Words by: Robert Sutton Images by: Robert Sutton Photography
They say good things come to those that wait, well I could probably have been put away for double murder, got out on parole and still not missed tonight’s gig at O2 Academy Islington London from Rock Goddess, which was their first UK show in 32 years!!
A band comprising of three dynamic ladies, Jody Turner (guitar and vocals), Julie Turner –sister of Jody ( drums) and Tracey Lamb ( bass) were part of what was termed the New Wave of British Heavy Metal music back in the 1980’s. They have toured with the likes of Iron Maiden, Y&T and Def Leppard. They even played at the Reading Festival back in 1982. But after only three albums the band disbanded in 1987.
Love Zombies
Support for the night was Love Zombies, a five piece female fronted band from London who describe themselves as an infectious power pop band, combining California sunshine with London punk. Their sound is a bit of a mix of ‘Blondie meets the Ramones’ and the enthusiasm of the band and energy, especially from their lead singer Hollis, throughout the entire set was something that I think certainly got the crowd warmed up.
Rock Goddess
So, for this first UK show in 32 years we knew that it was going to be something special from Rock Goddess and we weren’t to be disappointed. They opened up with ‘Satisfied Then Crucified’ from their self titled album released in 1983 and followed this with ‘God Be With You’ from their Hell Hath No Fury album. The third song of the set was ‘Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right’ a new song which will probably be featured on the bands forthcoming new album which it is believed to be titled ‘Unfinished Business’, however as yet, it does not have a release date. The band carried on with what was to be a thirteen song setlist with lots of interaction with the audience especially about ‘here’s another old song’…However they did play three new songs that fitted in smoothly with the older ones and if they are anything to go by, I for one am very much looking forward to the release of the new album. They finished off their set with ‘Heavy Metal Rock ‘n’ Roll’ which had most of us in the audience singing along to.
The first encore comprised of two songs, ‘My Angel’ and ‘Love is Bitch’ and they finished off the night with a second play of the evening of ‘Make My Night’. We didn’t see much of Julie throughout the night as she was tucked away behind her drum kit, but both Jody and Tracey seemed to be really enjoying themselves with Tracey in particular showing us all the classic poses and facial expressions that we love from a heavy metal band !!..
What an excellent night’s performance to an almost packed to capacity O2 Academy Islington, which also included Luke Morley and Harry James from Thunder in the audience.
Setlist:
1: Satisfied Then Crucified
2: God Be With You
3: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right
4: This Time
5: You’ve Got Fire
6: To Be Betrayed
7: Flying To See You
8: Take Your Love Away
9: Make My Night
10: Drive Me Away
11: This Is The Day
12: Back To You
13: Heavy Metal Rock ‘n’ Roll Encore:
14: My Angel
15: Love Is a Bitch Encore 2:
16: Make My Night
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