The Sheffield Scenester

Arriving at The Boardwalk, I was pleasantly surprised to see a queue had formed...quite an unprecedented event I’d not seen since Little Man Tate last played here. Once we were let in, I strolled up to the bar with the sound of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ pounding through the sound system, now if that didn’t wet my appetite nothing could. So with drink in hand I strolled to the front of the stage, ready for Jackson Caged; one of Sheffield’s finest exponents of metal infused mayhem. Standing there I noticed a rather curious thing; attached to one of the mic stands was a baby doll that had been converted into an angel by someone who had then proceeded to kick the hell out of it...judging by the state it was in. Scrawled across its chest was the word ‘Everyfall’, straight away I knew this was a Jackson Caged joke, so with a wry smirk I waited for them to start.

With the house lights dimmed and the background music silenced Jackson Caged strode on stage...and what an entrance they made; as the entire audience stared in disbelief at their appearance...covered in blood, looking like they’d just stepped off the set of the latest instalment in the ‘Saw’ saga; which in my opinion is nothing short of genius...It certainly grabbed the crowd’s attention...as they all stood around starring opened jawed in sheer horror at the spectacle before them – (you have to remember that most of the audience were reasonably mature and had no doubt come to see The Bon Jovi Experience)...maybe this wasn’t their cup of tea! Without so much as a hello they tore into their opening track of ‘Welcome to The Show’, Fraz on lead vocals relished this notoriety, with a blood splattered face in the red floodlights giving him the appearance of Freddy Krueger...the overall effect was quite chilling to say the least! Without taking the foot off the gas they ran the opening three tracks into each other, driving harder and faster with their brand of hard core funked metal before taking a breather to play ‘House Of The Rising Sun’. By now the audience had warmed to this abundance of napalm fused energy level...even the band themselves were seen to have a laugh and a joke on stage which kind of dispelled their deranged on stage persona. Jokingly Fraz dedicated the song ‘Pardon Me Miss’ to “all the lovers out there” – in case you’re wondering the whole song is one long tribute to sexual depravity, but definitely funny all the same. This was followed by the outstanding track ‘Everyfall’ from their forthcoming EP release, a song they also played in their Live And Unsigned set at City Hall back in March. The final song of the night was ‘Jaws’ which has become their standard finale piece, partly because it is a great track and probably because it has a break in it long enough to allow guitarist Big M time to wander out into the crowd...another performance tradition! It was a pity their set came to an end as I would of happily watched them play on, but still coated in blood – Mike (drummer) had played the whole set with no shirt looking like he’d just walked out of a slaughter house!) - they bid their fond farewells and left the stage.

By now The Boardwalk was packed to the rafters, and as an added bonus we were blessed with another Black Sabbath anthem, this time ‘War Pigs’...another one of my Guitar Hero favourites! Once again the lights dimmed to total darkness as probing searchlights flashed across the audience from the stage, at last The Bon Jovi Experience walked on. Instantly all eyes were on Jon (real name Tony).. and sure enough behind the shades he was close enough to pass for the original...leaving one question – he can walk the walk but can he talk the talk? Opening with ‘Lost Highway’ and immediately racing into ‘Raise Your Hands’ convinced the crowd on that front, as no sooner was he halfway through the first song then they were lapping it up. From that point on the audience just sang along to every song, I have to confess I was guilty of the afore-mentioned crime as well, but with songs like ‘Bed Of Roses’, ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘You give Love A Bad Name’ how can anyone resist...? Backing Jon was a collection of musicians who had obviously gone to the University of Bon Jovi and graduated with honours as their skill was simply undeniable. Buried behind a double bass drum kit with an array of cymbals hiding him from the audience was Tico (real name Johnny), whilst on guitar was the highly accomplished Richie (real name Edd) who even produced a double neck guitar for the classic ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’....my one gripe would be that he stayed at the back of the stage throughout so even though he was good, you never really got to see how good! Jon himself was born to entertain...he even managed a passable New Jersey shore American accent! I wasn’t sure about the dancing he did... but never having seen Bon Jovi live I couldn’t tell if it was normal or what...? I just figured he’d done his homework like any good tribute band would. Even though they ended their set with ‘Bad Medicine’ – incidentally they chucked in a sample of Lulu’s ‘Shout’ which sent the crowd wild – everyone knew that they had at least one track left. Sure enough to finish the encore on a high, it was time for ‘Living On A Prayer’...everyone...and I mean everyone joined in...and who can blame them?

This really was an entertaining night out with a real contrast in styles, namely one edgy and raw onslaught of ultra violence courtesy from one of the best bands in Sheffield today, against the polished stadium rock of an American icon (albeit a tribute band). Personally I’d see them both again, but my fav tonight was definitely Jackson Caged!

Words/Photos by Geoff & Gail Buckthorpe