Friday, 10 June 2011

Live & Dangerous 4: Black Stone Cherry & The Treatment

Black Stone Cherry and The Treatment (Cardiff University Solus)

The Solus is not a big place, so this gig was always going to have a level of intimacy that other big bands could not afford. Using this as a warm up gig for their Download appearance Black Stone Cherry played 3 dates on this tour the last one being in Cardiff. Despite taking another two bands on the other dates, one being the excellent Black Spiders, they only had one support slot from up-and -comers The Treatment.

After releasing a fantastic debut album this year on Classic Rock magazine's Powerage label, I wanted to know if their stage show was as good as the album. This was confirmed from the first song as they hit the ground running rocking and rolling with experience of a band triple their age. Despite being young they have a lot in common with  early Aerosmith, with frontman Matt Jones has a similar voice to Mr Tyler and all the better for it. The band ripped solos and riffs out on every song and even got the crown swaying with lighters on the terrifically titled Nothing to Lose but Our Minds. The Treatment are a band out of time but are the perfect openers for a band that have as many classic as they do modern reference points. 8/10

Drums, Bass, Rhythm Guitar all start playing the opening to Change then as Ben Robertson steps up to the mic...nothing, unfortunately this is how the Black Stone Cherry set started, minor technical difficulties that were not resolved until the middle of second song Shooting Star with everything in working order again. BSC proceeded to pummel the crowd with their powerful live sound. The riffs for Blind Man and the evergreen Rain Wizard sent the crowd into a frenzy  before they slowed things down and invited the crowd to sing along with the beautiful Things My Father Said after that emotional moment BSC surprised many by playing a heavy but faithful cover of Adele's Rolling In The Deep before resuming normal service with Hell and High water the songs continued in this vain until a barnstorming drum solo from John-Fred Young brought the crowd to its knees for another sing-along with In My Blood. They then ended the set with the trilogy of Maybe Someday, Boom, Boom and Lonely Train, leaving fans wanting more, however they hinted that they would be returning with another band this year. So are Black Stone Cherry Worth seeing when they come back? Hell yeah they are! 9/10  

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