Friday night saw Iron Maiden legend and founder Steve Harris bring his “British Lion” to KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, known affectionately as “The Home Of Rock”.
Supported by Airforce, with former Iron Maiden member Doug Sampson on drums, and Blaze Bayley in the audience, you would be forgiven for thinking this was going to be a Iron Maiden tribute night, but it was in fact anything but that! British Lion are a very serious band playing some very serious hard thundering rock tunes without an Iron Maiden song in sight.
Airforce, who consist of founding members Tony Hatton (bass), Chop Pitman (guitar), Doug Sampson (drums) and Flavio Lino (vocals), get the night started with an energetic performance. Flavio has a great powerful rock voice to go along with a powerful rock band. The crowd are really enjoying Airforce and Airforce are enjoying the crowd as they work through their set including the brilliant track “Heroes”
They do a cracking job of opening up the show and warming the crowd up, and I have to say I really enjoyed their set.
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British Lion are Richard Taylor (vocals), David Hawkins (guitar/keyboards), Grahame Leslie (guitar) Simon Dawson (drums) and Steve Harris (bass), and they have been touring the UK after putting together a last minute tour to support their latest album The Burning when their support slot on The Darkness tour fell through. This tour has given fans a truly special opportunity to see one of the world’s biggest rock icons, who can normally be found playing to tens of thousands of fans at festivals such as Download, play in small pubs and clubs with only a few hundred people. Tonight’s gig at KK’s Steel Mill must have been one of the bigger crowds on the tour.
They play through fan favourites “City Of Fallen Angels”, “The Burning”, “Spitfire” and the brilliant track “Last Chance”, with Steve Harris taking aim and shooting the crowd with his bass. It is hard not to focus on the legend that is Steve Harris but he does not try to take the limelight. He simply plays his part with his bass and lets the whole band shine.
Both bands tonight put on a energetic show for their fans and left the stage to raptures applause, leaving the audience with smiles a mile wide. I will look forward to seeing British Lion play at Download Festival next year!
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Photos by Shaun Hulme
