BRITISH LION – THE CROXTON ‘THE CROC’ – (MELBOURNE) – 5.9.2024
Review: Craig Eriksson Photos: David Harris
Welcome to ‘The Croc’ and the land down under British Lion. This is the first time that the lads (other than Steve Harris) have toured Australia and based on the atmosphere in the bandroom tonight, they certainly did not disappoint.
Founding member and legendary bass player of Iron Maiden, Steve Harris formed this side project band back in 2012. Steve has been in Iron Maiden for almost 50 years, forming the band back in 1975. An incredible rock’n’roll journey and achievement.
I was fortunate enough to interview Steve Harris for Australian Musician last week and Steve said that one of the driving forces of him putting British Lion together was that he missed playing the smaller venues where the shows are more raw and intimate as Steve has been playing large arena concerts with Iron Maiden around the globe for decades now.
British Lion had a great stage set up with 3 screens displaying their logo. 2 screens were set up on each side of the stage and had their distinctive lion head logo looking side on across at each other. The main central back screen behind the drummer had the lion head looking front on to the crowd.
British Lion played a good, honest rock’n’roll show tonight and really connected with the audience. There I was situated right up front in the mosh pit and about two arm lengths away from the band with guitarist Grahame Leslie directly in front of me. It was an incredible opportunity and almost surreal to be up close and personal to the legendary Steve Harris. Steve worked the stage so well and engaged with the audience who soaked up every ounce of the show as they sang along whilst head banging, raising their arms and displaying the devil-horns and enjoying a few bevvies.
British Lion are:
- Steve Harris – Bass guitar
- Richard Taylor – lead vocals
- David Hawkins – guitar, keyboards
- Grahame Leslie – guitar
- Simon Dawson – drums
British Lion performed a solid 2-hour show playing a total of 17 songs from both their 2012 and 2020 albums and a few new songs. They opened the show with This Is My God followed by Judas from their 2012 self-titled album. Two great openers that kicked the show into full boar right from the get go. Father Lucifer and Bible Black followed from their 2020 album The Burning, which showcased Richard Taylors beautiful vocal range.
What was nice to see is that this band are all on an equal playing field without the focus solely being on Steve Harris. Each band member contributes and plays a key part in the band’s sound, success and brand of music.
As I glanced around the bandroom it was a sea of black music tees and leather jackets. Plenty of Iron Maiden tees from the die-hard faithful fans that were here tonight. What I found wonderful was the multi-generational bunch of fans highlighting this type of hard rock music is enjoyed by all ages. I even saw a couple of old blokes that were in their mid to late 70’s, one even on a walking stick rockin out to British Lion highlighting that age is no barrier if you love and enjoy music.
A motto of mine is: It’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.
This life motto could not be more true and obvious with Steve Harris who recently turned 68 years of age. Steve is truly an inspiration to watch on stage with his youthfulness, energy, zest for life and passion for playing hard rock music. Wearing shorts and a black singlet top saying: Whale Oil Beef Hooked (say this fast in a thick Irish accent and you’ll get the pun). To think Steve manages to squeeze in these side shows in between the Iron Maiden arena shows is quite remarkable and commendable for his age. The man never rests and said in the interview I had with him that it’s important to keep moving and look after yourself. I also noted Steve’s guitar strap is heavily padded and seemed to match his wrist sweatbands which he threw out to the crowd as a momento at the end of the show.
The lads directly around me were a bit charged and were giving Leslie some fun banter which Leslie soaked up and smirked back at them throughout the show. The guy directly in front of me that looked like comedian/actor Bill Bailey that I later found out is Brett, was headbanging away throughout the show and kept swatting me in the face with is hair as he randomly flung his hair back. No flies on me mate!
To give you an idea of British Lion’s style of music and influences, if you enjoy listening to bands like Thin Lizzy, UFO, Led Zep, Sabbath, Deep Purple then you’ll enjoy their music and stage show. At times I even felt they had a Celtic influence and their logo does possess Celtic artwork around the lion logo. Many of their songs are rock anthems allowing the crowd to sing and chant along with the band.
I managed to score the Set List at the end of the show and for those interested, the other songs played tonight were:
Steve Harris – British Lion (2012) album –
- Us Against the World
- The Chosen Ones
- A World Without Heaven
- Eyes Of The Young (encore – last song of the night)
- These Are The Hands
British Lion – The Burning (2020) album –
- The Burning
- Lightning
- Last Chance
- Legend
- Spit Fire
- Land of the Perfect People
The two new songs they sang were 2000 years and Wasteland.
Overall, the evening was fun, special and memorable. I can’t wait to hear more of this wonderful band and I encourage those lovers of hard rock music in Brisbane and Sydney to get along to one of their upcoming shows –
REMAINING SHOWS:
Monday, September 9 – The Triffid, Brisbane
Wednesday, September 11 – Manning Bar, Sydney
