As I walked down to the CrowBar, I saw an Uber Eats delivery guy leave food on the doorstep of a terrace before scurrying back to his scooter & zooming away. This seemed like a good snapshot of the world we’re in today. So I was keen for a night of good old-fashioned Glam Rock to block that stuff out for a few hours.
Accidental President make a splash right away, mostly because they’re so visually striking… but visuals always need to be backed up with songs, and slow burning opener ‘Hopes & Dreams’, does the job handily as it built to its crescendo! Backing up with ‘The King is Dead’ the band make their mark on tonight’s bill early on. Singer Bethany Neville has a fantastic voice, and guitarist Dave Ben Lee has a repertoire of huge riffs, and together they have some remarkable harmonies. I thought that, given that they don’t have a Bass player, their cover of ‘Under Pressure’ was a bold choice, but the vocal interplay on this duet made the gamble worthwhile. These guys are well worth catching again, I look forward to watching them develop.
Big Red Fire Truck don’t ‘do’ slow burn, they’re more ‘Crash, bang, wallop’ kinda guys! Their muscular guitar driven, big chorus, catchy as corona virus (too soon?) sound brings to mind, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen and that whole
70’s / 80’s summer rock thing that we don’t get that much of anymore. With ‘Heart Attack’, ‘Be my lover’ & Power Ballad ‘Point of Love’, these guys check ALL the boxes, really well drilled, harmony guitar solos, great backing vocals, Flame Haired leather lunged lead vocals, dynamic leaps off the drum riser, with BRFT you get ‘one with the works thanks’, and I’ll certainly be back for more.
With all of the lunacy going on outside, Crosson make perfect sense tonight!
As the Martian voiceover kicks in, a vocal number of the crowd bayed in agreement. You want Big Guitars? Tick! Big Singalong Choruses? Tick! You want dancing girls? Costumes? Ludicrous hair? Tick, Tick, Tick! Fabulous backing vocals? errr… Tick!! I think Crosson would probably work better in a larger forum (I feel like they do too). But on this point in time, this all singing & dancing OTT rock & Rock Cabaret was exactly what the doctor ordered!
I’m not being patronizing when I say that If Reckless Love existed in the late 80’s, they would have been MAMMOTH! They have all the elements – great songs, great rhythm section, whiz bang guitar player and a singer who looks like he was genetically modified to be a rock & roll frontman! Good looks, suntan, High Kicks, Shimmies, blonde hair… it’s either that or be dancing on a pole (it’s a joke kids)…
So after their remixed ‘the boys are back in town’ intro, The Fins hit the stage, all sunglasses & big smiles, tearing into ‘Animal Attraction’, then ‘So happy I could die’, and the crowd (some of whom have waited years to see these guys play), are singing every word. The sound has a lot of familiar elements without any outright theft. I get Cult, Def Leppard, Crüe, and of course Hanoi rolled up with some more Euro sounds.
Not being familiar with the songs, I was surprised at the quality … ‘Born To Break Your Heart’, ‘Beautiful Bomb’, ‘Romance’, ‘On The Radio’ all rock solid hits! “This is a song from the 1st record that’s gonna make your baby shake”… by way of introducing “Back to Paradise” Singer Olli has the crowd wrapped around his little finger, while guitarist Pepe also had a fanclub camped on stage right.
To put it bluntly, Reckless Love were great tonight! I was glad that I got to see them, and that they drew a good crowd in this weird climate, and at the end of what was probably a fairly weird tour (with what went on with the melodic Rock festival). So Kiitos (Thanks) to them for coming, and for bringing the rock!
Biggs
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Adam Sivewright
Reckless Love
Crosson, Big Red Fire Truck, Accidental President
