The downstairs bar of the Queens Hall in Nuneaton is rammed, all the classic rock hits are blaring and people are decked out in a myriad of their band and festival shirts, namely Black Star Riders and adjacent. For that is who is here tonight as a warm-up gig the night before they make their Stonedead debut. Interestingly, it’s a more intimate venue than the band are usually spotted in so it’s unsurprising.
Currently on a tear with no signs of slowing down, in-house favourites MuddiBrooke are tonight’s openers. When they were announced, it sounded like a strange combination: grungy altrock with good-time classic rock? Regardless, as a fan of both bands, I was more than up for it. Kicking off with standard opener, “Liverpool Guy” seeks attention with its punchy melody and its mandatory singalong vocables of “Na na na”. What’s immediately obvious is they’re tighter than ever, playing with greater intensity and you can sense the fire within them tonight.
However, it’s the second song which gets the crowd on-side and the applause they give makes the polite clapping for the first song sound like a whisper. And it continues like this for the remainder of the set as you see it click with people and they get what MuddiBrooke are all about. Battering through their Lunacy EP as well as recent single, the gritty “Cellar”, there’s also newer numbers in the punk-tinged “ADHD” and psych-infused “Float”, making the most of their time on-stage as well as squeezing in some banter for good measure. Closing with their cover of “You Don’t Own Me”, it’s a victorious night for the trio, further increasing the traction they’ve been steadily building.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
If you’re going to have an intro tape, you can’t really go wrong with a bit of Ennio Morricone’s Dollars trilogy music. But since Metallica have “The Ecstasy of Gold” and Lars Ulrich is known for being a bit… litigious, shall we say, we hear “For a Few Dollars More” signalling the arrival of Black Star Riders. And when you have a name that sounds a bit cowboy-ish and the entire premise of a touring band is a bit like a Western film, it’s rather apt.
Tonight, the band treads new ground compared to their full-blown February tour. Drummer Zak St John makes his debut tonight and the band play their full set as a quartet without Scott Gorham since he’s “Taking it a bit easier these days,” as Ricky Warwick puts it. Which also sees Warwick make the transition to lead guitar. Not exactly small shoes to fill but Warwick shoulders the challenge with grace as if he’s been doing it for the past decade. And that’s whilst he’s also belting out the songs with those deep yet syrupy tones on the vocals and simply getting the crowd going. But the songs are so damn good that the last part more or less takes care of itself.
It’s very much a “greatest hits” set for the band and all the favourites are given an outing tonight and the sort you’d use as the foundation for a live album. Indeed, kicking off with “All Hell Breaks Loose” allows them to make a grand and powerful entrance as well as letting you know they’re not pulling any punches tonight. And after the second song of the title track of this year’s album, Wrong Side of Paradise, they dig in to batter through all your favourite good time classic rock cuts from their previous four albums. “Better Than Saturday Night” makes an early appearance too and as a Gorham-less song, it sounds just as mighty as the material from his time with the band.
There’s also a dedication to Scott Gorham as they rattle through Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” and “Finest Hour” is dedicated to Bernie Marsden whose passing was announced earlier the same day. There’s bright, bouncy melodies on songs like “When the Night Comes In” and “Tonight the Moonlight Let Me Down” as well as darker muscular tones on “Soldierstown” and the brooding “Blindsided”. It’s one of those shows, much like any time you see Black Star Riders, where it’s hard to decide who’s having a better time – the band or the audience. And while Gorham is very much missed, this leaner version of the band works. St John’ nails his debut with the band tonight, handling the material as if it’s his own with gusto and panache, passion emanating from him and gelling with Warwick, Sam Wood (guitar) and Robbie Crane (bass) with a tangible chemistry. Wood, likewise, handles his parts with ease but as a guy who I’ve seen in three different bands this year before tonight (BSR, Oli Brown & the Dead Collective, and The Sinners), and has recently played with Saxon, too, it’s easy to see why he’s in such high demand.
It’s not often you can catch Black Star Riders in such a small venue, if ever. For a band of their level to downsize for a night, it can show the holes in the machine. Unsurprisingly for Messrs Warwick and co., it doesn’t, simply serving to highlight how great a live band they are. Those in front of them got the chance to witness something rather special as well as showing that old adage that class is permanent.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Header image by Gary Cooper Photography
Black Star Riders: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | youtube
MuddiBrooke: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | youtube
