GARDEN: Petunias in the Window Box

 

LEGO: Police Station (Middle Level)

 

After a long break, we finally completed the second story of the Police Station. Not as exciting as we thought really, it's a bit samey. Maybe we need to try something other than a building next time!

GIG: Hellbent Forever - Judas Priest Tribute (Nuneaton)

 

I suppose it's inevitable, but our experience of tribute bands has been somewhat mixed, often falling into the 'well they were okay, but I wouldn't rush to see them again' basket. However earlier this year the Depeche Mode tribute act 'The Devout' restored our faith in the genre after the utterly dismal 'Dressed to Kill' debacle, and now we can add 'Hellbent Forever' to the list of tribute bands worthy of repeat viewings.

This time Rich was with us and I had a feeling it was going to be good from the moment we arrived, no band would go to the trouble of hanging a curtain (a Hellbent Forever printed curtain at that!) in front of the stage if they weren't fully invested in what they were doing. Through the curtain two red lights shone, highlighting the eyes of the face from the 'Killing Machine' album cover ('Hellbent for Leather' in the US).

I wondered if the curtain would 'drop' when they took the stage, but I thought surely not... I haven't seen a curtain drop since Kiss at the NEC in 1996! But, unbelievably it did, as the band blasted into 'Rapid Fire' from 1980s 'British Steel' album. What an entrance! I thought it was great that they had made themselves look similar to the original Priest, the singers studded attire and 'Glen Tipton's' red trousers set just the right tone. KKs wig was killer too. I mean, I really hope it was a wig. 🤣 

The band also had a significant drum riser which added to the spectacle, and the drummer had these cool, curved cymbal stands that I've never seen before which looked really professional. The sound was great too. All too often the sound at Nuneaton can be painfully loud, but this was pitched just right, loud enough, but not so loud that 'Halford's' screams took your eardrums out.

The band played a humungous 24 song set (by my reckoning), all taken from the years 1976-1990 (so 'Sad Wings of Destiny' to 'Painkiller') and I can't see that upsetting many people given that all Priest's best work was done between those times. Even then they completely ignored the 'Defenders of the Faith' album (a travesty!) but I can't even get pissed about that because Priest have so many great songs that you simply couldn't play them all.

There were a few truly unexpected choices though, not least 'Turbo Lover', which sounded a little odd without the ultra-processed sound of the original, but also 'Take on All the World', 'Starbreaker', 'Before the Dawn' and 'You Don't Have to be Old to be Wise' which is again from 'British Steel'. Aside from that we had Sinner, The Ripper, Beyond the Realms of Death, Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown), Diamonds and Rust, Victim of Changes, Breaking the Law, Metal Gods, Grinder, The Hellion - Electric Eye, Heading Out to the Highway, Tyrant, Hell Patrol and finally Painkiller.

Unfortunately the band hit the 11:30 curfew and so we lost the final song (which I assume was going to be 'Living After Midnight') but we certainly got our monies worth. The band were great, way better than the 'Electric Circus' Wasp tribute we saw a few weeks ago, and handled most of the material more than adequately. Painkiller is a tough song for anyone to play, but they pulled it off and I must say the singer acquitted himself well. I was a little concerned that a Priest tribute would stand or fall on their vocalists ability to pull off Halford's screams, but there was no worries there. Halford himself has never been able to replicate the screams in Painkiller so it's more than unreasonable to expect anyone else to.

All in all it was a great gig which all three of us enjoyed.

HOLIDAY: Chester (incl Cheshire Oaks)

 

According to the blog it's been a long, long time since we last visited Cheshire Oaks... 2016 in fact. Hard to believe, but it certainly hasn't been in the last five years, I know that much. I didn't think we'd buy all that much, but we did pick up a few bits; more Lindt, a LeCrueset mug (blue this time), some books, some trainers and a new chopping board from ProCook.

Not too much has changed, some of the shops have moved around and there's been some new building to accommodate more stores, but for the most part it was all pretty familiar. TAG Heuer is still in the same place and amazingly the guy in there (Joe) remembered me from a previous visit, he even remembered which watch I was looking at which is mind boggling! 

Anyway, after about three hours spent mooching around, we headed off to Chester.

The Crowne Plaza hotel is well situated in the town centre, just around the corner from Kuckoo (an amazing cocktail bar)... for the most part it's very nice, the bar and restaurant are lovely, the pool is great, it's just that the rooms are very tired and in dire need of a refurb. So much so that we actually got a hefty discount when we complained.

I had planned to go swimming before dinner, but in the end we decided to sit in the bar for a couple of hours and that was really nice, apart from the sun getting in my eyes - hardly the hotel's fault though! 

We had a great meal there to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary, both had chicken burger and fries, and white chocolate and red velvet cheesecake (Rose) and brownie for me.