Thunder – Astoria 2007

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Another Thunder UK tour rolled around in November, stretching into early December in support of their new EP Six of One…, from which they played one new song. Another EP is set to follow in early 2008, with a third EP and a new album (and no doubt another tour) in late 2008.

Support for the whole tour came from Lauren Harris, daughter of Iron Maiden bassist Steve. While her voice isn’t bad for the kind of boisterous rock she wants to play, her songs aren’t rock songs, rather pop songs with handy guitar work courtesy of Richie Faulkner. This makes it doubly hard for her to garner any support from much of the hard rock community.

Thunder kicked off with their usual exuberance, following a new and rather dramatic intro, with a brace from their latest full-length album Robert Johnson’s Tombstone. Everything was business as usual. Thunder are one of the most consistent live bands in the World, which in a way makes talking about their live shows quite difficult because they’re all always flawless.

The new EP has three new studio songs on it and three live songs recorded on the last tour (all from Robert Johnson’s Tombstone), and one of these new ones appeared here (Chain Reaction). Given that the tour is in support of this EP, only one of the new ones being included is a little surprising; Thunder aren’t normally shy with new material, often playing up to six new songs from a new album on a tour supporting it. As always some songs were extended well beyond their normal running length to allow Danny Bowes (vocals) some audience participation/baiting opportunities, and as has been the case a few times before, this was done a little too often, where we could have had extra songs.

Otherwise the setlist was suitably changed from the last UK tour (November 2006) including some old songs finding their way back into the set (Like A Satellite, I’ll Be Waiting, Flawed To Perfection), the excellent Last Man Standing from Robert Johnson’s Tombstone which was left out last time, and the return of Somebody Get Me A Spin Doctor from 2003′s “comeback” album Shooting At The Sun, replacing Loser from the same album which was included on the band’s Summer European festival tour after being dropped last year.

Constant touring is doing wonders for Thunder, who are building a following of fans possibly comparably to their early ’90s peak. Consistently good shows are bringing people back each time they tour (low ticket prices help) and with the quality of their new material continuing to be of a very high standard there’s no sign at the moment of that stopping.

“ business as usual ”

Setlist: Dirty Dream / Last Man Standing / Higher Ground / I’ll Be Waiting / The Devil Made Me Do It / Robert Johnson’s Tombstone / River of Pain / Flawed To Perfection / Chain Reaction / Like A Satellite / Back Street Symphony / Love Walked In / You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down // Somebody Get Me A Spin Doctor / Low Life In High Places / I Love You More Than Rock And Roll

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Lauren Harris, Thunder