Last year Dirty Honey blew fans away with a string of support slots with Rival Sons, and this year it’s time for the California based rock and roll unit to launch their own headline tour! They started it off with a sold out show at the Adrian Flux Waterfront in the city of Norwich.
The band has been on what seems to be an endless rollercoaster to the top since starting out in 2017. They have shared the stage with the likes of The Who, Alter Bridge and Guns N Roses.
At 6:30 waves of fans flock into the venue in anticipation for the initial night of this tour. After a look around the merch stall and grabbing a good vantage point to see the acts, it’s about 7:15 and the opening band of the night, Himalayas, make their way on stage.
Himalayas bound straight into things with their opener, “Leave This Place”. Harnessing that new age tradition of a lot of young Welsh bands, we get some fantastic melody driven sounds intertwined with heavy guitars backed up with boomin’ bass and huge drums. The band put on a fantastic performance to start of the night, and end on “Thank God I’m Not You” and finally “From Hell To Here” which goes into an unexpected cover of “Gangsters Paradise”!
As the openers of the evening pack their gear away, it makes way to show an impressive back line of Marshall and Aguilar amp stacks. Part of that vintage sound Dirty Honey has comes with their choices in equipment they use, and sometimes you just can’t beat a good tube amp!
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Around 8:30 the wait is over and it’s Dirty Honey’s turn to rock this venue! Starting the set off in style with “Gypsy”, the crowd are on their feet and going nuts, whilst on stage the band are just as full of energy too! A fantastic way to start the set and from here it’s full steam ahead with “Break You” and then into “Heartbreaker”.
Watching these lads perform tonight you can’t help but get that feeling that you’re watching something truly special. The band has it all, with the incredible tone and vocal range of Marc LaBelle, the blistering guitar talent of John Notto, beautifully placed yet massive bass sounds of Justin Smolian and the man behind the sticks absolutely killing it on drums, Corey Coverstone.
Dirty Honey play an absolutely incredible set featuring all of their best material on show including “Tied Up”, “California Dreamin’” and “Down the Road” to name a few, and not once does the band miss a beat even for a moment. With all the talent in the world in their hands it’s easy to see why this young group is taking the music world by storm!
They end on a stunning rendition of “Another Last Time” which blends perfectly into “When I’m Gone” before leaving the stage briefly, the whole time in which the crowd shouts at the top of their lungs for “One more, one more!” And it’s back to stage they go to give this legion of dedicated listeners what they want as they end the first night of the tour on “Rolling 7s”.
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Photos by Lawrence Potter