It’s been just over six months since the music world lost one of the pioneers of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. As we approached what would have been his 67th birthday, friends of Paul Di’Anno decided to organise a memorial gig with Airforce, SNOG and Hi-On Maiden at The Underworld in Camden Town – and it did not disappoint.
Paul Di’Anno Memorial Show
Airforce – SNOG – Hi-On Maiden
The Underworld, Camden – 10 May 2025
Words: Steve Kenton
Photography: Steve Ritchie
A triple attack of Airforce, SNOG and Hi-On Maiden raised The Underworld roof with a searing display of scorching Metal, which really was too hot to handle and would have done the former Iron Maiden vocalist proud. 
Airforce
First on the night were the mighty Airforce. Now, if you haven’t seen this band, then you really are very naughty and should be made to visit Mistress Spanky for a darned good thrashing as they are excellent.
Airforce are the epitome of consistency, something which is a rare beast in the music world. Featuring Chop Pitman creating a huge sound on guitar, Tony Hatton battering the bass, Doug Sampson clobbering the drums to within an inch of their life, and Flavio Lino (Van Cleef) screaming loud enough to make dogs whimper over their Winalot, these guys have fun but are serious about putting on a great performance. And they did just that. 
With their customary monologue from Sir Winston Churchill opening proceedings, the band kicked off with Fight, a track from their 2020 album, Strike Hard. With powerful vocals and a hard and heavy Tony Hatton bassline, it was a great stage-setter for the next track, Life Turns To Dust.
Straight from the opening, the crowd went wild and demanded to be heard, with shouts of “oi oi oi” throughout the song from the thronging masses.
Among The Shadows, from their new album, Acts Of Madness, then burst through the speakers like a sonic hand grenade. The chugging yet energetic guitar work and laconic style of Chop Pitman really highlight the fact that he is a master of his craft and knows how to work a crowd.
Son Of The Damned quickly followed and saw Tony Hatton releasing his inner Steve Harris, perching his foot on his monitor and pounding his Fender P bass to within an inch of its life.
Another track from of Acts of Madness followed. With a blistering opening riff and Lino’s soaring vocals, the audience lapped up The Fury. Lino’s voice is quite unique. With tuneful growls and screams emanating from the Portuguese frontman, it is clear that his pre-gig warm-up of a couple of dozen press-ups had a positive effect on his vocals.
Their next offering, Heroes, opened up with the rapid rattle of Doug Sampson’s snare, prompting the audience to surge forward. This crowd-pleaser of a track had the audience joining in at every opportunity.
It is amazing how Chop can get such a big sound from his Brian Moore guitar, yet he manages to do it with ease. The simple but effective riff in this track exemplifies that less can be more, and the crowd appreciated that.
Lino concluded the song, holding the final note of the track for so long that at one point he looked like he was going to pass out. But the big frontman was just teasing, leading us into the next track, Band Of Brothers.
This song was an obvious nod to Paul and is clearly another fan’s favourite as, yet again, the crowd surged forward in unison. The combination of Chop’s staccato guitar, Tony’s powerful, pumping bass, Doug working overtime on the drums and Lino’s impeccable vocals, highlighted how tight this band really are.
Lino then became a master of ceremonies, urging the crowd to celebrate the life of Paul Di’Anno, before the band ploughed through the last two tracks.
Cries of “Fight fire with fire” were the mantra being screamed by the crowd as Airforce started up the engines for Finest Hour. Another banshee-like scream from Lino after a blistering guitar solo, then led into the final track, Sniper. Yet again, the audience was working with the band, singing every note, syllable and word.
Airforce are one of THE great NWOBHM bands, no frills, no bull, just great music and a great bunch of fellas to boot. They did Paul proud. But they were not the only ones who did that tonight.
SNOG
Following on from Airforce’s brilliant opening, came KISS tribute band, SNOG. Recreating KISS’s 1980 Unmasked tour, where the American glam rock behemoths embarked on a 42-date tour, SNOG emulated their setlist with the exception of a couple of tracks.
This 1980 tour saw Iron Maiden, fronted by Paul Di’Anno, join the rockers for 32 of those dates and tonight, it has to be said, SNOG carried off a brilliant performance.
Opening the set with Detroit Rock City, the group, who were in full costume and make-up, followed up with Shout It Out Loud and crowd favourite, Strutter. The group were on fire. It was no mean feat performing while wearing those costumes in such a hot and sticky environment, yet they carried it off like they were born to perform.
Calling Doctor Love and Firehouse were next on the hit list, followed by Shock Me. With their high heels and blistering guitar solos by the Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley clones, the audience was fully invested in their “good-time” rock ‘n’ roll.
Smoke billowing across the stage signalled the opening riff for Love Gun, and then came God of Thunder. The blood started to drip from Gene Simmons’ aka The Demon’s mouth as the thundering bass ripped up the stage and the crowd shouted “Demon, Demon, Demon”.
Then came a blistering drum solo from Eric Carr. Prior to unleashing God Of Thunder, the band paid a fitting tribute to Paul. The rapid, raucous, Lick It Up then followed, with the twin guitars of Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley working the audience into a frenzy.
There followed three tracks, which are probably the most definitive and recognisable tracks of Kiss’s career. I Was Made For Loving You was the first to assault the earholes. The thing that SNOG seem to have got off-pat really well are the guitar solos, and this was no exception. Note for note, the stuttering solo flew off the fretboard like these guys wrote it.
Rock And Roll All Nite was met with a loud roar. The vocals were superb, and a lot of praise should be bestowed upon both Eric Carr and Gene Simmons for how tight they are as a rhythm section.
SNOG’s final track of the night, God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You was a fantastically executed piece of good time glam-rock. With SNOG, you get the costumes, the attitude, the musicianship and above all else, a damned good time.
Hi-On Maiden
We were then treated to the sweet, mellow sounds emanating from the musical instruments of those lovely lads from Hi-On Maiden. With four of the five personnel from the group making up Paul Di’Anno’s backing band on a number of his tours, it was a fait accompli that they were going to be good.
Featuring Adam Breyer and George Stergiou on guitars, Simon Spence on bass and the mighty Joe Lazarus on drums, the guys had masses of experience working with Paul. But what of the vocals? Enter the fray, Mr Matt Duggan and what an entrance it was.
From the moment the opening riff to Sanctuary kicked in, you knew it was going to be a hell of a performance. As soon as Matt Duggan growled “out of the winter came a warhorse of steel,”, it was as if he had been possessed by the spirit of Paul Di’Anno. Fast, furious and unwavering, Duggan’s vocals were spot on.
Then came Simon Spence blasting out the intro to Wrathchild, note perfect. It has to be said that if you close your eyes, you would think Steve Harris was on that stage, a testament to Spence’s talents as a bass player.
With Prowler following on, the talents of Breyer and Stergiou came under the spotlight, and they didn’t let us down. With notes from the twin-guitar attack flowing like the waters in the nearby Regents Canal, these guys recreated the Murray/Stratton sound effortlessly.
There was a brief pause in proceedings as Matt Duggan and the boys paid tribute to Paul. This was met with rapturous applause from the appreciative crowd, which was to be expected given the occasion.
Duggan then growled the word “Purgatory,” which was then followed by the blistering opening riff. With the rhythm section tighter than a boxer’s jockstrap, it needs to be recognised that Joe Lazarus really captured Clive Burr’s drumming technique incredibly well.
In fact Clive Burr’s wife Mimi, was in the audience and said “It’s just like listening to Clive.” This guy can do anything and everything on drums, which explains why he is one of the busiest guys on the circuit.
Up next came the brilliant Simon Spence and the intro to Innocent Exile. Now, this is one of those songs that I think is criminally underplayed by Maiden, where live performances are concerned. It is an awesome track.
It was great to hear that opening bassline, and watch Adam Breyer following in with a little bit of fret-tapping, just the lightest of touches before George Stergiou fired up his engines and burst into life. Matt Duggan’s vocals were not wavering one iota. They were on point 100% of the time. As for the drums, they were like a Gatling gun in full flow – magnificent.
We then came to one of the songs that truly defined Paul Di’Anno’s ability as a vocalist, so much so that Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson stated that the band should no longer play it out of respect to Paul – Remember Tomorrow.
Matt Duggan and the boys blew the roof off with their rendition of the track. The crowd went absolutely wild as soon as the intro kicked in.
Being a tribute band is always a difficult gig; the audience expects perfection, and that was exactly what they got. It was hard not to get a little emotional when hearing Remember Tomorrow. After all, nobody sings this track like Paul. But Duggan came mighty close, and credit to him for that.
The tempo soon rose to breakneck speed again with the introduction of Murders In The Rue Morgue. The king of drum-face, aka Lazarus, armed with his sticks of fury, hammered at the tubs to within an inch of their life.
Again, with lightning-fast bass playing and electrifying guitar-work, the rawness and edginess of this song was lapped up by an appreciative audience – and speaking of the audience, they went absolutely mad when the unmistakable intro from Killers kicked in.
It sometimes gets a little forgotten that the title track from Iron Maiden’s second album is the only track not solely written by Steve Harris, but was co-written with Paul Di’Anno…..and it’s always a crowd pleaser.
Charlotte The Harlot then made her entrance onto the stage, opening with the Murray, Stratton twin guitar attack. Switching between Dennis Stratton and Adrian Smith’s differing guitar styles must be quite difficult for Breyer and Stergiou, yet they manage to do it effortlessly. These guys are seriously gifted axemen, and they work together beautifully. As was to be expected, Matt Duggan did a sterling job with the track, especially the slower, more melancholic sections of the song.
Iron Maiden was up next, it really is the Ronseal of the Paul Di’Anno catalogue. You know exactly what you are going to get: 3 minutes and 43 seconds of fast and furious punk/Metal crossover. Did the band do it justice? Of course they ruddy-well did.
Then came Phantom Of The Opera and holy cow, the crowd brought the house down when the opening riff kicked in. The lads absolutely nailed it. At around 151 beats per minute, we all know that this track is faster than a greyhound on speed, yet every note played by these guys was on point, exact and in time.
Between Breyer’s fret-tapping and Stergiou giving his guitar a right hammering, you could see Hi-On Maiden were enjoying themselves. As the crowd started jumping in time with the band during the middle section of the song, you could see that they had fully immersed themselves in the performance. Matt Duggan WAS Paul and the band WERE Iron Maiden. As for Simon Spence, after watching him play that song, I would hate to have been his fingers.
Final track of the night and of course, it is that drum intro which typified Clive Burr as a drummer of excellence. Running Free slammed into the audience like a freight train. The bassline, the power-chords, then BAM, Matt Duggan ploughed into the song like it was a personal statement rather than a Di’Anno mainstay. He had the crowd again eating out of the palm of his hand – again, the perfect execution of an iconic song.
At the start of this track Mimi Burr stated that this track was both her and Clive’s favourite track and you can hear why. It has everything that a great rock anthem should have.
Hi-On Maiden really have cornered the market where Iron Maiden tribute acts are concerned. They are the consummate professionals and musical perfection personified.
Three fantastic bands, one great gig and honouring a Heavy Metal legend. Awesome.
