THE Swan is a long established name on the Bolton entertainment scene and is famous amongst older rockers in the town for the now sadly defunct Swan Cellar Rock Disco which closed in 1983.
It was perhaps fitting then that The Swan paid host to only the second live gig for one of Britain's newest and brightest young classic rock hopes, Heavens Basement.
The band were actually formerly known as Hurricane Party but changed their name to Roadstar in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated the USA.
advertisement
They then split from their previous management in early 2007 and reformed as Heavens Basement in early 2008.
Armed with their new identity and with a brand new crop of catchy and modern classic rock songs the band have decided to take their "Big Rock Show" to the grass roots by doing a round of low key gigs across the UK, including no less than the appearances in the Bolton area throughout April and early May, the first of which was at The Swan.
The word had indeed got round to some of the town's rock fans that the band who were playing were the same band that some had previously seen support such bands as Thunder, Queensryche and Skid Row, to name a few, and there was a healthy attendance for a Thursday evening in Bolton.
The band came on and stormed straight into their set of brand new songs which can only presently be heard via their website but the pure energy and enthusiasm that they put into their live performances soon had the audience tapping their feet and nodding approvingly to each other as they all knew that they were witnessing the beginning of something rather special right here on their doorstep.
Unfamiliar the songs may have been but it didn't matter one bit because Graduation, Mirrors, Saint Routine and Executioners' Day are all going to be song titles that flow off the tongue in the months to come.
Heaven's Basement take me back to seeing a very young Def Leppard play at Belle Vue in Manchester back in 1979.
Thankfully here in Bolton, they proved without any shadow of doubt that no matter what genre of music you may prefer, when rock n' roll is played with a passion then there is an audience that is willing to be a part of it.
The true test is if the same crowd now support the band's return to town on Thursday, May 1 at The Varsity.
My advice is simple... mine's a pint of Guinness and I will see you down at the front!
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Kat Dibbits
Print
Email this
Comment
