Review by Phil Rozier for MPM
As visitor of Metal Planet Music, I’m assuming you’ve heard of The Dead Daisies? And I assume you’ve heard of Stone-Dead festival? In which case, what need is there for me to say much about a pretty awesome combination of hard rock, glorious English sunshine, and a 6000 strong audience of denim, leather, waste coats and the kinda weird jester hats you only see sold from a tent at an outside gig (you know the ones!).
The Daisies recording from Stone-Dead had already been released to be fair, but it was a digital release only, and lacked the now accompanying 5 bonus tracks, specially selected from the rest of the tour they’d been enjoying.
The Diasies have always had a reserved space in my mind, largely associated to when I saw them some ten years back, supporting The Answer in Brighton’s Concorde 2. I think it was billed as co-headliners, but it was clear on the night, who stole the show. I was amazed as to how good they were. The stage was owned by Doug, and Corabi, closely followed by Mendoza and the rest of the gang. I guess, with that kinda pedigree, The Answer were always going to be up against it.
Ten years later, some line up changes, and for some fans, a gentle move away from what made them so great. The core was still there; great hard rock and blues riffs, with the desire to be a head banging, toe tapping, riff carving rock n roll band. But I think without Corabi, the band were different. You could hardly call them ‘not as good’ with the legend that is Glenn Hughes on the vocals, but, maybe live, with Hughes being restricted to the mic whilst singing and thumping on the bass, it may have cause the band to have ‘less to look at’. And let’s be honest, for a lot of fans, the music is only half the achievement. A live band, that is engaging, visually entertaining and connecting the crowd to the band, is a sensation that’s nearly impossible to bottle. Some groups of musicians have it, some less so, regardless of their technical stature.
But what I immediately noticed, is that when ‘A Long Way to Go’ opens up the record, with that clapping crowd, cymbals and Doug tweaking his strings; you can nearly picture the scarf wearing, bearded pirate that is Corabi boosting the crowd’s energy before his vocals hit the first note. I thought ‘they’re back, this is what I remembering them being’.
Followed by a raucous crowd, and then the riffage that is ‘Rise Up’, they continued that feeling of early era ‘difference’. I must admit, I probably talk with a degree of rose-tinted hearing (is that a thing?). During the chorus, if you listen carefully, I think you can hear my voice. I joke of course, I wasn’t on stage, but, amongst that chorus of 6000, my voice belting out ‘Riiiiiiiisse Up!!!’ is 1 of the 6000. It was probably just after 9pm, the sun was setting, the beer was flowing, and Stone-Dead was in full swing.
With the ‘Yeah Yea’ and ‘Yeah Yea’ of ‘Dead and Gone’ following on as track 3, it really is a belter of a set list. And one that the record beautifully records the crowd participation, capturing that essence of Stone-Dead feel.
‘We could not have done better than ending our UK tour with you crazy fuckers here tonight’ explains Corabi before ‘Lite ‘em Up’ kicks off. Thumping drums, thunderous bass and Doug’s Les Paul giving it large. Another belter of a number.
It was a 14-track set list, and I don’t think I could it justice by listing each track in detail. And no, for all you cynics, I’m not being lazy, I just feel I’ll be slightly bias towards the excellence of the show. Perhaps that isn’t as impartial as I should be? That’s not to say I’m not going to gush over the excellent rendition of ‘Fortunate Son’. Whether it be the original version, or this outstanding cover; who doesn’t like that opening descending riff when drinking beer in the sunset? It really is too good.
In fact, the last 5 tracks of the show are pretty spectacular. With early classic ‘Mexico’ getting all the crowd cheering back at the stage, it was like that was the ‘on’ switch and the crowd don’t go ‘off’ until the sun has set, and the band hit the final note of another great cover – the Beatles rocker ‘Helter Skelter’. And that’s not before they’ve carved through ‘Midnight Moses’ and Hughes co-written ‘Resurrected’.
So at that point, the above is kinda ‘old news’. Whilst not being physically released previously, the album could have been listened to already, again, another reason for me not holding the note for too long. But, this special little release has gifted us with another 5 tracks to feast our ears on (again, is that a thing?). Perhaps this is why the album is called ‘Live Plus Five’? What do you think?
So, we change CD’s, or Vinyl, hit play, and blues track ‘I’m Ready’ continues the party. A great swaggering rocker, where a solid head nod and tapping heel is near impossible to control. It’s greasy, without being unhealthy. It just rolls into ‘Black Betty’. Again, The Daisies are not afraid of a cover. And I like that, especially if the tracks are ones I like! Lol. But, then that’s obvious right. It’s unlikely you’ll wanna rock out to a track you don’t like, regardless of who plays it? Answers on a post card in the comments. Any tracks you only like a certain version of?
Anyway, I’ve been distracted (you try writing reviews when you’re ‘challenged by the spectrum’). So I’ve bam b’lammed enough to Black Betty, and we’re onto one of my fav Daisies tracks. Always fixed in my head as the track Hughes did a bass lesson on YouTube for. Check it out, the simplicity of his single Nash Jazz Bass and Orange amp. It’s the sound that says ‘if I played bass, I want it to sound like that’. Corabi, as do the crowd, make the track just as magic.
With just two tracks to go, and the sun is setting from very own window, I feel like I’ve been a Daisies headline festival set this evening, I really do. And that’s the magic of music. It’s transportive.
‘Last Time I saw The Sun’ is four and half minutes of classic hard rock and sing out loud choruses, before the final track of the album, ‘Get a Hair Cut’ is a welcome slightly comical end. Sung I think by Lowry himself, perhaps it’s a message to the doubters, to the naysayers. David didn’t get a haircut, but, one could argue he did get a job. He’s done pretty well at keeping these misfits together all these years through the ups and downs that always accompanying the rock n roll lifestyle.
So, all in all, the album is 19 tracks of joy, it really is. The live recordings, along with a great choice of set list, including several, but definitely welcomed nicely done covers, make this a listening wonder. It’s a fun album, it’s a party album. It’s a rock n roll album. And that works just fine me.
CD1
1. Long Way To Go
2. Rise Up
3. Dead And Gone
4. Light ‘Em Up
5. Bustle And Flow
6. I Wanna Be Your Bitch
7. I’m Gonna Ride
8. Take A Long Line
9. Going Down
10. Fortunate Son
11. Mexico
12. Midnight Moses
13. Resurrected
14. Helter Skelter
CD2
1. I’m Ready
2. Black Betty
3. Unspoken
4. Last Time I Saw The Sun
5. Get A Haircut
“Live Plus Five” will be released on May 1st, 2026 in the following configurations:
2CD DigiPak
2LP Gatefold, 180 g, purple/violet vinyl, padded inner sleeves, 2 coloured inserts
Pre-Order link for all configurations: thedeaddaisies.lnk.to/LivePlusFive
