Venue: O2 Academy, Liverpool, UK; Date: 8/12/18;
Bands: Bullets & Octane, Sumo Cyco, CKY; Doors opened 7:00pm; Show started 7.30pm
Venue website | Facebook: o2academyliverpool | Twitter: @O2academyLpool | Instagram: @o2academyliverpool
DISCLAIMER: (Apologies in advance for pictures and videos. I was using my phone again. While recording the videos some may have stopped recording mid-way, so some (mostly Sumo Cyco, as I tried to do EVERY single song to make up for the previous night) may be botched up. But when you’re having a fantastic night at an amazing gig, being professional is the last thing on your mind).
Rating: BLOODY MARVELLOUS!
O2 Academy, Liverpool: Is a surprisingly decent, large venue, long bar (in the room the gig was in!) The atmosphere was amazing and the drink selections were very good – pints were quite expensive though – over £10 for 2 beers, but I enjoyed the night (as did everyone else, I’m sure!) so who cares about the beer price! The room we were in, you got to walk past the stage curtain! (Could easily get a few sneaky behind the scene pictures here!)
Surprisingly, this was actually my first gig in Liverpool and this night was up there with Fozzy in Berlin! The place was packed and there was a great choice in background music to warm us up!
BULLETS AND OCTANE
Website: bulletsmusic.com | Twitter: @Bullets_Octane | Instagram: @bulletsandoctaneofficial | Facebook: bulletsandoctane
What can I say. I had no idea of who Bullets and Octane where before, but now (as I told the lead singer) they have a new found fan! They kick us off and they were fantastic! The lead singer (looked a bit like Johnny Depp) started in the crowd – got a few up close videos (and not so good photos – but I’m not a bloody photographer, so sod it) – first song was great! The lead singer pretty much stayed in the crowd for the whole show – taking it in turns with (possibly) the lead guitarist?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure what their songs were called but I will when I get a few of their albums. But I highly recommend in checking these guys out next time they’re on tour – you won’t regret it, I’ll be going to see them again that’s for sure! Fantastic opening band and they certainly got the crowd going for the next group – a relatively unheard band who have a couple of albums out, who were they again…?… oh yeah SUMO CYCO!
Beer break, everyone getting ready for the main event, maybe not everyone, (my main event anyway!) Sumo Cyco! Got to talk to the lead singer of Bullets and Octane, very appreciative guy.
If you would like to contribute with the names of the other songs Bullets and Octane played, please do. The Gigzter is all about sharing experiences. Better yet, why not sign-up and become a fellow Gigzter – writing your own reviews and share your gigs with the world!
SUMO CYCO
Website: sumocyco.com | Twitter: @sumocyco | YouTube: Sumo Cyco | Facebook: Sumo Cyco | Instagram: @sumocyco
Got me beer…kind of finished it as they were still setting up. The Liverpool O2 Academy is definitely their most suited venue for the layout! This room at least. (Still quite pissed off in missing them in Manchester, the previous night – sort out your bloody roadworks Manchester!) To make up for missing the Manchester LIVE video, I decided to ‘extend the highlights’ and record all the songs!
No in-crowd action to start things off, but obviously, knowing these guys that would change. They kicked off with ‘Sleep Tight’ – great song to kick-off with. Second was ‘Anti-Anthem’, again another great performance – they keep getting better with every gig!
Next, they played their usual cover slot – I was expecting ‘Give It Away’ but no we got System Of A Down’s ‘BYOB’ (Which was a pleasant surprise). They did a great cover, but I still think ‘Give It Away’ would have been better! Haven’t heard them do other covers – listened to them since their tour with Fozzy and it’s always been ‘Give It Away’.
They played their latest song ‘Undefeated’ (Saw them play this in Sheffield and Birmingham in March, but this was even better!)
‘Rivalry’ and ‘The Broadcasters’ were played next. ‘Rivalry’ was the second song of the night, I got a close up with the lead singer! Broadcasters was great too!
‘Free Yourself’ was next, with Skye doing a crowd surf – nearly knocked me over, I’ll let her off, as they are bloody brilliant! They played ‘Move Mountains’, as the next song (So hard to think of other words instead of ‘next was’ or ‘next up’. Again, fantastic – they did their trademark crowd lowering spot (The recording for this song got cut-off near the end, well during the crowd bit).
It was funny, as I said earlier in the night that this was their first time in Liverpool (100% guesswork – wasn’t actually sure about that!), but as it turned out it was their first time in Liverpool – And it was also my first-ever gig in Liverpool too! #BloodySnap
Last was ‘Fighter’ – still amazing to hear this live! And with the Sumo Cyco videos (and Bullets And Octane too), I’ve certainly delivered on The Gigzter’s ‘Frontline Reviews’ slogan – some great close-ups of both bands! Quite spoiled tonight!
As always Sumo Cyco probably stole the show (Just as they did with Fozzy and Alien Ant Farm!). I will be watching them next year – Hopefully in Berlin (Anyone from Sumo Cyco reading this, please have the Bi Nuu on a Saturday – you’ll love it!)
Went for the beers and got to meet Skye (again) and Matt! (I’m not biased saying this) I highly recommend all rock/metal fans to go and see Sumo Cyco live. And by the end of the night, if you don’t leave as a fan of theirs, then there’s something wrong with you!
CKY
Website: Official Store | Twitter: @ckymusic | Facebook: ckyalliance | Instagram: @ckymusic
CKY kicked off with ‘Rio Bravo’. I got to see them live in Manchester, the previous night – they were good (It was just a shame about the dick heads in the crowd that night).
CKY put on a great show and the crowd were into them – I had never heard of them before, but you could the crowd came for mostly for them (There was a bit more pushing and shoving going on for these). I would go and see them again. Towards the end they played the only song that I had heard (Albeit, I didn’t know who’s song it was) ’96 Quite Bitter Beings’ – great to hear this song live and to put a name to who sings it!
I did enjoy how they let the crowd know they’d finished. They hung one of the guitars above the mic.
Verdict: For my first Liverpool (or hometown) gig, this was awesome. The O2 was an amazing venue, got to see three fantastic bands and I got to meet two of the lead singers from the night. This was my 5th gig of 2018 and until now Berlin with Fozzy was the best, but Liverpool was certainly is up there – perhaps better! Liverpool was definitely a frontline review!
2019 has already got some big gigs announced with Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne and the biggest of them all… the Spice Girls! Nah, but you’ve got Boni Jovi, Ozzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Metallica! Love to go to all of those, but I’ll definitely be going to watch Sumo Cyco again! Hopefully, Kaleido can do a UK tour next year – Hull can’t be the only place I get to see them!
Again, sorry for the poor quality pictures and videos. I now have a camcorder, so fingers cross, I’ll be giving you much better videos next time! The photo gallery (If you can call it that) is at the bottom.
Hope you enjoyed the review. I’ll try and do better with the next one – but if it’s for a band I like, don’t count on it! I’ll be too engrossed in atmosphere (Although, I did my best for Sumo Cyco!)
Thanks again, for reading and see you all soon! Don’t forget, if anyone is going to any gigs, in the meantime, sign-up and do a Gigzter report and share your experiences!
Have a good, safe Christmas and a very pissed New Year’s Eve! (I’ll be disappointed, if you don’t). Do support each band tonight
(As explained above the image in the gallery below are not that good partly due to where I was standing and partly due to the fact that I am not a bloody photographer! Hopefully this is a one-off as I do normally get (and stay) at the front so my next gig should feature better pictures and videos!)
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