It’s been an expensive week for Rock fans of the North and big bank balances have been needed to take in all of the bands visiting Newcastle over a seven day period that had already seen Mötley Crüe/Alice Cooper and Blackberry Smoke dropping by with Vintage Trouble and Skindred to follow over the weekend. Californian Rockers, Y&T took the Friday night slot at the O2 Academy to get the weekend started with a bang.
For any band that have toured the UK as frequently as Y&T have in recent years it may be tempting to skip the show in the face of so much choice, so it’s heartening to see such a packed O2 Academy ready to Rock at the rather early start time needed to fit everything in before the early Friday night curfew.
Y&T have been touring for nigh on four decades and know just what to do to keep the crowds coming back for more and with 12 albums worth of material there is plenty of scope to change the set from tour to tour.
Y&T certainly don’t disappoint with a ferocious Hurricane opening the show with Dave Meniketti in fine voice and even finer form on lead guitar. Over the following two and a quarter hours Y&T deliver the big songs everyone wants to hear. I Believe In You never grows old and Meniketti’s stunning climatic solo earned a suitably impressive ovation. Rescue Me and Forever used to cram the dancefloor of the Mayfair every weekend and were greeted with unrestrained joy while Black Tiger and Meanstreak packed a killer punch.
One of the great things about Y&T is that they aren’t afraid to dig deep into their catalogue and this is why their set remains so fresh. This time their Contagious album was mined for the title track, LA Rocks and Rhythm Or Not, the latter two not having been played for years. Eyes of A Stranger, also from that album, showed some effective vocal harmonies and pretty much summed up their ability to successfully blend classy melodies with hard hitting Rock.
Dave Meniketti may be the star of the show but he gave plenty of space for his band to shine even going so far as handing the centre piece solo in Dirty Girl to John Nymann who more than did it justice.
Don’t Wanna Lose and Summertime Girls brought a lighter, more commercial edge to the night whereas Hell Or High Water was altogether darker again showing Y&T’s ability to keep it varied.
I’m Coming Home written by Meniketti in dedication to Newcastle after their uplifting reaction when he came down with the flu a few years ago but still performed with the help of the crowd, an event that has gone down in Y&T folklore and provided a special moment in a very special set.
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