It is now 19:30 at the ‘T Break Stage’ at T In The Park. The Sun is still shining brightly but rather than watch Snoop Dogg/Lion whatever name he’s finally decided on I’m here hiding from the main stage and the blasted sun to listen to The Virginmarys who start their ‘Just a Ride’ U.S Tour on Monday to promote their new debut album ‘King of Conflict’ which was released in the February of this year. The band take to the stage and thank the audience for showing up, “Were very happy to be here at T in The Park”. The first song of the Macclesfield trios repertoire is the first track of their album ‘Bang Bang Bang’ which gives off a very Alice Cooper sound and the American influence doesn’t stop there as they rip up the stage with the Dave Grohl sounding follow up ‘Just A Ride’ which has this tent although not packed to capacity still making a raucous.
Now the fact that I’ve mentioned two very well respected artists that the band are clearly influenced by in some way shape or form shouldn’t put you off from giving these guys a chance as these guys aren’t sound a likes. Other tracks ‘Out of Mind’ and ‘Portrait of Red’ have the crowd crooning and head banging and show how as I said although they may wear their grunge/punk influences on their sleeve with the help of an excellent rhythm section of Matt Rose on bass and Danny Dolan on drums this is very much their own unique sound raw, fresh and pulsing. The band and crowd are in sync now as Lead Singer/Guitarist Ally Dickaty sneers through ‘Dressed to Kill’ which has the crowd torn between swaying and rocking out as ‘Running for My Life’ soon follows. The crowd is getting bigger with each passing note and as if by musical word of mouth there is at least double the people here as the Danny’s drums start what would be the second last track of their set ‘Lost Weekend’. The band stop to once again thank the crowd, “We’ll be back later on in the year” they proclaim as they kick off the final song of their day ‘Dead Mans Shoes’ which sees the crowd go mental. There aren’t the right adjectives to describe them as they would only do them a disservice. Next time their in your neck of the woods my advice is GO SEE THEM!!!!
