Review of “Black Annis”

At “The Pitz”, Woughton, Milton Keynes

On: Saturday 19/02/05

 By: Gaby

 This was a rare treat indeed; a warm up act that was actually very good, extremely good I would say.

 Like most of us when we go to gigs, we tend not to rush in to see the opening band but prefer to wait for the main event. For those that did this on this particular evening, they certainly missed out a great deal.

 This rock fivesome certainly for me at least kicked some butt and though the audience was thin on the ground they gave it their all in bucket loads. Great professional attitude guys!

 You could be forgiven for thinking that these lot were headlining at Donnington of days gone by as they energetically lept from the stage into the audience and back again with their cordless mics and guitars.

 Now generally I’m not a fan of such types of intense audience interaction, but somehow it seemed to work for this band. They had balls and cheek and ok at times might have come across as being a bit cheesy, but there was fire in their bellies and a passion for the music they obviously enjoy so much. This certainly came across big time and are certainly not a band to be ignored, they won’t let you!

 Musically the set was superb, with some fine instrumentals, some great guitar work, a fab drum solo and a tremendously powerful charismatic lead singer’s voice that lent itself so well to the heavy rock numbers they did. Especially enjoyable was their cover of “Slither” by Velvet Revolver. (The first time I’ve actually heard this number covered by a band, and it was brill!.) Also on their varied and interesting set list were numbers by the likes of AC DC, Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy.

 The thing with this band was that they actively engaged with the audience. They made contact with everyone in the hall and gave us an old fashioned, no-nonsense, no-holds barred heavy music fest whilst not taking themselves too seriously and giving us one hell of a stage show to boot that left them as well as their audience musically exhausted! Great stuff!

 No mean feat and one that won them many fans and admirers this particular evening. I was certainly one of them and will look forward to seeing them again very soon.

 My only complaint: The band as yet don’t have a web site. Shame but then again if they did, it might just burn your mouse!

 Be warned: Black Annis are in town and have come to rock you whether you like it or not! I certainly do!