Review & Photography by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
The trio of maestros do not venture this side of the pond together very often so when they do you make sure you do not miss them as these sets are unrepeatable.
It is fair to say The Winery Dogs appeal to musicians is across the board and that is evident tonight as a whole host of Glasgow band members are in the sold out throng and just as startstuck as us mere mortals.
I hate the term super groups but it is hard to avoid with these guys, individually they are at the pinnacle of players for their relevant instrument. We have the badass of bass in Billy Sheehan, God of thunder Mike Portney on drums and Mr Fantastique of the fretboard in Ritchie Kotzen. I have seen them in so many different bands, on so many different occasions but tonight is my first as a band together and boy were they worth the wait.
They opened tonight with “Gaslight” from the recent third album. It bursts to life with the three elements and sets the pace for the night. A cracking way to kick off the night which was followed up with another new song in “Xanadu”. That bass tone can only be one man and Billy is on fire as are the whole band, tight as budgie smugglers without the embarrassment.
We jump back to Hot Streak with “Captain Love” and this was when the real love started pouring out from the audience. It is easy to focus on all the genius on show but very easy to forget that this band write some banging tunes. They manage to write some catchy songs that have one hell of a lot of bells and whistles. Every song is packed with musicianship to die for but it is far harder to not go down the Malmsteen route and get lost in twiddly widdly heaven so songs like this solidify that this is a band, not a showcase.
It is right back to the start with “Desire” and I remember when the debut came out back in 2013 and how I fell in love with it. For me it was like some deity had brought forth the holy trinity of metal genius. I loved each of the individuals involved, having followed some for decades and this was one of the songs that just shone through and the hell yeah I had back then is threefold tonight.
The band want to hold onto that early vibe and keep the built up pressure within this cauldron by playing the most Sabbath song never written by Sabbath in “Time Machine”. This track is a beast live and the vocal harmonies are epic.
To give us a rest from those early masterpieces we slide into “Stars” and you can feel a journey through these three albums. The amount of work each band member has gone through outside the band in 10 years is crazy so the songs have definitely moved on. This is more song centric with the magic turned down(slightly).
The slower, more bluesy number “Damaged” is next and with the let up I manage to focus on each man and the trade they ply and it is humbling. Awe struck is my reaction which continues as we get Billy’s solo and as always happens I am taken back to that very first Talas album and how I played the album again and again in disbelief it was actually a bass I was hearing.
We then jump into a three song barrage of “The Red Wine”, I’m No Angel” and “Oblivion” before the boys leave the stage and set up the encore and after such an incredible set so far and the expectations being blown away early I am wondering how you top it and then they stroll on and go for the heartstrings on “Regret”.
The bluesy rocker sees the keyboard in use with that lazy bass line. A stunning rendition and as I gather up the emotions it is head first into “Elevate” and this is everything you need to know about the band and it is how you end a show.
The Winery Dogs are a phenomenon, if there was a seven wonders of the musical world these three guys would be your first ticket to purchase. This is the band that musicians go to see, this is perfection in motion and I now feel a bucket list has been ticked and I know exactly why it was on there.
