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Friday, 10th June 2011
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Derby, England - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By AndyLGR

What a great day it was. I thought Puddle of Mudd, Black Stone Cherry, The Darkness (great pyros and lights) and the Leps were the highlights of the show. Vivian made an appearance on stage with Thin Lizzy for the boys are back in town, not too unexpected I guess but a nice addition none the less. It was red hot earlier, I am suffering now as I'm really burnt, but then it pissed down just before the Leps came on stage.

The Leps were 15 minutes late on to the stage.

Undefeated was a real surprise as the opener, I know it had been mentioned by Joe but I never thought they would use it to open. The new video screens look fantastic and the extended drum intro, along with the bands faces on the video screens worked well to build the intro. The song sounded good live, overall a great start and an unusual one for them.

Next up Action, although a hit in the UK I didn't expect it to see it back in the set. Disappointed with this one.

Strangely this goes straight into LGR, there is no 'Do You Wanna get Rocked' intro, the end of Action segues straight into the intro riff to LGR. I didnt thnk this worked that well as LGR is a big favourite and it took a little while for those casual fans to realise what was being played. But the track went down very well as usual and I think its good to see them do something different with it in tagging it on to another track.

Next up was Let it Go. This sounded amazing, really good to hear it back in the set. And the video graphics on the screens suspended above the stage and alongside Ricks kit really are making this a good looking rock spectacle.

Foolin was dusted off, it hasnt been played in the UK for a little while and although I know some people are tired of this song in the set, I really like it.

So far so good, apart from the addition of Action, I think the running order is good, and we've got some different tracks in a UK set.............. that is until we hit the mid set brick wall of Love Bites, Sav's bass solo, Rock On, TSB and the acoustic part of BOTH. Frankly Im really bored of this part of the show now.

Anyway after the fantastic electric end to BOTH we get the equally fantastic Switch 625.

The extended version of Rocket is now back in the set after a break from recent tours, this version sounded good. Again the video screens are coming into their own.

Clearly we're coming up to the hits section of the set, so we get Hysteria, Armageddon It, Animal, Photograph, PSSOM, & ROA in quick succession to finish the main part of the show.

Armageddon It goes straight into Animal, but again as with Action to LGR, I didnt think the transition worked well and again it took a little while for people to realise it was one of the hits they were waiting for. But Animal as normal went down a storm.

The band photographs through the years on the video screens during Photograph were a nice addition I thought.

As with previous tours Photograph goes straight into PSSOM. Again another big crowd pleaser.

Before ROA Joe does a shortened intro for Rick, mentioning briefly the history of Donington, not as long as the 2009 speech he made. For the encores the band return with WLAHC, with Keith Weir, of the Quireboys and DnO as the guest on keyboards.

Finally back to OTTN, a real treat to hear Wasted. It sounded great.

............and thats it, the shows over too quickly. I had heard 20 songs had been played in Ireland so I assume the missing track was because they were late on stage.

So overall another good show with plenty to enjoy. But it didnt quite have the special feel of the 2009 Download appearance, I think because its so soon after that last appearance. Plus the 2nd half of the set was too similar to that gig.

Negatives - the same middle lull in the set and the inlcusion of those tracks that are for me now out staying their welcome.

Positives - Undefeated opening, Let it Go, LGR early, Foolin, Rocket extended & Wasted. A great show and musically the sound was top notch.

It did sound like the band had a few minor technical issues with Ricks kit on PSSOM and also on the intro to Rocket.

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