Black Start Riders, Michael Monroe & Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons, Tramshed Cardiff, 21.02.23
The days may be drawing slowly out by inches, but it’s still cold as a brass monkey’s frozen knackers in the queue outside Cardiff Tramshed tonight, which tells me already that we have a pretty full house already even for early birds like me who get told off by the editor for turning up late and missing the support acts. Inside however, it’s tropical, humid and positively dripping from the ceiling, although unfortunately this turns out to be a case of some beer spilt on the balcony, making for a sticky back of the neck for the rest of my evening. The headliners don’t need to, but they’ve pulled a really good package together for this evening, bring effectively the remains of Mötorhead, Hanoi Rocks and Thin Lizzy under one roof for an evening of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and it’s no surprise that even though I’m definitely quite a few decades out of spring chicken territory, that the average age may noticeable have dropped when I walked in. That’s called loyalty, and it’s hard won and well deserved.
Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons (8) start proceedings squeezed onto the front of the stage, and although a guitarist down due to illness and suffering from one of the worst sound mixes I have ever heard in this fab little venue, they still belt the evening round the lugholes magnificently and stir up the crowd a treat. Despite really not having any guitar sound to work with the band really do rip things up nicely, and with a set that’s two thirds Bastard and one third Mötorhead the crowd still have plenty of love and familiarity with the material from their two studio albums to not care too much where they came from, and local born Campbell is clearly delighted to be playing back in his birthplace (well, that’s actually Pontypridd a few miles up the road in the Valleys, but hey). Either way with a full 9 song set, the crowd are left happy.
On the surface this isn’t Michael Monroe’s (9) crowd, given that this older audience were probably none too appreciative back in the day of a band who really kick-started the 80’s incarnation of glam, but at the end of it this is still Rock ‘n’ Roll and the man is a master of that, regardless of how much blusher, bleach and backcombing goes into his look, proving that all you need is the right foundation… It is scary how unchanged physically he is by the decades. Not only does he look and dress like the 1980’s were still in full fashion disaster fur pelt, but he is as muscled, skinny and physically fit as he was thirty years ago, leaping about the stage and photo pit like a demon, and it’s that raw honesty and showmanship in the performance that turns the audience round from polite tolerance to full throated support. This despite the fact that he clearly seems to be somewhat under the weather, with a strain to his voice and a cough that he hides well into his stage towel, and I pity the crewmember who has to clear that away.
Added to this the sound mix is still atrociously thin, and despite throwing everything into their stag presence the desk is not helping them with with neither guitar fully audible and Monroe fighting to be heard over a mike that struggles to pick him up clearly even when the band aren’t playing. But despite all that they really plough on regardless, because they have a point to make. The set list is a generous 12 songs pooled from his solo albums since 1985, the Demolition 23 one from the 90’s (which is when fellow Hanoi member Sam Yaffa came back in the loop, where he remains) and a few Hanoi favourites but the energy, pace and sheer sense of fun is what makes this an unexpected highlight of the evening. The audience may have come for who was playing either side of this Rock ‘n’ Roll sandwich, but Monroe and the band won a new respect tonight, which will no doubt lay the ground well for the Hanoi reunion allegedly on the horizon.
It’s the 10th anniversary of Black Star Riders (10) ditching the Thin Lizzy name and moving on as original recording artists in an influenced, but nuanced different direction. That’s a diversion that’s increased across their five studio albums, with the latest opus Wrong Side of Paradise moving well away from the Gaelic influenced harmonised melody lines that they were still retained in their sound initially. When I reviewed that album elsewhere, I wondered if the older Lizzy fans would feel it was a step too far, but apparently not judging by the fact it achieved a top 10 chart position in the UK and the material debuted live from it tonight here in Cardiff hit the spot as firmly in the back of the net as the older, and indeed, very much older material.
The band are welcomed hugely on stage, as much because finally there is a decent sound mix as there is about love for the headliner. The band respond in kind and proceed to rip everyone a new hole with one of the best live shows I have seen at this cracking little venue. Again, this is a really generous set list, with a total of twenty tracks over the best part of two hours, and five of those coming from the latest release. Scott Gorham may not have been involved in the recent recording cycles, but he’s here tonight and joins the band on stage a third of the way through, where he remains until the end, adding a lovely rich dimension of guitar melody with three of them at work with fluidity, power and sheer damned energy.
I’ve seen Ricky Warwick play many times over the decades, right back to The Almighty, but for my money his performances with BSR just keep getting better and better. Tonight, he’s blisteringly tight, focused and prowling the front of the stage totally owning the audience. The Lizzy tracks are kept to a minimum, and that’s no bad thing and bizarrely the cover of the Osmonds Crazy Horses from the most recent record probably gets a bigger cheer than Jailbreak does. Added to this a couple of guest appearances from Phil Campbell (allowing Warwick to ditch the axe for a few minutes) and Michael Monroe clearly having the time of his life, and this has all the hallmarks of a candidate for gig of the year.
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