McBrain Damage Live at The Lof

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REVIEW BY: Bill Komlos

Let me start by saying that Nicko is one very cool person. My band opened the show -- we were the first ones on -- so we got there early to set up. When we walked in, they were playing “Wrathchild” and “Running Free” at soundcheck. When they were done, Nicko was gracious enough to sign a drumhead and a CD for me. Very cool dude. Onto the show…

The Loft is a small venue -- maybe 300 people capacity -- but that didn’t matter. McBrain Damage hit the stage at about eleven-fifteen and opened with a blistering version of “Where Eagles Dare.” From there they went right into “Wrathchild.” I don’t know who the singer is (His name is Jonathan Murphy – Ed.), but the guy has an awesome voice. He did Dickinson and Di’Anno justice.

I don’t remember the exact order but here’s what they played: “The Trooper,” “Where Eagles Dare,” “Run to the Hills,” “Number of the Beast,” “Hallowed be thy Name,” “Wrathchild,” “The Clansmen,” “New Frontier,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Iron Maiden,” “The Wickerman,” “War Pigs” and a killer version of “Running Free” with Dan Spitz -- who was the lead guitarist for Anthrax for those of you who forgot -- trading off leads with Nicko’s guitarist for about 10 minutes. It was absolutely killer. To see Nicko up this close and personal was really cool, and to meet him was incredible. He is just one very cool human being. On a scale of 1-10 I give this show a definite 10.

Also I was talking to Dan Spitz after the show and he said that he and Nicko are going to be doing an album together. So that is something to look forward to.

McBrain Damage rocked Poughkeepsie big time.