 Starting off the night was Jared James Nichols, an up and coming blues rock guitarist from Wisconsin. His guitar playing was incredibly soulful, which is what a lot of guitar players today are missing. He surely wowed the crowd, not only with the great songs, but his great fingerstyle technique. Some people even referred to him as the next Richie Kotzen due to the fingerstyle technique. Some of the songs he and his band played included "Last Chance", "Don't Be Scared", "Gone" and "Baby Can You Feel It?". They even treated us to a cover of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold". His performance was met with an incredibly positive reception and it was well-deserved. Photo: Rob Botten (C)2017 www.metalmasterkingdom.com Closing off the night was UFO. One of the crew members gave the band an introduction and they started off with "We Belong To The Night". They managed to balance their set perfectly with a select number of cuts from the recent years, and a respectable amount of classics to keep the old-schoolers happy. Phil Mogg would often joke in between songs during his speeches. Only a couple of those moments worked, while several others didn't. Sorry Phil. Apparently a couple of audience members didn't obey the venue's "No Smoking" policy and proceeded to smoke weed, which resulted in their immediate ejections. Phil even acknowledged the smell of weed smoke and jokingly mentioned he thought he was in Amsterdam for a minute. While the band played "Burn Your House Down", "Run Boy Run" and "Messiah Of Love" from the last few years, some classics we were treated to included the standards setlist staples like "Only You Can Rock Me", "Love To Love", "Lights Out", "Cherry", "Too Hot To Handle" and of course "Rock Bottom". There was a segment where Phil briefly talked about Rush, during which Vinnie Moore played snippets of "Limelight" and "YYZ". Moore even brought out his show-off side where he played solo with the guitar behind his head. In the encore, we were treated to "Doctor Doctor" and "Shoot Shoot". The latter was supposed to be the last song, but the band squeezed in one more song, which was "Mother Mary". | Written by: Alex Stojanovic Photography: Rob Botten (C)2017 www.metalmasterkingdom.com @ The Queen Elizabeth Theatre Toronto, ON Canada October 3, 2017 Presented by: Inertia Entertainment Click HERE for access to interview with Biff Byford of Saxon! The Queen Elizabeth Theatre at the Toronto Exhibition isn't exactly known for holding rock and metal shows, but the odd one pops up there once in a while. That being said, on October 3rd, the British Invasion tour, a co-headliner with two of England's finest: UFO and Saxon, stopped at the theatre as part of the second leg of the tour and the first of only two Canadian dates. The theatre resembled the auditorium at my old high school. The acoustics were exceptional, making for really great sound quality. This also marked my first visit to the theatre and the show had an really exceptional turnout, especially for a Tuesday evening. Let's get down to business. Photo: Rob Botten (C)2017 www.metalmasterkingdom.com Saxon took the stage next, ready to fill our heads with heavy metal thunder. By this time, the entire audience was up on their feet, and a bunch even got out of their seats to stand at the front. As they started off with "Battering Ram", the guitars were turned down a little too much, giving more volume to Nibbs Carter's bass. Luckilly that improved by the second song, which was "This Town Rocks". The setlist as a whole was focused on the classics, but the band managed to sprinkle in a couple more songs from the last decade like "Sacrifice" and a nice surprise which was "I've Got To Rock (To Stay Alive)". There were even three request rounds where Biff Byford would give the crowd three songs to choose from and the song with the loudest response was the winner. In a couple of the rounds, there were draws between two songs, so the band played the two tied songs in that round. Some of these songs included "Motorcycle Man", "Heavy Metal Thunder", "Crusader" and "Denim & Leather". Another nice surprise was that they included "Solid Ball Of Rock" in the set at the request of an audience member. It was a song I wanted to hear live as well, so to the person who requested that song, if you're reading this, thank you for that. Other fan-favourites the band accomodated us with included "Power & The Glory", "And The Bands Played On", "Dogs Of War", "747 (Strangers In The Night)", "Princess Of The Night", "Strong Arm Of The Law" and they closed with "Wheels Of Steel". If you've never seen Saxon live, go see them now. They're still at the top of their game after almost 40 years. You won't be disappointed, trust me. Photo: Rob Botten (C)2017 www.metalmasterkingdom.com |
Overall, it was a fantastic night of rock and metal with UFO and Saxon. This tour has proven to be a great success on both legs that took place this year. Will there be a third leg of this tour hitting a few other cities that were missed in North America? Not sure, but I'm certain that if there is another leg to come, it will be just as successful as these two.
| UFO Phil Mogg - Vocals Andy Parker - Drums Paul Raymond - Keyboards & rhythm guitars Vinnie Moore - Guitars Rob De Luca - Bass Label: SPV/Steamhammer Records Website: www.ufo-music.info www.facebook.com/UFOofficial | SAXON Biff Byford - Vocals Paul Quinn - Guitars Doug Scarratt - Guitars Nibbs Carter - Bass Nigel Glockler - Drums Label: UDR Records Website: www.saxon747.com www.facebook.com/saxon | JARED JAMES NICHOLS Jared James Nichols - Guitars & vocals Erik Sandin - Bass & backing vocals Dennis Holm - Drums Label: Listenable Records Website: www.facebook.com/Jaredjamesnichols |
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