Headliner: Graveyard
Date: 3rd November
Venue: O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
Support: Imperial State Electric
Rating: 10/10
Imperial State Electric's Nicke Andersson is conspicuous by his absence tonight. The former Entombed and Hellacopters main man is not well, owing to an illness that caused him to lose part of his hearing. However, Nicke is clearly a firm believer in the old rock and roll adage of "The show must go on", and for that reason Imperial State Electric are here as a power trio tonight, led more than ably by former Datsuns bass player Dolf de Borst. The three-quarter strength Imperial State Electric, as a result, rip enthusiastically through a set of new and old material that they had to rework as a power trio, including such gems as "I'll Let You Down", "Reptile Brain", and an absolutely barnstorming cover of the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer". If they're this good as a power trio, I can only imagine how good they might be with Nicke back in the fold.
Graveyard, on the other hand, are at full strength, and they're on the attack right from the word go with forceful renditions of "Magnetic Shunk" and "Hisingen Blues" setting the tone early on in their set. The big hitting songs just keep on coming, though; newly rejoined bass player Truls Mörck takes the lead vocal mantle for a rousing version of "As the Years Pass By, the Hours Bend", their first foray into blue eyed soul, "Too Much is Not Enough" is warmly received by the crowd, and "Lost In Confusion" makes a welcome return to the set. To close the regular set off, Graveyard give us the always brilliant "Blue Soul" and "Uncomfortably Numb", before giving us a brilliant four song encore. First, singer and guitarist Joakim Nilsson emerges for the solo number "Stay For A Song", before the rest of the band rejoin him and wind things up nicely with "Apple and the Tree", "Ain't Fit to Live Here", and a simply outstanding performance of "The Siren". All in all, a fantastic little gig.
