Thunder rock the Civic Hall

Thunder singer Danny Bowes on stage at the Civic

Thunder

Wolverhampton Civic Hall

When you mingle with fans of one of Britain's most loved rock bands, you know you're among a faithful following who insist that live music should be fun.Once described (by themselves) as being as "the biggest rock'n'roll band you've never heard of", Thunder are one of the great British acts.

They have been around for more than 20 years, and yet they've had almost no airplay since their hit Dirty Love in the 1990s.

See our gig photo gallery below

At their sell-out gig last night at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, support came from Heavens Basement (formerly Roadstar).

With a sound reminiscent of The Cult, and long mops flying, this tireless band clearly enjoyed getting the crowd worked up ready for the main act, with songs such as Rain On My Parade and the brilliant Executioner's Day.

Right on schedule, Thunder took to the stage with some ear-splitting pyrotechnics, the perfect plug for their stomping new album Bang!.

The cockney rockers gave excited fans favourites from their back catalogue with Backstreet Symphony, power ballad Love Walked In and the infectious I Love You More Than Rock'n'Roll, as well as several tracks from the new CD - Storm Water, Carol Ann and their swipe at lack of radio play, On The Radio.

The usual between-song banter from frontman and joker Danny Bowes soon had the Civic crowd singing along, and the cheeky setlist included a couple of more risque tracks, The Devil Made Me Do It, Dirty Dream and You Can't Keep A Good Man Down.

Far from being the type of band that lets the frontman lead the whole show, the Thunder members are very much team players, with guitarist and main lyricist Luke Morley, guitarist Ben Matthews and bassist Chris Childs staying well out of the shadows - and, of course, crazy and much-loved drummer Harry James who always claims his rightful moment in the spotlight, and even more welcome last night after a recent illness which almost put a stop to his touring.

The encore earned the fans a couple of old favourites, Higher Ground and Dirty Love.

Any credit-crunch gloom which could have passed through the Civic doors last night were quickly washed away with Thunder's trademark good-time rock'n'roll.

Everyone left with a smile on their face - no long guitar-strap syndrome here.

Released on the band's own STC label, Bang! was released earlier this month, on the same day as the new six-track EP The Joy Of Six EP.

Bang! is Thunder's ninth studio LP, and is the usual mixture of catchy blues rock spiced up with big singalong choruses.

By Debbie Bennett

nextpage Thunder get the crowd going at Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Thunder guitarist Luke Morley

Thunder bassist Chris Childs and guitarist Ben Matthews

Danny Bowes shows the crowd his moves

Luke Morley steps up to the microphone