Thunder – The Forum 2006

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Another six months, another Thunder UK tour. Two per year seems to be the rule at the moment; one in the Spring and one in the Autumn. For regular attendeers this year is an interesting one. February saw the second half of the tour supporting The Magnificent Seventh and this new one is the first part of the tour for the Robert Johnson’s Tombstone album, which means two markedly different setlists.

Understandably a lot of older material was dropped in favour of new songs, but the inclusion of three from The Magnificent Seventh and nothing from the outstanding comeback album Shooting At The Sun came as a bit of a surprise. The classic tracks from the early albums came as no surprise at all, which was also disappointing. Literally the only interesting inclusion apart from the new material was Laughing On Judgement Day. All the other older songs were obvious and predictable choices, and some in particular, like Dirty Love, are getting rather tired.

However, the focus was on the new material, and rightly so. By this point in the tour they’d played a few shows and their usual cohesion and exemplary showmanship was already beginning to show on the more unfamiliar songs. Thunder are, first and foremost, a live band, and front-man Danny Bowes is without question one of the most natural entertainers in the business. All the guys in the band are very funny people, and the comedy for which Thunder are known adds an extra dimension to their live shows. Drummer Harry James only has to stand-up to get the crowd chanting his name, and barely a show goes by without at least one one-liner from guitarists Ben Matthews and Luke Morley and bassist Chris Childs. Centre stage is reserved for Bowes, though, and his dancing, banter and most of all his singing, never let him down.

It was as soon as the second song before a trio of new ones were aired, and all were typically high-class Thunder fare. Thunder have two phases to their career so far. The old, when they were signed to nasty things like record labels, and the new where they’re doing it on their own. Robert Johnson’s Tombstone is the third album to come from the new period, and while its songs are as strong as anything from The Magnificent Seventh, or later albums from the old period (Giving The Game Away and The Thrill of It All), they have the feel of regular album tracks when placed against Shooting At The Sun or any of the first three albums. They’re all good songs, but there’s something missing.

By far the catchiest and grooviest song of the new ones played is first single The Devil Made Me Do It, which recently charted at number 40 in the UK. An excellent choice for the first single and is destined to become a future live favourite. Of the other five new songs played there really weren’t any standout points in any of them. They were all good, but they were all standard Thunder songs.

On a performance level they were as outstanding as they always are, and every Thunder gig is guaranteed to be immense fun, and perhaps after some more time the new songs will take on an identity of their own. Thunder’s shows remain the pinnacle of live performance and should be witnessed by all rock fans.

“ exemplary showmanship ”

Setlist: Back Street Symphony / Dirty Dream / What A Beautiful Day / A Million Faces / Laughing On Judgement Day / Gimme Some Lovin’ / Robert Johnson’s Tombstone / My Darkest Hour / River of Pain / The Devil Made Me Do It / Fade Into The Sun / Love Walked In / I Love You More Than Rock And Roll // You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down / Better Man / Dirty Love

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Rock, Thunder