It’s hard to go past a more perfect double bill than Buckcherry and Rose Tattoo – I mean it has it all: one of Australia’s finest vintage Rock acts and the band that rekindled Rock and Roll in the US 25 years ago. Both bands when you strip away the labels are all about attitude in spades and down and dirty Rock and Roll – what more could you want?
Tonight at the Rosemount in Perth we were in for a treat as Buckcherry kick off their short and sweet Australian Tour in style, and the late addition of Rose Tattoo (who were originally only playing the East Coast dates) is a real treat drawing out some familiar faces to see what all the fuss is about. The Tatts always put on a great live show and despite tonight’s lineup being much changed from last time they headed West they never fail to deliver. Opening with ‘Out of This Place’ and ‘Rock and Roll is King’ from ‘Assault and Battery’ tonight’s rather raucous crowd is immediately in the palm of Angry’s hand. Even ‘Man About Town’ from 2007’s “Blood Brothers’ (still their latest album) feels like a long lost friend.
Tonight as usual Angry is chatty and between gems like ‘Tramp’, ‘Butcher’ and ‘One of the Boys’ he throws out some sparkling asides and anecdotes. But this is a Rock and Roll show and the band seem intent on damaging some ear drums and just getting down to business. In all honesty they are nice and loose tonight, working in some lovely extended jams and searing guitar work. “I’ve been called a lot of things” Angry tells us before ‘Juice’ “but when we wrote this I was called a misogynistic midget, now midget I get…” the crowd loves it.
By the time we hit the closing stretch with ‘Rock N Roll Outlaw’ with it’s wonderful fat groove and extended work-out, ‘Bad Boy’, ‘Astra Wally’ and of course ‘Nice Boys’ with a shot of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ you feel like you’ve already had your moneys worth! And that final song, the one that bands like Guns ‘N’ Roses picked up on, you feel is the link here (well that and the tattoos). The bands tonight may be a couple of generations apart but there is so much they share sonically. That no nonsense approach to Rock and Roll, that primal essence and the collective nod to the greats of yesteryear is what keeps hard rock so strong and so vital and everyone here tonight knows it.
But tonight is of course all about Buckcherry and the 25th Anniversary of their iconic debut album. And if you’re going to open up with a bang what better way than to start out with the highest profile song from that 1999 debut – ‘Lit Up’. Coming so early in the set it surprises some and it’s a huge sonic high to start off the tour. Sadly though there is no more from the record that started it all. So when you open with a freight train what do you have next? It has to be the huge groove of ‘So Hott’ a song that just sounds huge live!
I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a crowd more energized and jump so much but by the time we hit ‘54321’ the room is just alive and you feel that the band can sense it as Josh’s trademark bandana comes off along with the shirt. It’s great to hear ‘So Far’ from ’15’ alongside ‘Ridin’ ‘ from the classic ‘Time Bomb’ and man it’s hot in here and the crowd is just grooving and dancing like it’s 1999 all over again!
BUCKCHERRY SETLIST
