Star date – Monday 3 December 2007 OK, it’s not the weekend. I didn’t go out at the weekend, but this is it… the main event…. Thunder live at Sheffield City Hall, oh yes!
We’ve been anticipating this for months. It was youngest daughter’s twenty-first birthday treat and she had no idea what we are doing. I’d bought her Thunder’s latest EP, Six of one…, and hidden the tickets inside, tricksy Hobbit. You should have seen the look on her face, she was over the moon. So after lunch on Monday we piled into the car and headed way down south to brave the one-way system and car parking facilities of the Steel City. The AA route directions fizzled out when we hit the city centre but luckily I was fitted with the latest in-car navigation aid, Sam-Sam, which successfully located a 24 hour parking space practically across the street from City Hall. Having a couple of hours to kill we browsed a few shops and ate a hearty tea at The Museum public house.
On the dot of seven thirty we surged through the seasonal German market and into the building. Stopping briefly to pick up a programme and t-shirt, then it was onwards and upwards to the balcony where we took our seats. I know, a rock concert with seats, it’s all a bit pants, how we suffer for our art. The support act was Lauren Harris (daughter of Iron Maiden’s co-founder and bass player, Steve Harris) and her band looked suitably aged and gnarled, whilst Lauren was a leather-trousered, bare-footed, pixie skipping around the stage. All her songs were new to us and were a bit samey-sounding, but she did a ballad that we all liked, and See Through and Steal Your Fire also registered as pretty damn good. Then it was a quick dash to the toilets before the Thunderous Ones came on-stage.
On the stroke of nine the lights dimmed and we were treated to some stormy music and thunder and lightning effects. Then Thunder entered to a tremendous roar and everyone was on their feet down in the bear pit. They played practically the entire Robert Johnson’s Tombstone album, some old favourites; Backstreet Symphony, Like a Satellite, Dirty Love, River of Pain, Low Life in High Places, and Harry setting them off on Better Man. They also played a new track off the EP, Chain Reaction. They have such a huge catalogue of songs to pick from that they were bound to miss a few of our favourites, how many can you pack into a one and three-quarter hour show? The whole audience was singing along with all the songs and we were all clapping and dancing. The whole gig was probably up there with Genesis, Deep Purple, and The Boomtown Rats as one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Rock on!
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