It was with a small amount of trepidation that I set off on the road to Wolverhampton tonight to see brummie pomp rockers Magnum on their current tour to promote their newest studio album "Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow". The first problem I had was the fact that I had never been to a gig at the Wulfrun before so I had no idea as to what it would be like, and secondly would Hayley find the band to her taste, having got her to get the tickets after constant nagging by me here on the blog!Hope was not lost though. The venue was a breeze to find and from Stoke only took around 40 minutes to get too even though we left during the rush hour! And to top it off the venue had loads of free parking around in well lit locations that seemed pretty safe to leave your car. We therefore arrived in plenty of time so ventured into town for a quick couple of pints before the gig.
Now during this time I gave Hayley an albeit brief history of the band, so for her benefit and yours I will give a bit of a heads up on the band. Formed in 1972 the band has gone through several changes in personnel, survived break ups, solo careers and illness, but the core of the band remained with erstwhile frontman Bob Catley's haunting vocals and lead guitarist, and writer of all the bands songs, Tony Clarkin giving some awesome guitar riffs unfortunately not heard by many but loved by those that do hear them. After several years of small chart success the band finally made the big time with the release of the hugely successful epic "On A Storytellers Night" album in 1985. This led to the bands most successful period which culminated in the band opening the 1985 Monsters Of Rock Festival at Castle Donington alongside Bon Jovi, Metallica, Marillion and headliners ZZ Top.It seemed the band could do no wrong with their next album, "Vigilante" being produced by Queen drummer Roger Taylor. The band then had huge chart success with the 1988 album "Wings Of Heaven" which hit number 5 in the U.K. charts, and three singles from the album all hitting the U.K. Top 40, topped off with an appearance on Top Of The Pops. But in the summer of 1995 Clarkin decided to call it a day and the band did a huge European tour to sign off with. After the split Clarkin and Catley collaborated again with the band Hard Rain and released two albums, but Catley seem to feel the need to end this to focus on the challenge of a solo career and promptly left the band, ending a working relationship (albeit temporarily) that had begun in 1972.
The band reformed in 2002 with the " Breath Of Life " album. Original members Catley and Clarkin were back along with keyboardist Mark Stanway and bassist from Hard Rain, Al Barrow. Drummer Jimmy Copley was made a full time member after Harry James returned to his band Thunder, but Harry has had to return to the fold this year due to Jimmy being taken ill.
So with that all rapped up onto tonight gig. Support came from a local band called UXL. Although obvious from the start the lads were quite fresh, they do seem to have a long way to go and their music is shall we say an acquired taste. As most of the crowd seemed to be nudging forty these boys just didn't really hit the spot on the night and it was a thankfully short set.
Now onto the main event. Magnum, as usual produced a faultless night of well played rock with pixie like frontman Catley giving a fantastic vocal performance whilst bounding round the stage. Tony Clarkin again wowed with his uncanny ability to play effortlessly on stage for the entire set. Mark Stanway produced hauntingly great keyboard during the night. Al Barrow was again great on the night, but the star was Harry James with 
a fantastic drumming performance from one of rocks best.The set included several tracks from the new album, opening with When We Were Younger and the fantastically titled Dragons Are Real. Also from the new album came Eyes Wide Open and the brilliant ballad Thank You For The Day. The band also realed off the old standards including Vigilante, On A Storytellers Night, Les Mort's Dansant and How Far Jerusalem and ended with an awe inspiring version of Sacred Hour. After an hour and a half of great music the band left the stage to huge applause and I'm sure they will be back again to show all that pomp rock is not dead and they are still at the top of their game. The guys all seem to enjoy what they do and you feel this from the moment they walk out on the stage. They may not be the most well known band in the world, but with a career spanning over 30 years they must be doing something right. Rumors are abound that they will be doing a " Wings Of Heaven " 20th anniversary tour next year and I for one look forward to that. Hayley also enjoyed the night, and even though she knew very few of the songs, she was suitable impressed enough to want to go and see the band again. So a good night was had by all and the pomp rockers left to go home happy to of entertained us all on the night, and left us looking forward to the next time we see them.
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