Diamond Head : Rock City, Nottingham, 14/09/2002

Set list: Wild On the Streets / Shine On Me / Truckin' / It's Electric / Vanity Blues / Forever 16 // I Can't Help Myself / Makin' Music / Heat of the Night // Borrowed Time / Run / Home / Helpless // Am I Evil

Surely this is the best date of the tour so far. Despite the fact that Diamond Head were playing in the smaller venue of Rock City and the early start ( I arrived at about 8.45pm to find that I had already missed support act Witchfynde). There was barely time to get in a vastly overpriced bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale and secure a place at the front before the band went on.
The familiar 'Unleash Hell' intro tape started up and segued straight into 'Wild On The Streets' followed closely by new number 'Shine On'. The band seemed to be playing that little bit tighter and having more fun than on previous dates. The smaller environment seemed to have a good effect on the band making the whole show fun and intimate.
The band continued with numbers covering their entire history amongst them; 'It's Electric' from the first LP, 'To The Devil His Due' from Canterbury and the relatively more recent 'Truckin'. Following these tracks, the band slowed things down with a three song acoustic set. This breaks the set up nicely and give those of us who saw their acoustic dates a reminder of how good some of these songs sounded stripped down. It also gave bassist Eddie the opportunity to get in a couple of 'Mecklars!!'
Eddie's absence also gave rise to the appearance of the Phantom Bass Player, some young lad ( whose trousers were unfortunately not long enough to disguise his poor taste in socks!) who came on stage with the band's blessing to mime along to 'In The Heat Of The Night'. All this adding to the enjoyment of the band and the fans.


Eddie returned and proceeded to lead the rest of the band into a brilliant rendition of 'Borrowed Time'.
We had more familiar numbers, with Sean joining the audience, as is now his tradition, during 'Home', the wonderful 'Run'. The second new song of the night was 'Forever 16'. If these two new songs are setting the standard for the new album, we can expect something special, hopefully in the new year.
The band couldn't leave without playing 'Am I Evil?', and it went down a treat with Brian's searing and faultless solo work.
With the show over all we could do was hang around and watch the club side of Rock City fill up with its usual collection of freaks, misfits, and the occasional cracking bird!
Good Night Rock City!