Towards the end of the ’80s Metal had reached something of a nadir. With an excess of ozone busting backcombed hair, six inches of lipstick and spray on spandex, and that’s just the men, it had become a sad parody of itself so when Nirvana and their grunge revolution showed up, Metal as we knew it was kicked to the back of the class.
However, after a few years of plaid shirts, baggy trousers and rigger boots along with songs of misery and despair and a complete lack of Rock star personalities it all got rather dull. You can only be miserable and serious some of the time, right?
Towards the end of the ’90s there was a beacon in the distance, an oasis in the sea of down tuned guitars and monotone grunts with the release of Buckcherry’s debut album chock full of LA fuelled sleazed up Rock’n’ Roll. It was big, brash and a heap of fun. Thank goodness, Rock ‘n’ Roll was cool again.
It’s hard to think that that was almost two decades ago and Buckcherry were back in Newcastle for the first time in 5 years, albeit with only vocalist Josh Todd the sole survivor from the original line up.
Ridin’ lit the touch paper and Whiskey In The Morning fanned the flames as Todd turned up the heat. It was raw, dirty, loud and proud as Todd strutted around like a peacock in full flow.
Guitarists Stevie D and Kevin Roentgen cranked the riffs to eleven as their breakthrough song Lit Up threatened to start a mini riot. This was real, edge of the seat stuff.
Sorry gave a slight respite in the energy levels while giving the crowd a chance to sing along followed by The Vacuum, which provided an insight into their forthcoming album and its thumping riff showed Buckcherry aren’t about to forgo their roots before Gluttony was welcomed with Todd proclaiming that moderation is for cowards.
Big hit, Crazy Bitch, ramped up the temperature to boiling point while not winning many marks for political correctness but hey, this is Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Everything and a rather supercharged take on Roadhouse Blues brought the show to an exhausting, sweat soaked end as Buckcherry continued flying the bandana for good time, attitude fired Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Review and Photos By Mick Burgess
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