Another year has come to an end and the team at Midlands Rocks have put together their personal favourite moments. In addition to bringing us some amazing new music, 2021 saw gigs restart and most of the team got back to enjoying some live music at festivals, arenas, theaters and clubs. As you can see from the below MR continues to be made up of an eclectic bunch with a wide range of tastes. One thing we can all agree on though – the Midlands most definitely rocked again in 2021 and we all look forward to seeing you out and about next year. If you spot any of us at a gig be sure to come and say hello and let us know your 2021 highlights in the comments section.
Peter Brockwell
Artist of the Year
Lifesigns
Midlands Artist of the Year
Rebecca Downes
Top 10 Albums –
- Lifesigns- Altitude
- The Little Unsaid – Lick The Future’s Lips
- Troy Redfern – The Cosmic Fire
- Steve Wilson – The Future Bites
- Transatlantic – The Absolute Universe
- Dave Bainbridge – To The Far Away
- When Rivers Meet – Saving Grace
- Big Big Train – Common Ground
- The Washboard Resonators – The Streamlined Rag
- Cinelli Brothers – Viva Jukejoint
Top 5 Gigs
- Lifesigns – Chinnerys, Southend (a revisit of the last gig I attended before lock down on 15th March 2020)
- The Little Unsaid – Water Rats, London
- Public Service Broadcasting – Friars, Aylesbury (I new nothing about PSB prior to this gig but they came highly recommended)
- Jack J Hutchinson – Black Heart, Camden
- Marillion – Hammersmith Eventim Apollo
This was a category which was very difficult to decide. I eventually decided on the gigs which were my most anticipated and which still managed to live up to their promise. I could have just as easily included the IQ Christmas Bash at 229 Venue, Robert Jon & The Wreck/Troy Redfern at the 100 Club, Steve Hackett at Friars or the Dead Daisies/Quireboys/ Grand Slam at Shepherds Bush Empire.
Three Things To Look Forward To In 2022
1.Marillion – An Hour Before Dark
2.Lifesigns April tour
3.Porcupine Tree at Wembley Arena
Fingers Crossed.
Peter Dennis
Artist of the Year
Tom Hunting (Exodus)
Midlands Artist of the Year
Robert Plant
Top Ten Albums
- Eyehategod – A History Of Nomadic Behavior
- Flotsam & Jetsam – Blood In The Water
- Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined
- BRIDEAR – Bloody Bride
- Carcass – Torn Arteries
- Pestilence – Exitivm
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- NECRONOMIDOL – vämjelseriter
- Paranorm – Empyrean
- Dio – Evil Or Divine: Live In New York
Top Five Gigs
- British Lion + Airforce @ The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, 7th December 2021
- BRIDEAR @ The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham, 7th October 2021
- Acid Reign + Inhuman Nature @ The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, 10th September 2021
- The Professionals + Desperate Measures + HAZARD @ The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, 27th October 2021
- Glen Matlock + Adrian Stranik @ The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, 25th November 2021
Three Things To Look Forward To In 2022:
- New Lawnmower Deth album (Blunt Cutters)
- New Scorpions album (Rock Believer)
- The festival season
Claire Frays
Artist of the Year
Dance Gavin Dance
Midlands Artist of the Year
Awake By Design
Top 10 Albums
Starset – Horizons
Eidola – The Architect
Trivium – In The Court of the Dragon
Tilian – Factory Reset
Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
Ice Nine Kills – Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2
Bad Wolves – Dear Monsters
ERRA – ERRA
Light The Torch – You Will Be The Death Of Me
Epica – Omega
Three Things To Look Forward To In 2022
New Five Finger Death Punch
New Dance Gavin Dance
Ghost returning to the UK
Andrew Manning
Artist of the year
Genesis
Midlands Artist of the Year
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Top 10 Albums
Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Neal Morse Band(NMB) – Innocence & Danger
Big Big Train – Common Ground
Styx – Crash Of The Crown
Great Van Fleet – The Battle At Garden’s gate
Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
Dead Daisies – Holy Ground
Mostly Autumn – Graveyard Star
Dennis De Young – 26 East Vol 2
Dream Theater – A View From The Top Of The World
Top 5 Gigs
Genesis
Marillion
Steve Hackett
Cats in Space
Vambo
Three things to look forward to in 2022
Nightwish Gig
Magnum – New Album
The return of the Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Dean Pedley
Artist of the Year
Morgan Wade
Midlands Artist of the Year
Saving Grace
Top 10 Albums
Morgan Wade – Reckless
Dawn After Dark – New Dawn Rising
Blackberry Smoke – You Hear Georgia
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raise the Roof
Billy F. Gibbons – Hardware
The Pretty Reckless – Death by Rock and Roll
Alice Cooper – Detroit Stories
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Georgia Blue
Cody Jinks – Mercy
Caned By Nod – None The Wiser
Top 5 Gigs
Saving Grace – Dudley
First gig back after the restart and couldn’t have been any better. RP is clearly having a ball playing with some excellent musicians and the wonderful Suzi Dian.
Dawn After Dark – Birmingham
A superb night and first time seeing a gig at Muthers in Digbeth which is a cracking old school venue. There’s a New Dawn Rising.
Steve Hackett – Birmingham
A complete performance of Seconds Out from the maestro and his incredible band, a stunning show from start to finish.
Genesis – Birmingham
Saw the first two shows in Brum and despite Phil’s obvious physical limitations it offered everything you would expect from an arena show. They leave us with some amazing memories.
Marillion – Birmingham
Terrific set list of some of my personal favourites from Marillion’s epic back catalogue. Looking forward to the new album.
Three things to look forward to in 2022
E Street Band back in Europe
Festivals getting back on track
Return of Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Angelina Pelova
Artists of the Year
Ronnie Romero and Dino Jelusick
(cannot choose one, they have been equally epic!)
Top 10 Albums
Lords of Black – Alchemy of Souls II
Seven Spires – God of Debauchery
Circus of Rock – Come One, Come All
Annette Olzon – Strong
Magnus Karsson – Heart Healer
Laurenne/Lauhimo – The Reckoning
Jeff Scott Soto – The Duets Collection
7even Bridges – Million Voices
Intelligent Music Project VI – Creation
Vega – Anarchy and Unity
Three things looking forward to in 2022
Going to a gig again!
Going to a gig again!!
Going to a gig again!!!
Angri Peters
Artist of the Year
The Body. They’ve released two albums this year, both polar-opposites, and yet both clearly by the same artist. I’m always blown away by what they produce, and always excited to see what they do next. They’re a band I’ll pre-order before I know what it is they’re up to. I look forward to another 17 albums in the next few months.
Midlands Artist of the Year
Matters. They continually produce brilliant music and everything from their stage setup to their packaging is a work of art. Their collaborations with Blue Ruth have been fantastic, and I’m hoping to see more of them. Yet another gig I couldn’t attend, and I am suitably gutted as a result.
Top 10 Albums (in no particular order)
- Cavalcade- Black Midi
Utterly bonkers. Keeping the spirits of The Cardiacs alive. One of the gigs I missed this year. Utterly regretting it.
- Gas Lit- Divide and Dissolve.
I reviewed this one. You know my thoughts on it.
- Hey What- Low
While I said this list is in no particular order, this is nonetheless my album of the year. I see this as a companion piece to their previous album and Drums & Guns. A career high.
- House of Lull. House of When- Alexis S.F. Marshall
Intense. In the spirit of Swans, but not 3 hours long.
- I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A. – Dean Wareham
He’s never going to set the world on fire, but the former Luna/Galaxie 500 frontman always turns out great tunes that fill a particular space in my tastes.
- I’ve Seen All I Need to See- The Body
One of their two albums. I reviewed this too. You also know my thoughts on it.
- Present Tense- FACS
Genuinely the most underrated album of the year. A brilliant slice of post-punk with shimmers of cold wave. “Strawberry Cough” is one of my tunes of the year.
- Promises- Floating Points
It got a Mercury Nomination and lost to something that sounded like Morcheeba. Disgusting.
- Songs From Isolation- A.A. Williams.
Home-recorded covers album, based upon requests from fans. Amazing versions of everything from The Moody Blues to Deftones from a top Goth warbler. Always bordering on the ridiculous, but always remaining sublime.
- Super What? Czarface, MF Doom
A nice bit of a send-off to MF Doom. A short blast of pure hip hop joy.
Top Gigs
- Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Stourbridge Town Hall.
The only gig I made it to. Not usually the top of my list, but they were the only gig I got to attend this year and I loved it. Not just because it was my return to gigs in my (now) hometown of Stourbridge, but because they have a body of work that is very underappreciated.
- I didn’t get to any others because they were cancelled, moved to days when I had other commitments or I was ill.
Three things to look forward to in 2022
- The gigs that have been postponed from this year or set up for next- The Damned, The Cure, Brian Wilson, OM and a bunch of others.
- The return of Supersonic Festival (finally), with June of 44 and A.A. Williams.
- The publication of my first book, which I mention because it’s why I haven’t reviewed anything for months. It is finally coming out. I’ll start reviewing again.
Paul Quinton
Artist of the Year
Steve Hackett, two fine albums, and a superb, emotional show at Symphony Hall, not to mention being a classy person, on and off the stage.
Midlands Artist of the Year
Robert Plant, it would be so easy for him to rest on his past, but that’s not his way. A great album with Alison Krauss and terrific shows with Saving Grace.
Top 10 Albums (in alphabetical order)
AURI – II Those We Don’t Speak Of.
ECLIPSE – Wired
FROST – Day And Age
BILLY F. GIBBONS – Hardware
HARDLINE – Heart, Mind And Soul
HEARTLAND – Into The Future
CHEZ KANE – Chez Kane
SMITH/KOTZEN – Smith/Kotzen
STYX – Crash Of The Crown
- E. T. – Retransmission
Top 5 Gigs (In no particular order)
Steve Hackett, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 14/9/2021
Robert Plant and Saving Grace, Dudley Town Hall, 26/7/2021
FM, River Rooms, Stourbridge, 28/11/2021
Thunder, KK’S Steelmill, Wolverhampton, 17/12/2021
Jim Kirkpatrick, Eleven, Stoke, 30/7/2021
Three Things To Look Forward To In 2022
- The firm possibility of Springsteen playing UK gigs next Summer.
- Wolverhampton Civic Hall reopening again in the autumn, all being well, after a long, problematic refurbishment.
- The HRH organisation finding a decent venue for their weekend festivals. Great Yarmouth’s limitations are all too obvious.
Rich Ward
Artist of the Year
Saving Grace
Midlands Artist of the Year
Saving Grace
Top 10 Albums
The Alarm – WAR
Deep Purple – Turning To Crime
Blackberry Smoke – Stoned
The Dust Coda – Mojo Skyline
Cheap Trick – In Another World
KK’s Priest – Sermons Of The Sinner
Bernie Marsden – Chess
The Last Internationale – Live at Arda Recorders
Steel Woods – Stones
Dawn After Dark – New Dawn Rising
Top 5 Gigs
Saving Grace – Dudley Town Hall
Judas Priest – Bloodstock Festival
Michael Schenker – KK’s Steel Mill
Fish – Leamington Spa Assembly
Elles Bailey – Lichfield Guildhall
Three things to look forward to in 2022
Gigs (obviously)
Ozzy Osbourne tour (d’oh)
Tony Martin solo album
Paul Castles
Artist of the Year
Mayhem
Midlands Artist of the Year
Memoriam – Quality DM at Bloodstock and Damnation
Top Ten Albums
- Darkthrone – Eternals Hails
- Årabrot – Norwegian Gothic
- Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
- Amenra – De Doorn
- La Morte Viene Dallo Spazio – Trivial Visions
- Sunn O))) – Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs
- Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes of the Earth
- Sanguisugabogg – Tortured Whole
- Necronautical – Slain in the Spirit
- Ministry – Moral Hygiene
Top Five Gigs
- Bloodstock, Catton Park
- Damnation Fest, Leeds Student Union
- Batuskha + Belphegor, Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
Three Things To Look Forward To In 2022:
- First Damnation Fest in Manchester, after many happy years in Leeds
- Anything from Birmingham underground black metal label, Clobber Records
- First Desertfest in Camden in 3 years in May
