Following the release of their debut self titled album, British rockers INGLORIOUS embarked on a headline tour across the UK playing shows to promote the albums release. The first stop on the tour was at the Islington Assembly Hall in London, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this show to see this new British rock group play their material live, and this is a report of what went down that night.

Kicking off the show was the first of two British support acts in the form of CURRAN and I don't think any of us expected what we did as instead of a full band performance, we just had a two person acoustic set instead. Although while this may have not been quite what we expected, it was actually still an enjoyable set and I did find myself liking the music. Usually you'd think that certain songs don't and shouldn't work in an acoustic style but these two made it possible, and although I was not familiar with the group's music, the acoustic set I watched has certainly piqued my curiosity.

 

Next up was a new up and coming musician in the form of Ali Clinton. He may be new but Ali has already found himself playing with SCORPIONS guitarist Uli Jon Roth, so that in itself is an achievement, and I was quite curious to see how that translated into his own solo material.
 

Originally I wasn't really all that impressed as Ali's songs were not really my thing, but if there is one thing I will give this guy massive credit for, is his skill with a guitar. Watching his fingers fly up and down the neck during the solo parts was nuts, as was watching him rock out and headbang as he played. Ali is definitely someone to keep your eye on because even if his music may not be your thing, you have got to give him praise for his guitar skills.
 

Once the two support acts had played their songs, we waited in anticipation for the headline act which was of course INGLORIOUS and needless to say, our wait for them to come out and play was worth it. As they ripped through the albums first two singles and opening tracks "Until I Die" and "Breakaway", the entire room was alive with a stage of rockers giving it their all, and a crowd of fans headbanging, punching their fists in the air and singing along to the songs, including myself.
 

After these first two songs, I began to wonder how things could possibly get more awesome then this but that is exactly what happened as we were treated to amazing live performances of more songs from their debut album. Some of these included "High Flying Gypsy", "Holy Water", "Warning", "Inglorious", "You're Mine" and "Girl Got A Gun" to name a few.
 

In addition to the songs from their debut album, the band found time to throw in not one, now two, but THREE cover songs which included RAINBOW's "I Surrender", TOTO's "Goodbye Girl" and DEEP PURPLE's "Lay Down Stay Down". I may not have been familiar with the original versions, but I can safely say that INGLORIOUS brought the classics to life during their set, and hearing these covers mixed in between their own original material added a touch of class to an already cool show.
 

If the songs themselves were anything to go by, then the performances of the songs themselves was also a real treat for the eyes and the ears too. As the show went on, each member of the band was rocking out and giving it their all, to try and recreate the excellent ass kicking rock sound of the album on a live stage, and I can say with confidence that it was mission accomplished.
 

Each member of INGLORIOUS was alive and on fire on the stage including vocal powerhouse Nathan James giving his voice a good workout, Andreas Zäta Eriksson and Will Taylor shredding on their guitars with style and flair ripping through the riffs and solos of each song, bassist Colin Parkinson providing us with some groovy melodies and lastly Phil Beaver bashing out the beats on his drums. In addition to the amazing performances and talent, I also learned a couple of interesting tidbits about the music on the album, including WHITESNAKE guitarist Joel Hoekstra co-writing the song "You're Mine", which I found to be pretty awesome as Joel is a talented shredder himself, so to hear he worked with this new British band on one of their songs was cool.
 

If I had to sum up seeing INGLORIOUS live in one word, it would simply be FANTASTIC. If you're a fan of Classic Rock or love British music then seeing this band is an absolute must if you want top class British (and Swedish) talent either from the songs on the amazing debut self titled or from watching them play live or both. If you haven't heard their album yet then what are you waiting for? Run on down to your record store to get it but if they don't have it then you can still get a copy online from Amazon, iTunes and the bands website amongst many other physical and digital retailers.

Setlist:
1. Until I Die
2. Breakway
3. I Surrender (Rainbow cover)
4. High Flying Gypsy
5. Bleed For You
6. Warning
7. Inglorious
8. Bass and Drum solo
9. Goodbye Girl (Toto cover)
10. You're Mine
11. Holy Water
12. Lay Down Stay Down (Deep Purple cover)
13. Girl Got A Gun
Encore:
14. Unaware