OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'EUROPE/ BLACK STAR RIDERS'
'London, Shepherd's Bush Empire, 21st March 2015'   


-  Genre: 'Heavy Metal'

Our Rating:
Europe and Black Star Riders have been gigging together for the last few weeks and is both the second sold out night at the Shepherd's Bush Empire and the last night of the tour. We arrived at what seemed like an absurdly early hour getting to the Empire at about 7.30 on a Saturday night to find not only had we missed the first support act but that Black Star Riders had just taken the stage. Yikes.

Yes, the Shepherd's Bush Empire was packed to the rafters at 7.30 in the evening which I'm sure would have been when the Black Star Riders guitarist used to think about sound checking back in the day. Anyway, for those of you who don't know they are a hard rock band formed from the ashes of Thin Lizzy and The Almighty or if you prefer a band featuring Scott Gorham and Ricky Warwick alongside Jimmy De Grasso, Damon Johnson and Robbie Crane.

Yes as we put our coats in the cloak room and get a drink they are playing Bound For Glory and it sounds just like the sort of classic rock you'd expect from them. Ricky is really working the crowd and there is a great guitar solo from the very dapper-looking Scott Gorham. They then break it down and go straight into Jailbreak which gets a huge cheer as we try to find enough room to stand comfortably. Still it sounds exactly how you'd want the song to sound and Ricky's voice is becoming more and more like Phil Lynott's with every line of the song.

After a brief welcome to us all they launch into Kingdom Of The Lost with some great lines about how this home is not a home. It continues with some great guitar playing and soloing. Charlie I Gotta Go flies by in a hail of chords and the odd widdly bit that is kept to a minimum thankfully. Hoodoo Voodoo has a good infectious chorus and drums being pummelled to hell and back like they are the tribal calling card for a real shakedown.

Soldiers Town has a call and response chorus that Ricky teaches us. This doesn't stop it from sounding like a watered down Sabaton or Turisas song as this band doesn't have the right vibe to really pull off this kind of Battle metal song. Still. they play Are You Ready? as a battle cry to get the whole place going nuts to this old Lizzy classic. Inevitably, it features a juicy solo from Scott Gorham who appears to be having a bit of trouble with his amps.

Blood Shot keeps the classic rock formula going nicely and Jimmy De Grasso's drumming is as solid as you'd expect it to be as they then unleash the Boys Are Back In Town in the neighbourhood the boys actually returned to on getting out of prison all those years ago. It sounds great even if it is a cue for everyone with a smart phone to either video it or take photos of Scott Gorham playing it and the guy in front of us spends most of the song composing his live Facebook status and missing the magic of watching Scott's solo intertwine with what Damon Johnson's doing. They could have had strippers on stage and the guy in front would have missed it...

Through the Motions is the last thing anyone in this band appears to be doing as they are about as tight a hard rock band as you could wish for. Hey Judas is a pretty impassioned plea of a song built on a bass rumble from Robbie Crane that seems to keep the fire of the song burning.

Sex Guns and Gasoline was a tour de force: a great song and while not that far from the Torme classic Love Guns & Money it is certainly not the same. They go back to the Thin Lizzy catalogue for a nice version of Emerald before they play Finest Hour and well, this is a band that certainly feel fine for more than an hour.

They dig out Bob Seeger's Rosalie for a good workout complete with a couple of rather juicy solos and it still sounds great. They then do their best to cure this thing on The Killer Instinct and if you could cure things with the power of Rock & Roll then they would succeed for sure. They close with a nice long version of Whiskey In The Jar, providing a great sing along finale and they leave the stage to a huge cheer.

Now it's a brave band that books a band as good as Black Star Riders as the opening act for a tour. Europe have to be admired for having the guts to do so, but then they always book bands or musicians they love to open for them as they did when they toured with Diamond Head a few years ago.

By the time Europe came on, the Empire is slightly less full than it was but still packed. They open with War Of Kings, the title track from the band's latest album and for a band known for playing Cheese metal this is a rather Doomy cheese opening as it's dark and a little malevolent and asking questions of the so called kings running things. It finds Joey Tempest sounding as earnest as he gets all night.

Hole In My Pocket was next and allows John Norum to really let loose on his guitar against Mic Michaeli's keyboards. Last Look At Eden sounded a bit beefier than it did a few years ago and certainly had a good part of the audience singing along but nothing like Rock the Night did which was the first song to really unleash the cheese being the first song from the bands 80's "heyday". Yes Joey plays up to the band's rep but knows you can do very well indeed by never ever trying to be cool and yes everyone sings along and it's great fun regardless.

Ready or Not keeps us all smiling with them before they slow things down for Superstitious. It goes down a storm with the bands' fans but looking round, some of the Black Star Riders fans still in the room are shaking their heads at how nuts some of the crowd are going.

The Second Day flew by quite nicely, and then to acknowledge just how bad a rep the band have they tell us how it's always they guys in denim and leather who request the next song. As it happens, the two guys behind us in Denim waistcoats with Megadeth and AC/DC and Rammstein patches have been screaming for Carrie since they came on and boy do they scream along to it although they make it sound like Gary rather than Carrie. Oh for the days when everyone would have held lighters up in the air at this point. It's a Waste Of Time resisting them as John Norum's guitar will get to you in the end.

They Leave No Stone Unturned in their efforts to get everyone going and they then Praise You in what they say is a first for the band. It does sound a bit different to the usual cheese. In fact you could say this is much more monastery cheese than mainstream cheddar.

They then go way back for Seven Doors Hotel, which feels a little reigned in and pedestrian before Firebox explodes all over us complete with some of Joey's most cliched moves. Then, Let The Good Times Rock seems to amp up the amount of cliches you can get in one song to the max but it gets everyone going in spite of itself.

They go right back for one of the band's most overtly political songs Cherokee. Despite this, it's also one of the sappiest, cheesiest songs they have and yet is works every time as the trail of tears needs to be followed. They then built to a finish with the garage-y Days Of Rock & Roll: a good barreling rock song which roughs us up before they unleash the beast that is The Final Countdown. This of course ensures the guys in front of us are shaking their heads as everyone else goes nuts and sing along to every last word before Europe thank us all for coming and say good night. No encores and no attempt to get us to give them an encore neither.

This was a great night out from two cooking live bands both of whom are well worth seeing live. They will both be touring later in the year too.
  author: simonovitch

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------