Artist: Diamondhead
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Shitkill, Livesay
Date: 9/1/2011
Label: Independent Artist

A few months ago there was a reasonable buzz hitting The Metal Republic about a tour that was listed as being the NWOBHM Tour (or the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal tour for those who don’t yet know the acronym for some reason). This event was originally set to feature singer Al Atkins (who was the original voice behind a pre-signed Judas Priest), Girlschool and Diamond Head. Now many felt this tour would sell out immediately based on Diamond Head having never been on these shores before during the course of their career and to my knowledge Atkins had never performed here either. I will admit that I was not clear about when the last time Girlschool played around these parts but soon it would not matter as Girlschool and Atkins pulled out of the event and the larger tour was cancelled in full which disappointed many of the fans that had already purchased tickets. Soon enough a booking was made for Diamond Head alone at the Metal home away from home that we have here on PiercingMetal.com (B.B. King’s for those not paying attention) and this regional show would feature local support from Livesay and Shitkill. Sadly, my early evening activities prevented me from seeing both of the local openers but I know that they would be back around soon enough and sometimes I just have the time and Metal energy for the headlining act to get the best possible scoop so here is how the Diamond Head part of the night went.

The band hit the stage at a reasonable 9PM give or take a few minutes and it seemed as though everyone who was coming to the gig was already inside when the direct support opener was in the middle of their set. For a Thursday night for a band that had never been here before in their career I would admit very early that this was a lackluster showing such an influential band but that just meant that more people would regret this later on for missing it. The guys hit the stage strong with “Play It Loud” and followed this with “Give It To Me”. Now I don’t own a single Diamond Head release and am guilty of being one of those folks who really only started to pay them any mind once Metallica offered up a couple of covers. I say this without embarrassment because many of my friends from back in the day were the exact same way. This did not preclude me from lending the proper amount of journalistic support that the guys needed on their debut run in this region. Now, people might not know this but Diamond Head is very different today than they were in that forgone time. In 2011 the band is comprised of Brian Tatler (lead guitar/backing vocals), Eddie “Chaos” Moohan (bass), Karl Wilcox (drums), Nick Tart (lead vocals), and Andy “Abbz” Abberley (rhythm guitar). Tatler is the only member from the bands original lineup that was formed in 1976. Both Moohan and Wilcox had been working with the lineup since 1991 until the disbanding of 1994 and regrouping of 2002. Whew. Lots to digest.

The crowd was very lively even though most of the youthful fans were likely not even an idea when the band was first doing their thing and of course as expected would come to greater life when something they recognized from the Metallica covers came forward. The first instance of this would be with “It’s Electric” at tune number seven. It would be foolish to think that “Am I Evil?” would come up early in the set as opposed to closing out the night. Through it all there was a lot of energy and the band was all smiles as they delivered the goods to those who were lending them their ears and hard-earned concert dollars. I had to say that I was enjoying myself from the moment they started until they delivered what I felt was the show stopping “Am I Evil” but even that would get a follow-up of two more encores before the band took their leave of the stage. I didn’t know of any official Meet and Greet time going on with this show but the guys all did remain out in the club as the staff cleaned it up and used the time to meet with fans that hung around and wanted to speak to them, get memorabilia signed or snap a photograph for their Facebook pages.

Overall this was a good one but perhaps it would have had a greater audience response had there been another name opener on the bill and had that little bitty concert called “The Big Four” not looming in the immediate distance. Personally, I think the price on those tickets kept the fans away from a lot of other things that had just happened and were pending as well. Who knows? Maybe I am wrong and maybe there were just not enough fans up on what Diamond Head was all about. All I do know is that I had a good time along with several dozen other Metal heads at a great space. My hope is that the band can come back again soon and if they do please be sure to see them.

Set List:
1. Play It Loud
2. Give It to Me
3. The Prince
4. To The Devil His Due
5. In the Heat of the Night
6. To Heaven From Hell
7. It’s Electric
8. Pray For Me
9. Sucking My Love
10. Mine All Mine
11. Helpless
12. Am I Evil?
13. Lighting To The Nations
14. Streets Of Gold – encore

Now the regular readers know how I always love to snag a venue marquee shot, well since I was in the city early today you get two of them. One in the daylight “rush hour” time …..

And one during the night time is the right time for some heavy Rock and Roll. Which do you prefer? My choice is the night visual.

I’ve done this before too numerous times to have counted so here we go again and share the venue poster for the gig. I’ve also mentioned how sometimes the fans get one of these for the VIP meet and greets and while I was unaware if that was happening this evening, there were smaller cards around to get signed. Those are nice keepsakes.

One thing I love to do if I can swing the permission is to get the talent to pose in front of the giant B.B. King banner that hangs backstage.  It’s not always possible but tonight luck was on my side so I snared a few of the guys.  Here is singer Nick Tart.

Of course the wonderful and talented Brian Tatler, the main man behind the Diamond Head plan going forward…..

In the dressing room we caught up with bassist Eddie “Chaos” Moohan along with Nick Tart and Brian Tatler.

I had the chance to get a shot of those wacky opener youths in Shitkill with the Diamond Head lads and here is their official candid posed shot.  Great dudes who I enjoyed talking to and joking with at length this time around.

I saved the video that I captured for the last bit to send you all off in style. Please pardon the beginning erratic movement, but I was up close and wanted to get this song from the main level at the venue instead of the ground in the crowd. The clip I snared was their classic “Am I Evil?”.

This was a fun night for sure, and now I guess all I can say is that I shall see you at The Big Four in a couple of weeks if you are going.

Official Website: http://www.diamond-head.net/