Well here we are back at Bannerman’s to catch one of the bills of the year in the form of Tytan, Girlschool and Alcatrazz, talk about value for money. The venue was packed out right from doors opening and first up tonight are Tytan as Andy’s keyboard heralds some “Money for Love” from Rough Justice and he leads us through this track along with the always fantastic classic rock vocals from Tony, a great start to the night. We meet that “Cold Bitch” again with its fantastic guitar intro, a proper rock classic of a track as the bass lines from Kev kick in. We “Fight the Fight” now from 2016’s Justice: Served!, a heavy crunchy number, before the band “Love You to Death” with its slight Thin Lizzy opening riffs, Tony on vocals on this one are just tremendous, I rate him as one of the finest classic rock vocalists on the go at the moment, possibly one of my favourite tracks live.
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The guitar gently leads us to meet the “Women On the Frontline” next from Rough Justice. There is a head nodding, foot tapping power to this track, another favourite of mine and it just carries you along with some superb guitar work from Chris, this is a band that should be much bigger than they are. The “Far Side of Destiny” starts up with some delicate guitar and vocals that bring us in before Garry’s drums kick in along with Tony’s vocals, there should be more classic rock tracks like this; just tremendous. The band end a short but stunning set with the “Ballad of Edward Case”, a real rocker of a track and a great set closer. The packed out crowd absolutely loved the band’s set and rightly so, I look forward to catching them all again soon, hopefully with a full headline slot this time, get out there and support one of the best bands in the UK next time they are in your area.
The guitar kicks in before the the next band hits the stage and it can only be Girlschool as the opening chords to “Demolition Boys” kick in before Denise lets loose on the drums, I still get goosebumps with this track even after all these years. Jackie is bouncing away, grinning like a loon on guitar as is the fantastic Tracey Lamb on bass with Kim’s ever present vocals taking us along – a fab start to the set. The opening track to 1981’s Hit and Run album next with “C’mon Let’s Go”, a rip roaring stomper of a track. The girls take us to meet “The Hunter” before a touch of “Hit and Run”, we get “Guilty as Sin” next, a tasty rocking guitar-driven song with a catchy title-laden chorus. We get some “Action” now from 1992’s Nightmare at Maple Cross, we get blinded by some “Future Flash” before the girls tell us they have “Nothing To Lose” with its very familiar guitar and drum opening with the crowd singing along to the chorus.
The guitar and drums again open up as they “Kick It Down”, still sounding as fresh live today as it did when I saw them do it on the Hit and Run tour in 81 at the Edinburgh Odeon. They “Take It All Away” next before they “Take It Like a Band” with its Motörhead headbanging vibe and are joined on stage by the fabulous Nikola Kandoussi from The Agony on guitar and guest vocals and she is the perfect foil for Jackie to bounce off literally. They kick it up a notch with “Race with the Devil”, an absolute bouncing, rocking, crowd pleaser of a track before we see the “Bomber”, I’m sure Lemmy is smiling down on the girls every time they do it justice. A touch of an “Emergency” next before the girls end a fantastic set with some “Screaming Blue Murder” from the 1982 album of the same name, one of my favourite albums of theirs. This was a fun, rocking packed set with the band obviously enjoying themselves on stage from all the smiles and antics all the way through and Niky was a joy to watch and listen to with all her interaction with the band. The girls still have it live and I hope they still do for many years to come, another huge crowd pleaser of a set tonight, get out there and can’t them when you can.
We have the Doogie White-led Alcatrazz up next with stand in bass duties by Danny Mettin with 8hr practice as Gary had to get back to the States for a family emergency. They launch into the drum/guitar-driven “Grace of God” with Joe Stump again on guitar and the keyboards handled ably by the only original member Jimmy Waldo, a great start to the night once they get Doogie’s quiet vocals sorted. We head back to 1983 now for “Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live” with its classic rock keyboard/drums driven sound, the first cover of the night next in the form of Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow “Wolf to the Moon” and we see Joe let loose on the guitar here, a track well suited to Doogie’s vocal range.
The rockier “Turn of the Wheel” next before a Michael Schenker Fest cover with “Take Me to the Church” as Jimmy’s keyboards links up with Joe and Doogie’s vocals open up, no wonder Michael had him on the album, a superb track live. The new single now “Don’t Get Mad…Get Even”, a tasty rocker which features Girlschool on the studio version before we meet “Ariel”, another Ritchie Blackmore Rainbow cover with its drum laden intro, a slow-paced rocker with some fabulous keyboards and guitar work well suited to Doogie. We head back in time to 1983 for a bit of “Jet to Jet”, a real old school keyboard/drums driven rocker, a crowd favourite for sure, we come back up to date next for the classic rocker “Sword of Deliverance” from 2021’s V album, possibly my favourite from that album with its killer keyboard and sing along chorus.
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A trio of killer covers end the set tonight starting with another from Ritchie Blackmore in the form of “Too Late for Tears”, followed by “Vigilante Man” from Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock, a real head banging foot stomper of a track, well suited to this band and the band ends on a very emotive version of Rainbow’s “The Temple of the King” (something which we also saw with Doogie White, Chris Glen and Paul McManus at Winter Storm in 2017), a tribute to the sadly missed Ronnie James Dio and as he sings you can actually see the tears on Doogie’s face. This was a tremendous performance as always by the band with Jimmy’s keyboards always a pleasure to hear and as for Joe Stump, what a guitarist and he pulled all the moves tonight as well as being a tremendous player. Doogie has one of those classic rock voices that can carry a tune very easily, Danny did a fab job on bass tonight and the drums got a pounding tonight on the end of Larry’s drumsticks. This was a killer night of music with three amazing bands and the place was absolutely packed and bouncing all night, a great night was had by all, crowd and bands looking at the reactions of all tonight, get out there folks and keep supporting live music and your local venues to make sure nights like this continue.
Photos by Gary Cooper Photography
