Orange Goblin’s Ben Ward is currently hanging with the amazing trio of bands on this year’s Lords Of The Riff tour! Here’s how it’s going so far…
Day 1 – Sunday March 16th – The Exchange, Bristol
Glorious sunshine greets us on the morning of the first day of the Metal Hammer and Classic Rock-sponsored Lords of The Riff tour featuring Scorpion Child (USA), Monster Truck (Canada) and Buffalo Summer (Wales). I picked the Scorpion Child guys up from a small hotel just outside of Heathrow and we headed straight to Oxford to upgrade our rented trailer to a bigger one as we appear to have ordered enough backline to fill Wembley Stadium.
Anyway, this is soon done, we’re back on the road and we arrive at the venue in Bristol in good time. The other bands are already there and everyone is getting on swimmingly. After a brief soundcheck and playing amp tetris to fit all the gear on stage we head out for pizza and kebabs (I have to get these Americans used to our British culture early on!) The show is a complete sell-out and it’s great to see the crowd stretch right around the venue. Inside Buffalo Summer kick things off and get the crowd warmed up nicely with their brand of Southern Rock in the same vein as The Black Crowes with hints of The Answer.
Then Scorpion Child take the stage and bludgeon the packed crowd with straight-up US Rock. Volume is the key and the riffs just keep coming, the highlight for me being an awesome cover of Keep Goin’ by Lucifers Friend. Monster Truck close the show with their keyboard-driven rock, reminding me of the greats such as Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and more recently Spiritual Beggars. It’s a killer show, Monster Truck oblige with an encore and the punters all leave happy. We get the van loaded and head off to a friends house where we demolish a load of beers and a bottle of Jameson’s! A good start!
Catch this badass bill on the following dates:
Tue 18 Mar – COLCHESTER Arts Centre (SC closes)
Thu 20 Mar – BIRMINGHAM Academy 3 (MT closes)
Fri 21 Mar – SHEFFIELD Corporation (SC closes)
Sat 22 Mar – GLASGOW King Tuts (MT closes)
Sun 23 Mar – NEWCASTLE Academy 2 (SC closes)
Tue 25 Mar – NOTTINGHAM Rock City (MT closes)
Wed 26 Mar – LONDON Underworld (MT closes)
Thu 27 Mar – MANCHESTER Roadhouse (SC closes)
Tickets are on sale now. To buy online, visit www.seetickets.com (Sheffield shows),www.livenation.co.uk (Birmingham, Newcastle, London, Manchester), www.gigsinscotland.com(Glasgow), www.colchesterartscentre.com (Colchester), and www.alt-tickets.co.uk (Nottingham). See you at the front.
