Review and Photography : Stephen Brophy for MPM
Slash ft Myle Kennedy & The Conspirators are certainly no strangers to these shores and it’s great to see them visit Dublin again on this latest Tour. Hard to believe that the album 4 is already two years old, but when the bombastic opening track and title of the Tour ‘River Is Rising’ bashes you into submission in a minute you already know it’s going to be a cracking night, but that’s getting a little ahead of things, never ignore a support band as you never know when they will breakthrough to be one of the next wave of superstars.
Opening this segment of the Tour is a band that continues to make a name for itself through a lot of hard work and constant touring, Mammoth WVH and on tonight’s showing it’s easy to see why they are growing in popularity. Wolfgang Van Halen’s lineage aside let’s just take a look at what he and his band mates do.
His guitar playing is just so smooth, solos are effortless and there is this wonderful groove to their music, a classy band of pros with Frank Sidoris (also one of the Conspirators) on double guitar duty for the night. Visually the band are very energetic, with Wolfgang front and center and for me it’s the vocals that perhaps surprise me a little, I have heard the band before, but not live and he sounds great, such a laid back style, definitely someone that was born to be on stage.
The music is powerful Rock with screaming and intermingling guitar licks all over the place, nice to see a good size crowd already in the venue to catch them and I’m certain they will be back sooner rather than later.
With tracks coming from both of their album releases their style just hits the mark, good honest hard rock, tracks like ‘I’m Alright’ and ‘Another Celebration At The End Of The World’ are cracking songs in their own right and really go down well with the crowd, it’s easy to see why they have been picked for Tours like this or Alterbridge and I look forward to catching them doing their own headline set in the near future over here.
Have been really lucky to catch Slash ft Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators a lot since I first saw them in the UK in 2011, and while they were really good straight out of the gate they have developed and matured as a band and they are just right on top of their game now, the band is superb, Slash has lost none of his swagger and Myles is without a doubt one of the top vocalists in Rock today.
In 2024 the only difference is a little bit more mileage on the bones, the band still attacks each song in the way it should be, whether it’s Miles or Todd taking vocal duties you know it’s going to be excellent and the more relaxed Myles or the full on energy of Todd. Sadly with the sheer quantity of gigs on at the moment and the economic climate still having it’s effects we were never going to have a full house tonight, but what we did get was an enthusiastic crowd that really enjoyed a great performance from both bands.
So with the new album tracks slotted into a nice long setlist, what’s not to love. Frank showed no signs off fatigue as he ran from one side of the stage to the other through the set, Todd has enough energy for 2 bands and it all just fits together perfectly. There seems to be a special place in Slash’s heart for shows in Dublin and he certainly looked like he was enjoying himself on stage.
The set was full of highlights from the first song to the last, the new tracks blended in well with ‘River Is Rising’ and ‘April Fool’ probably being my standouts of the seven on show and with the older tracks well you can really just toss a coin, personally, ‘Halo’, the meandering ‘Starlight’ a thumping angry version, as it always is. Of ‘Dr. Alibi’ and of course ‘Avantasia’ but the ‘Rocketman’ cover definitely pulled a tug at my heart, wonderful steel guitar by Slash and vocal from Myles, the set was long and well balanced, what more can I say.
Because Slash still looks the same I think we all forget that he is not a young man anymore, but tonight there are no signs of his aging frame as just over two thirds of the way through a two and a quarter hour set he launches into a blistering solo as part of ‘Wicked Stone’, a solo that lasts 4 or 5 minutes in length and never takes a breath, my hands hurt just thinking about it, and you just had to stand there and nod approval on not only his abilities but continued stamina.
On top of that he still both sounds great and has that swagger he’s always had, while maintaining the modest on stage persona, speaking rarely but always coming across as humble. Slash is a legend not only because of his guitar playing or the bands he’s played with, but because he in the end is just Saul Hudson, a guy that loves playing guitar in a band and that’s as endearing as anything to any fan or audience member, it’s great to watch.
When any band comes back for an Encore you are always going to wonder what they are going to pull out of the bag to really end people home with a big smile on their faces. Tonight we get to hear their version of the Elton John classic ‘Rocketman’, which is simply brilliant, it’s something this band has been able to pull off time and again, picking a song they love or admire from another artist and doing more than just do it justice, Myles could really sing the phone book and have people spellbound, for me he is without doubt one of the best vocalists of a generation and it’s a joy hear him do his thing.
Closing out the show is a classic Slash track that’s so easy to identify from the brilliant intro, ‘Anistasia’ is probably my favourite song by the band and hearing the crowd reaction when that into kicks in I’m certain I’m not alone, it’s a great way to finish off what’s been a brilliant nights entertainment, let’s hope we get the band back as soon as possible as they are always a treat to see.
