Magnum - a force to be reckoned with

The Holmfirth Picturehouse was full to bursting with fans lapping up the lengthy 17-strong set.

Opening numbers Soldier On The Line and Storytellers Night, both from the early days, saw frontman Bob Catley arm-waving as he always does.

Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies and Crazy Old Mothers, both off the latest long-player, soon followed with guitarist Tony Clakin showing that he can still knock out a decent tune or two. This was particularly noticed on the six-minute plus epic that is 12 Men Wise and Just, again off the current platter.

Mainstay keyboard chap Mark Stanway flicked the ivories to kick-start How Far Jerusalem which sounded epic with drummer Harry James, whose main job is with Thunder, and bassist Al Burrow both giving the song that extra groove, naturally accompanied by a full crowd choir.

As the show progressed we had All England’s Eyes and the excellent Vigilante, a personal favourite of mine, which took us nicely into the encore.

After several hearty cheers Catley and Clarkin took centre stage, with classic Magnum tune The Spirit making us all vocalise the chorus, this well-loved song gradually grew with the rest of the band taking it to electric mode in its final stages.

As always, they ended with their breakthrough number Kingdom Of Madness as we all bid our fond farewells.

What many people seem to forget is bands like Magnum really have done it the hard way and yes, maybe their best days are from a few years ago, but this latest record if my maths and their website, www.Magnumonline.com, are correct shows they’ve now made 19 studio albums! Each one covered in fantastic eye-catching artwork, a band trademark, and is filled with great songs.

Coupled with this wonderful show which has been toured all over Europe I think we should all doff our caps to Birmingham’s finest export and give them the respect they so richly deserve.

Until the next time my friends....

Magnum are touring this December. Check out their website for further details.

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