Shamans Harvest // Blacktop Mojo // Saffron Gorman & The Black Eagle Band // The About Time Tour – Live Review // The Limelight // Belfast
I had the pleasure of chatting with Josh Hamler, guitarist and founding member of Shaman’s Harvest back when this tour was announced and Josh spoke of his enthusiasm for playing the UK and Ireland. Tonight he gets the opportunity to flex his music muscles in Belfast’s Lumelight, one of the cities finest venues.
It’s a midweek gig so so I am hoping Belfast have come out to represent, there have been a lot of quality live shows of late and the rock community are spreading themselves thin these days catching all the UK and international bands coming through our wee city. As I fight my way down from the countryside to the big smoke but when you have two top tier US rock acts in the house, you need to get off your ass and shake it! Neither band I have experienced in the flesh myself so I am looking forward to catching them both live in the intimate venue that is the Limelight II.
It’s a really early start with three bands in the bill, one being our very own Saffron Gorman And The Black Eagle Band. Saffron is no stranger to the local scene having worked it various guises over the years and she returned post-shamdemic with her latest iteration which is one serious rocking proposition! Saffron has always delivered killer vocals with ease and surrounds herself every time with musicians who can deliver on the live stage. There is no exception tonight as they give a blistering display to open up proceedings and get the blood flowing from the Belfast crowd who greet her with rapturous applause at the end if every song. The band gave it everything they had to pep up the Belfast crowd but we don’t need too much help and when called upon we deliver! By the time Blacktop Mojo hits ye stage at 7:35 we’ll be ready.
For the two main bands, we are pretty much-sitting mid-way through their UK and Irish tour with Dublin and then Cork to wrap up the Irish leg to come in the next few days. There is a quick changeover to prep for Blacktop Mojo with the stage being cleared of the openers gear, a bare stage give or take a few pedals and a Kemper at the back ready to take flight. This should give the guys some space to breathe as the stage isn’t the biggest, but that won’t stop these lads from living their best lives up there. Let’s do this! And Booooommmm !!!!!!
Blacktop Mojo hit the stage! And the world was right once again, their groove-laden southern rock vibes have the Belfast crowd eating out of the palm of their hands by the end of their 1st song. The band are on point, as I said the stage may be petit but they’re using every inch of it grooving their asses off, both guitarists welding SG’s have the gnarliest of tones, and the bass and drums are shaking the floor and the vocals are soaring out over the crowd. This is a lesson in how to rock the fuck out! Any time I catch an international band here, especially an American band they deliver a stage performance second to none and Blacktop Mojo is slaying it as we speak! The sound is massive, the groove is thick and thunderous as they batter the Irish crowd over and over again. A killer band. A killer set and we still have Shamans Harvest to go! The lads gave us it all – hard rocking numbers through to solo acoustic and a bit of Alice In Chains thrown in for good measure all topped off by a stellar cover of Aerosmiths ‘Dream On’ … what a fucking band!
It’s going to be another quick changeover before Shaman’s Harvest hits the stage in 20 minutes and I cannot wait! The lads are hanging out on stage right before they play – the anticipation is building with the crowd and as they take to the stage one by one Belfast erupts! The guys have more of a laid-back swagger than Blacktop Mojo, their sound and vibe are darker more controlled and restrained than the opener who clearly were here to “Cut Some Heads”
Shamans Harvest is a gnarly band in its own right, but it’s delivered with an element of class and less sledgehammer. But they have the Belfast crowd engrossed and are pulling them along track by track, as it is our first visit from Shaman’s Harvest to our shores, we are getting treated to a set carefully curated to hit home and achieve maximum impact, and they’re doing just that with a blend of old from Smokin Hearts & Broken Guns right through to new tracks from their recent release Rebelator all courtesy of Mascot Records. These guys have been a band now for coming up on three decades, and it shows in the quality of their live performance as they lay down a glorious thick soundtrack for the Belfast faithful to lose themselves in for an hour or more.
Two killer US bands, one local champion, all putting it on the line for a thirsty rock audience, a tour a decade in the planning and it finally came to fruition when the bands landed on UK shores kicking it all off at The Fleece in Bristol and wrapping it up at The Arch in Brighton on March 29th. Catch them if you can, these guys are absolutely killer and the live show is worth every penny of your hard-earned money.
The final run of dates on this tour are below:
21 March – Cyprus Avenue, Cork – TICKETS
22 March – Sin City, Swansea – TICKETS * EXTRA DATE
26 March – The Tivoli, Buckley – TICKETS *EXTRA DATE
27 March – Hairy Dog, Derby – TICKETS *EXTRA DATE
28 March – The Waterfront, Norwich – TICKETS *EXTRA DATE
29 March – The Arch, Brighton – TICKETS *EXTRA DATE
Watch the best of Shaman’s Harvest:
In Chains | Dangerous | The Come Up | Voices | Here it Comes | Under Your Skin
