Review by Richard Henry for MPM
Second night for me up at the historic Ulster Hall and I am interested to see what the age group is like compared to last nights Answer doing Zep gig, decent sized crowd in here already on a wet Sunday night. Always a good sound in this place, now I do have to make a confession, I only think I know one song by these guys so I am really looking forward to seeing what they are like!
Action – The band enter the stage with a number I actually knew, now I’m going to be honest it was Def Leppards cover of it, great sound from where I am sitting, vocals are excellent with the harmonies coming through, nice solo hitting as well, tight as a drum parting from the guys, great opener!
Hellraiser – Great stomping riff to kick this off with a pounding drum beat, again the vocal harmonies are excellent, great interaction onstage from the guy’s covering the left hand side of the stage, great middle section with a little drum break!
Burn on the Flame – Nice pull off riff to start this one, good uptempo rocker, great arrangement of the vocals between all the guys, drummer is solid as a rock, some nice little fills in there as well, nice little solo comes in there, and a dual harmony section in the guitars before a sort of guitar drum break part, again tight as anything before a tempo change, lovely track that!
Circus – Synth Intro to kick this one off aka into a really driving riff, crowd clapping along to the start of this one, live unison guitar part the verse before a quick break and into the chorus, live break part after the second chorus and then into the solos, tasty playing in there and back into the chorus again!
The Six Teens – Guitar Change and Intro The sliding riff at the start this one, the acoustic guitar is out for this one, very prog rock in feel, love the little guitar stabs between the verse where you can hear the acoustic, great arrangement and guitar and synth harmony after the chorus, tempo changes and into the guitar solo love that little change, really pumps the song up, nice change back into the chorus again, great track!
Don’t Bring me Water – Lovely staccato guitar riff and a drum beat to kick this off the last album, again the vocals are outstanding when the bass player and singer combine and then our drives into the chorus and all the band is notes on the vocals fire a huge chorus, lovely bluesy solo kicks in, as the tempo goes half time and into a quiet section really highlighting the vocals again before it builds up into that driving chorus.
Lost Angels – Lovely riff there with the vocals before the band comes in, absolutely anthemic vocal section there, really driving drum beat and riff, love that guitar riff in the second verse and into that massive chorus, that middle section really kicks in and drives, good drum work there, this really motors along, absolutely loved this track!
Set Me Free – So this is another that I had heard somewhere else and that was on Vince Neil’s solo album with Steve Steven’s on guitar, yeah I will be completely honest I did not know it was these guys, what an absolutely class track, love that harmony guitar part, some slide noise on guitar for the solo before that harmony part again, love that track!
Coco/Funny Funny/Papa Joe – Andy has to go off for a bit as he is still recovering and the rest of the band take us through this medley of the three songs that started it all off for the band at the start of the seventies, very different feel to Coco, almost like a reggae Jamaican feel to this track, straight in the next one and it’s a laid back acoustic sort of affair with a shuffling drum beat, again great harmony vocals from the guys, and great to hear a band actually do it and not use tapes, how do I know that they aren’t perfect but they are damn close, Papa Joe has that sort of reggae feel again to it, great groove and feel to this one, cool medley and a very different feel to the rest of the set!
Turn it Down – Boom and right into a really slamming riff, love the groove to this one it’s a proper down and dirty driving one, real sort of early Whitesnake blues rock feel to this one for me, nice vocal break with the bass player taking over before it hits the chorus part, that middle section with the stomping drum part is awesome before we hit the chorus again, love that track!
Teenage Rampage – Shuffling rocker right there, love the way these guys songs drive, again the vocals in the chorus are on point with the harmonies really cutting, lots of voices singing back to the band on this one, joining in on the chorus, great solo kicks in and also a great guitar sound as well from Andy, real sing along track this one, again bringing the energy!
Wig Wam Bam – Bang into it again, everyone up off your seats please is the command from the stage and everyone obliged, I think waiting for the command, and lots of singing away to this one, in fact there are a good few up she’s away to the front if the stage for a boogie, love seeing a band getting people involved especially at a seated show, fair play to them!
Love is Like Oxygen – Andy commenting on th crowd and about the people who have stood on this stage like Rory, good to see him back up there doing what he belongs and playing guitar, crowd participation, that is another slab of a riff right there with a great bouncing keyboard part there, great threes part harmony vocal again in this one, I might add the vocals have been stellar all night, not just the harmony parts, this really reminds me of Toto for some reason as well, lovely break into that middle section, again almost prog rock work the break between the keys and guitar, love the harmony guitar part, this song is bloody epic!
Fox on the Run – Band introductions before the start of this one, bang into this one, bouncing about in the front row, this is a straight up rock and roller, everyone is getting involved singing this one back to the band, that chorus is just massive with all the guys in the harmony vocals, lovely melodic solo from Andy then back in to that chorus, killer track!
Blockbuster – So yeah I know this one as well, stomper of a track and it just drives along with everyone at the front with the hands in the air, then in the break the chrome is sung right back to the guys, such a feel good factor in here tonight for these guys, classic songs delivered perfectly by these guys, absolutely class!
The Ballroom Blitz – What can I even write about this one, this was the one song I knew, turns out I knew more than I thought by these guys but this is how you close a set with an absolute banger of a track! Everyone and I mean everyone is singing along to this and having a boogie on the floor, what a closer!!!!!!
So I came here not knowing more than one song, I left here going I am 100% going to have to listen to the back catalog, musicianship was excellent and so where the songs, absolutely class band, new fan here!
Photography by MPM
