JOE PERRY PROJECT
With all the furore currently surrounding Aerosmith and the “will he won’t he?” kafuffle with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry wasted no time in reassembling the Joe Perry Project and hit the road while the future of his day job was still being decided.
With his long-time Project bass player David Hull together with German born young gun, Hagen, Perry and co hit the stage with the classic “Let The Music Do the Talking” with some particularly fine, down and dirty slide work from Perry who as ever looked the epitome of cool. This was followed quickly by “Walking The Dog”, a real chestnut from Aerosmith’s self titled debut.
These two songs alone should have been enough to bring the crowd to their feet but unbelievably there seemed to be a sizable proportion of the crowd who simply had no idea of who was on stage and it was left to the connoisseurs amongst us to lap up vintage Perry.
“Sling Shot” from his latest solo album, Have Guitar, Will Travel was full of swagger and attitude and Perry’s solo literally sizzled however his understated vocal delivery is best appreciated in small doses.
Lead singer Hagen was perhaps a little under-used but visibly grew in confidence and vocally possesses a fine set of pipes, maybe not quite as distinctive as some but had the requisite power and bite when needed.
With a fair few tracks being aired from his latest album including “We’ve Got A Long Way To Go”, Fleetwood Mac’s delightfully titled “Somebody’s Gonna (Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight”) and “Wooden Ships”, which was dedicated to Admiral Nelson following Perry’s recent tourist trip to HMS Victory; meant that there wasn’t much space for much else in this all too brief set.
Perry did however, find time to slip in a take on Woodie Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man” as well as “Looking Pretty Pretty” by Tab. Who’s Tab you scream? They just happen to be a band formed by Joe Perry’s sons Tony and Adrian. “What’s the matter with a little nepotism” Perry queried before blasting through a balls out Rock’n’ Roll romp that would sit perfectly on any Aerosmith album. Perry senior is clearly impressed with his sons’ song writing skills.
Set closer “Walk This Way” stirred the audience slightly when it really deserved to shake them by the seat of their pants. Maybe the audience was just too unfamiliar with the bulk of the material but the Joe Perry Project deserved a better response for their efforts and perhaps had this performance been in front of his own fans or Aerosmith die-hards then the reaction would have been altogether different. Hopefully they will return very soon to play some of their own headline shows.
Bad Company
It was as clear as day that this was Bad Company’s crowd and as soon as the opening notes of “Can’t Get Enough” rang out the previously static audience were on their feet and the polite clapping from earlier was replaced by roars of approval.
The last time Paul Rodgers was on this stage was with Queen and as much as those shows were highly enjoyable this is where Rodgers appears most at ease, singing his songs, with his band and what a great sight it was to see Rodgers back alongside Mick Ralphs for the first time in years and Simon Kirke from the original Bad Company with Howard Leese from Heart on guitar and Lyn Sorensen taking the much missed Boz Burrell’s place on bass.
With no new material to promote, Bad Company spent the ensuing hour and a half or so cherry picking their way through some of Classic Rock’s finest moments from the evergreen “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, “Run With The Pack”, a surprisingly Heavy “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” complete with Joe Perry joining the band on stage and “Movin’ On” much to the delight of the large crowd.
Paul Rodgers really is the jewel in the crown of Rock vocalists. His classy, Blues soaked voice just gets better with age and his performance on the likes of the brooding “Burning Sky” is nothing short of stunning. This combined with his commanding stage presence and warm rapport with the audience produces the all round performer who sets the standards for everyone to follow.
Playing in the North of England is always special for Rodgers, being born up the road in Middlesbrough and his pride in his roots shines through with his playful “Up The Boro” reference to Newcastle’s close footballing rivals as well as his cry of “It’s great to be back home “ after “Honey Child” and the Newcastle crowd treat him like their very own returning hero.
Ralphs and Leese create the Bluesy framework on which Rodgers weaves his magic and Kirke and Sorensen, who looks uncannily like a cross between a younger Geezer Butler and the bearded dude from Kasabian, provide a solid and dynamic foundation over which it is all based.
The class of Bad Company is clear to see and when stripped down to just Rodgers and Ralphs for the acoustic “Seagull” the simplicity and beauty is a joy to hear.
It is perhaps “Shooting Star” with its superb video montage of lost Rock stars from Freddie Mercury to Keith Moon that really hits the mark and when a picture of Paul Kossoff is shown a huge cheer in celebration to the Free guitarist erupts around the Arena and that combined with the crowd’s accompaniment really bonds band and crowd together.
Encores “Ready For Love” featuring a beautiful, dreamy solo from Ralphs and “Bad Company” with Rodgers behind his grand piano ensures that the momentum of the show is maintained right to the very last note.
Bad Company were one of the first so called supergroups of the ’70s with former members of Free, Mott The Hoople and King Crimson combining to create one of the finest Blues based Rock bands ever to come out of the UK and those in Newcastle witnessed a band still capable of hitting their peak so many years after they first burst onto the music scene and fully justifying their lofty and well deserved position at Rock’s top table.
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