Caught Live: Magnum - O2 Academy, Liverpool 29 October 2009

Another midweek night, another gig from a veteran band. This time it was melodic rock survivors Magnum who pitched up at Liverpool's O2 Academy, and it was a substantially different gig experience to the Y&T one of two nights earlier. For one thing, the turnout was only OK - they used the larger upstairs room, but to be honest this crowd could probably have fitted in the downstairs part without too much trouble. A far cry from their arena-headlining days of the late 1980s, but full marks for perservering long after the musical trend shifted away from their style of rock.
However the band have a lot of kit and so the bigger stage did suit them. I only got in around 15 minutes before they were due on, but had no problem finding a nice spot in the middle.



The other thing about this gig was the fact that Magnum chose to play a lot of songs from their new album 'Into The Valley of the Moonking'. It's not a CD I have got hold of yet, and so I was unfamiliar with much of the set played tonight. It seems a brave move from a band with a substantial back catalogue and many classics to choose from, to push their new material so heavily but it does show confidence in what they are doing now, as opposed to what they did 20 years back. In fact, it was at least an hour into the show before I heard anything I recognised, that being 'Les Morts Dansant'.

This did not detract from the band's performance; they still feature three of their classic line-up in keyboard player Mark Stanway, guitarist and songwriter Tony 'No Hat' Clarkin (!) and singer Bob Catley. Now into his 60s, Catley still sounds in good vocal shape and is backed well by bassist Al Barrow. The new songs were well received by those that did show, the crowd once again looked to be full of middle-aged blokes (looks in mirror here!) but there were quite a few women present too, and there were some younger fans in among the oldies (yaaay!) The drum stool is now occupied by everyone's favourite Bald Eagle, Mr Harry James. Harry was in fine form tonight; loud but not overwhelmingly so, he drives this band expertly. Tony Clarkin, although the creative force in the band, prefers to leave the spotlight with the singer; never looking to dominate proceedings with long solos, he always plays for the song.




The crowd really roared their appreciation once the band dipped into their oldies; 'Les Morts Dansant' was enthusiastically cheered and set closer 'Vigilante' ensured they left with loud roars ringing in their ears. Despite leaving out many of their favourites, such as 'The Spirit', 'Soldier of the Line' and 'Sacred Hour' they still delivered an entertaining set. As said earlier it was a brave move to do that and probably one that will irk some of their more long-term fans, but hats off (sorry Tony!) to them for taking the gamble.

Caught Live: Y&T - Academy 3, Manchester 27 October 2009

Another gig that I left up until the last moment before deciding to attend, and I cut it rather fine when getting in to find the guys on and playing. As they were due on at 9pm and I had only got into the venue a few minutes later, I guess I didn't miss too much.

There must have been a substantial 'walk-up' crowd this night, since I was able to get a ticket on the door but once inside I found a very full Academy 3. Admittedly this is the smallest of the venues at Manchester University but still, a very good turnout for a midweek gig as acknowledged by singer/guitarist Dave Meniketti. Of the current line-up I recognised only him and bassist Phil Kennemore from their glory days of the 1980s; I've not really stayed up to date with this band and in fact this was only the third time I'd seen them at all, the first being an appearance at the 1984 Donington festival.

Despite that however, I knew almost all the songs played in the set. They'd obviously decided to concentrate on the fan favourites, and so the set was heavily weighted in favour of material from their early 80s heyday. So we got all the classics, including 'Dirty Girl', 'Mean Streak', 'Barroom Boogie', 'Hurricane' and an excellent 'I Believe In You', allowing Meniketti to showcase his more bluesy guitar style. Their only UK hit 'Summertime Girls' was delivered mid-set also; I know they had to play it but even so, it invokes uncomfortable memories of Jonathan King and his 'Entertainment USA' programme from the 80s (!)

Dave Meniketti impressed with some sublime guitar playing; he mainly sets his guitar to kill but when he chooses to, he can play with real subtlety and feel. His voice held up pretty well too considering he told the crowd he'd been hit by a bug just days before. He handled most of the lead playing but was backed well by fellow guitarist John Nymann, who did occasionally get a chance to show his own leads (unlike the Joey Alves days, who preferred to concentrate purely on rhythm)

Late in the set, bassist Phil Kennemore was given the microphone to perform 'Squeeze' from the classic 'Earthshaker' album; he and Meniketti were lauded with football-style chants but Phil chose to get the crowd to chant back 'F**k You Phil' – that, he explained, was because while on tour, he missed hearing that from his wife (!) There was a brief drum solo from Mike Vanderhule during this song but by the time it came, most of what we had come to hear had been played so it was not too intrusive.

There was not much in the way of stage banter from the frontman, the guys had a lot to get through and just got on with it. Consequently it sometimes came over more like a pub gig, but nobody came to hear Dave Lee Roth-style joking around. However, one request from the crowd to play 'Lipstick and Leather' was granted; they had obviously not rehearsed it and just about managed to busk their way through it, to big cheers.

The main set ended with 'Forever' before they came back to do just the one song as an encore, what else could it be but 'Rescue Me'. The night ended with Kennemore getting the crowd to chant 'F**k You Phil' some more, much to his amusement!

All in all then, an excellent gig; a throwback to the days when Metal was allowed to have melody and musicianship. The operative word being 'throwback'; that was the only thing that left a slight downer with me. The audience tonight was almost exclusively male 30/40-somethings, apart from one or two who were there with their fathers there were absolutely no younger fans that I could see. I cannot complain about the set being full of songs that are at least 25 years old either, since they all hold up extremely well and will probably still sound good in another 25 years (will we still be saying that about the latest hotshots... draw your own conclusions!) but, this show was definitely preaching to the converted. Maybe it's just me, but I really think bands such as this shouldn't be reliant on a fanbase that is ageing with them, they should be attracting new ones to go with the existing fans. I suppose you have to be a really massive name like AC/DC or even Whitesnake to do that but, if this kind of music is not attracting younger fans to rock then I dread to think how the scene is going to look in years to come. Surely it can't be as bad as the dark days of nu-metal... can it?!?

Y&T official website

Caught Live: Black Stone Cherry (with Loaded) Apollo Theatre, Manchester 20 October 2009

I ummed and ahhed about going to this gig up to the last moment; the venue is not my favourite in the country (not even my favourite in Manchester; the Academy is a far better place since its recent revamp) but as it's been a while since my last 'proper' gig and as I'm currently not able to get to as many as I might like, the decision was taken to check this show out.

I got there in plenty of time to catch Loaded, and a decent-sized crowd was already standing in the stalls awaiting Duff and his crew. 22 years ago I saw Duff McKagan play this same place with Guns 'n' Roses when their star was very much in the ascendancy. Only last year, he was in Liverpool with this band and went down a storm with a small crowd, who had come mainly to see the big name. However this time around his band had a much harder job with the crowd, despite Duff's status he had his work cut out to get anything going beyond the first dozen rows. The band's set was mostly the same sort of punk 'n' roll delivered last year, but there were some songs which slowed things down a bit. That was probably not a great idea when supporting; with a limited time you have to keep it short and sharp, and hit hard. It was when they did the harder songs, including covers such as 'Attitude', 'New Rose' and even set closing treat 'It's So Easy' that they went down best. So not quite the stormer they played last year, but I did note the great performance of drummer Isaac Carpenter, and was especially impressed with bassist Jeff Rouse, he possesses a better singing voice than the main man and was given a chance to show it just before the end.

Up to now I've only seen Black Stone Cherry as support for bigger bands; they got their break last year as openers on the Whitesnake/Def Leppard arena tour and it's clear from the turnout tonight (a close-on full Apollo) that they've won a lot of friends since then. When I first saw them last year I wrote in an earlier blog that they were 'solid but unspectacular'. That's still the impression they leave me with now; all the ingredients are there, a great singer in Chris Robertson, energetic sidemen in guitarist Ben Wells and bassist Jon Lawhon (they never stood still all night, frequently swapping sides and climbing the monitors) and a sound drummer in John Fred Young. They also have some good songs to back all this activity up, but something for me doesn't quite hit the mark, they don't send the shivers down the spine, they don't leave me walking out of the venue in a near-trance, blown away by what I've just seen. That is not to say they were bad; not at all, they were very good live, they make all the right moves and they say all the right things. They just don't seem to be quite matching up to the status they now find themselves in, headlining large theatres like the Apollo.

Perhaps Black Stone Cherry are just one of those bands you have to stick with and watch them grow into their role; or perhaps it's simply me who doesn't get it. There were certainly enough there who did, Robertson was often able to leave the singing to the crowd and most notably so on the poignant 'The Things My Father Said'. But for me, although those ingredients are in place, the cake isn't quite fully baked, they're not yet the finished article.

One last thing; the sound in the theatre once again did neither band any favours; the bass was so loud especially during the headline set that I'm still buzzing from it now! As said at the top, this place is not my favourite venue and I don't make a habit of going there these days. Just a shame so many acts choose it! Perhaps if they had played the Academy I may have enjoyed it more, but as it was, the air guitar remained in its case.