Are you ready for love at first bite?", asked vocalist Belladonna, alongside her equally frightening bandmates, Datura and Wolfsbane on lead guitars, Deadly Nightshade on bass and Violet Mandrakia on drums, all who had ventured out of their crypt tonight, to trick or treat us to some classic vampish covers. Van Halen's 'Runnin With The Devil' immediately gave Belladonna something to get her teeth into, as did Ozzy's 'Bark At The Moon', with an impressive dual guitar attack from the aptly named Wolfsbane and Datura, her poisonous partner in crime. Lead Guitarist Datura (aka Ezra) continued to flower, leading her undead pack on The Shangri-Las '(Remember) Walking In The Sand', before their "oldie, but a goodie", and Fleetwood Mac's, (Peter) 'Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown). An eclectic list of classics continued with UFO's 'Doctor Doctor' and even Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' - both dispatched with frightening professional aplomb and a refreshing change from the standard covers that are churned out so often. "Any fans of Kiss?" asked MC Belladonna, cue 'I Was Made For Lovin' You', before another unusual stand-out, and a highlight for mine, Python Lee Jackson's (or Rod Stewart's for those of you that are a lot younger than me) 'In A Broken Dream'. Brilliant.
The vampire banter continued, before Wolfsbane launched into the awesome opening riff of Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' (never tire of that one), although their vampish antics continued when they stopped during the intro of Blue Oyster Cult's 'Don't Fear The Reaper'. "What are we missing?" they asked. "More cowbell!" was the answer. Enter The Reaper (not The Sandman) on stage with trusty cowbell, although, seriously, this was another highlight of the set with great harmonies, spot on guitars plus some demon drumming from dear Violet. A special mention for the excellent Deadly Nightshade, who confided with me after the set that her bass guitar idol was indeed, the one and only Phil Lynott. Sadly, no Thin Lizzy in their set tonight, although from one girl band to another, The Vampirettes did salute The Runaways very own Joan Jett with 'I Hate Myself For Loving You'
So pleased I wore my special edition Motorhead t-shirt on the night as they tore into Lemmy's 'Born To Raise Hell', with some more brilliant drumming from Ms. Mandrakia, before some 'Tainted Love', with Soft Cell's classic given the werewolf guitar treatment. And talking of Wolfsbane, "Lord" Alice Cooper's 'Poison' was the penultimate in the set, and despite pleads for "more", rather aptly Rainbow's 'Long Live Rock 'N' Roll', with a bit of audience participation and band intros, brought the night's proceedings to an end. A great set. Great content. Great musicians. Great fun. All in all a brilliant evening
= free travel (up to 10 miles)
