running out of new things to type here, but you get the idea...Alter Bridge are AWESOME!

I know you want to see more, so here you go...check Myles' rock face in this next one.

Still here? Well done! Your reward for getting this far down? More pics of course!

Well that's it, hope you like the shots. Please leave some comments and let me know what you think. I can't wait to see Alter Bridge play again, and if their next UK tour is in arenas then I won't be at all surprised - that's where they deserve to be. Cheers for reading!