ARTIST REVIEWS
Bailey's Comet
Band Line up:
Vocals: Tony Martin
Guitar: Dez Bailey
Guitar: John Hardman
Bass: James Mallender
Drums: Danny Needham
Set List:
Judgement Day
Emerald Isle
Good Lovin Gone Bad
Wild One
Headless Cross
Valley Of The Kings
If There's A Heaven
One Love One Life
Review:
Next up, or second on the bill were UK rockers Bailey's Comet.
The band had been touring the UK with legendary vocalist Tony Martin (Black Sabbath).
This was the second last gig of the tour I believe.
Things didn't quite go according to plan for the guys. Bailey's were about the only band of the day to suffer any sound problems.
There were problems in a few places, with sound not as it was for other bands. But funnily enough, the band's set up may have contributed to those problems.
There were 5 guys on stage, with Tony also swapping between guitar and a violin at one stage, so it must have been a nightmare to set up.
But a bigger problem was that singer Tony Martin was just about out of steam vocally.
He e-mailed me about it after I returned home – he just said he had a bad night and commented that he believed he had taken on doing too much on stage, other than sing.
Tony said he lost his voice trying to shout instructions at the sound guy throughout the set. But additionally, he said he didn't want to make any excuses.
It was just hard to hear him over everything else and when you say such a thing about such a powerful vocalist, you know there's a problem.
The band were still professional enough to carry on and I think still managed to put on a good show.
I think the strength of the set were the songs played from the band's debut album. They certainly got the best reception.
It's when the band tried to throw in extra's that things went awol.
Headless Cross from Tony's Sabbath days did not get a good crowd response – it failed to fire.
The Blue Murder cover Valley Of The Kings lacked impact also. It's a killer song, but sounded rough on this day.
Tony's own solo track If There's A Heaven also sounded muted, as his voice just didn't do the original justice.
The guys did their best but just had a bad day at the office. I was still happy to have seen them and would love to again sometime.
