Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
There’s probably no cooler musician than Orianthi on the road right now, the Australian guitarist and singer exuding a megawatt glow from the moment she steps onstage.
Given the sudden drop in temperature outside, the heat radiating from the stage soon warms up the last remaining fingers of chilled air in the shoulder-to-shoulder audience squeezed into the O2 Academy’s industrial warehouse-like space. With her last solo appearance on these shores almost a decade ago, the anticipation for this return had been building to something of a fever pitch and backed by drummer Demien Arriaga and bass player Sam Collins, Orianthi seemed determined to make up for lost time.
This formation as a power trio really stripped the sound back to its primal elements, giving the music a real punch and letting everything breathe. Given Orianthi’s versatility, this makes for an even more compelling experience and the outfit are certainly on fire tonight as thundering rockers and delicate blues light up the evening. Opener ‘First Time Blues’ is an amalgam of both those ends of the scale, swaggering and sensual it hits hard and fast, the Gospel stomp of ‘Sinner’s Hymn’ a powerful follow-up that carries the euphoric mood. It’s a great start and things continue to climb from there.
The thing that strikes the most is the deceptively effortless way Orianthi plays and it’s impossible not to draw a comparison to the way that Prince had total mastery over his guitar. Both artists certainly share that idea that they’re one with their instrument and, along with the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn and the very much still with us Joe Bonamassa, few six stringers have combined that level of style musically and sartorially to such great effect. Making BB King’s ‘Never Make A Move Too Soon’ her own, adding some extra juice and grit, this carrying the spirit of Prince is shown clearly in her solo, the ringing notes distilling the very essence of the legend into one succinct touch of heaven.
Bringing things up to date, latest single ‘Attention’ sounds like Pat Benetar at her peak and ballsy rocker ‘Rescue Me’ is an all cylinders firing road racer before solo acoustic numbers ‘Where Did Your Heart Go’ and Bo Diddley’s ‘Before You Accuse Me’ show her delicate and soulful touch. It’s a breath slowing of pace before she warns “we’re going to bring some heavy shit for you” and the trio tear into the irresistible and titanic groove of ‘Light It Up’ and the Dave Stewart co-write ‘Heaven In This Hell’ packs a mighty wallop.
With numbers by ZZ Top and Michael Jackson thrown in for good measure, it’s the night’s closing extended take on Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’ that blows any last vestiges of resistance away. Arriaga and Collins get their time in the spotlight and the guitarist peels out a solo that is nothing less than jaw dropping, wringing every last emotion from her instrument like her life depended on it. Orianthi is certainly on breathtaking form at the moment and her rise unstoppable.
Earlier in the evening opening act James Bruner cemented his reputation as one of the fastest rising figures on the scene with another unfiltered rollercoaster of rock ‘n’ roll thrills. Having already impressed with tours supporting the likes of The Struts and Those Damn Crows, the frontman personifies the wild, force of nature embodiment of a young rock god, spending his time shirtless and hanging over the barrier into the crowd. Kicking things off with the muscular ‘Switchblade’, there’s no holding back and it seems like he and the band want to make the very most of their half hour onstage.
Whilst it’s his name on the posters, this is very much a group effort and with guitarist Zach Mears throwing shapes and impressively ripping out riffs while ultra cool livewire bass player Shannon Wilk and freight train drummer Sam Jenkins they all bring their own stellar magic. Occasionally bluesy and always heavy, the quartet bring an unbridled fire to numbers like the hooky ‘Big Shot’ and an incendiary ‘I Get Everything’, the latter a bold statement that sounds like it’s Bruner’s personal mantra. He’s already achieved a lot in his relatively tender years but you feel that the best is yet to come and he’s not going to stop until he becomes a stadium filling act. Whilst there may be a lot of pretenders out there, there’s talent here to back up the ballsy swagger and Bruner and band bring the promise that the future of rock ‘n’ roll is in very safe hands.
Photography by Manuela Langotsch
