Keith’s New Release Show Review Of 2010

What will you remember 2010 for?....Recession, Snow/Ice, No Water…

Sounds a bit like the end of the world!!!

From a music perspective we saw bands reform, record albums and tour.  A few that come to mind are Treat, Nelson, Giant and Strangeways…the melodic rock scene seems buoyant again like the 1980’s.

2010 was 1 of the best years for new releases by bands, and proves that the Hard Rock/Metal scene is very much alive and kicking. Unfortunately the scene seems to be staying underground. Lots of the big names in Metal got new albums released:

Iron Maiden, Ozzy, BLS, Blind Guardian, Ratt, Scorpions…etc.

The amount of Remastered reissues this year has been increased, especially Japanese Remasters.

Northern Ireland has seen an increase in bands playing in venues in Belfast, and also the Hard Rock/Metal scene seems to be acceptable again in pubs! We saw the big names come to Belfast….Metallica, Guns & Roses…a few of the smaller bands…Y&T,  Blaze, FM etc. The local scene is thriving with amount of bands playing on a regular basis, which is helped with the local rock fans and venues putting in the time and effort required to set this up and promote.

We lost a few Rock Hero’s in 2010...RJ. Dio, Paul Gray, Steve Lee and our very own Trevor Fleming...and  Alex ‘The Hurricane’ Higgins!!

The Scorpions and Judas Priest decided to call it a day and hang up the instruments.

The future…What does 2011 hold.

We’ve already had a good start to gigs, with Accept and Iron Maiden been announced to play here.

The local scene will thrive, with bigger names playing and more demand for our own local bands playing in venues. The sales of cds will continue to decline, as more cd player manufacturers decide to halt production on players and invest on media streaming players.

We have already had a strong start to this year, with Mr. Big and Stratovarius  announcing album releases for January.

Rock Radio NI will become a bigger player in N.I. as a promoter of local venues and gigs.

A local band will get signed by a label and release a classic slab of rock!!!