Thunder

When Thunder burst on to the scene with their debut album in 1990, their timing was spot-on.

Hard rock was enjoying a renaissance that would continue until the arrival of grunge, and Thunder were one of a number of young British rock bands that looked to have a promising future.

Most of them fell by the wayside but, 13 years later and despite a brief mid-1990s hiatus, Thunder are still going strong.

With tinges of the Stones and Aerosmith in there, they mixed some of their new songs with a number of their staple tracks last night. And it was the classics, as ever, that got the best reception – the likes of An Englishman on Holiday, Higher Ground, the brilliant River of Pain and Back Street Symphony among them.

With a new album out and having been one of the acts on the recent Monsters of Rock tour with Alice Cooper, Thunder showed last night why they are still riding high.

The London-based band may not be fashionable now in the way that Guns N' Roses were, say, in the late 1980s, but they have been around a lot longer, they have a lot more loyalty from their fans and they still put on an impressive show with their brand of bluesy hard rock.

Expect them to keep on producing the goods and return here on a future tour sometime – and if you like classic rock without the gimmicks, don't miss them. Forget The Darkness – this is the real thing.