Easily the most exciting and entertaining band in all of metaldom at the moment bar none Dragonforce are just what you need to keep the Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations from the day before rolling onwards. Coming out to cheers of adoration from the sold out audience you can tell from the off that this is going to do down as one of the gigs of the year and it’s only March. There’s an almost festival atmosphere among the gathered masses, many of the already converted wave inflatable guitars and plastic swords. Those who have yet to witness the spectacle of this band might be a bit bemused by this sight but an hour and forty-five minutes later they do have succumbed to the spell. From the momment they hit the stage the band are unstoppable. You actually can’t take your eye off of them for one moment. Vocalist ZP bounds around as if he’s king of the world, leaping onto the between drum and keyboard riser or onto the box at the front of the stage that the Dragonforce guys jump up onto when they want to get attention while doing a solo. It’s difficult not to be captivated by what’s going on. ZP divides the crowd into two, setting them off against each other in the cheering stakes, he picks out individuals and chats to them in a friendly, familiar way and about three-quarters of the way through the show he makes everyone sit down because he thought we could do with a rest. This is metal and it’s fun. This is how it should be. And while all this is going on there’s the blazing, super-fast fingerwork of the guitarists, the crazy keyboard solo with its sonic the hedgehog theme music outro and it’s laser shots in the middle – with the man himself pointing his run-around keyboard at the crowd like a gun. While most bands have roadies that run onto stage to pick up things they’ve dropped or to fix things, Dragonforce have roadies that run out to top up the beer holders they have attached to their microphones stands – little shelves on which a bottles sits with a straw in it so that they, especially guitarist Sam, can drink as they solo like lunatics. Dragonforce are going to be absolutely huge. Even if you don’t like them on record you still can’t help having fun at one of their shows. This band are in the lift and heading to the top but they’re making sure to stop at every floor along the way to get as many people on for the ride as they possibly can.

» dragonforce.com