THE DEAD DAISIES (Live)

At The O2 Academy, Newcastle, U.K., November 15, 2018

THE DEAD DAISIES (Live at The O2 Academy, Newcastle, U.K., November 15, 2018)
Photo: Mick Burgess

And so the revolving door of members turns once again with drummer Brian Tichy departing since their last appearance at the Riverside two years ago. That is however, the nature of the beast with the band formed initially for like minded musicians to come and go as their schedules permitted to play original music and choice covers and generally have a blast.

It speaks volumes to their stature that that a drummer as respected as Tichy is replaced by former Journey/Bad English skinsman Deen Castronovo, not only a top tier drummer but one in possession of a Soulful voice akin to Steve Perry, Journey’s legendary frontman.

With the current lineup featuring members who have played with Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Mötley Crüe, Journey and Dio the pedigree of The Dead Daisies is peerless and their show reflects their past while looking forward to the future.

Former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich provided the riffs and solos ably supported by founder and ever constant member David Lowy, while the ever-flamboyant Marco Mendoza on bass locked tightly with Castronova’s energetic beat.

Frontman and one-time Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi sounded magnificent. His husky, powerful Bluesy voice may have raised eyebrows in the Crüe camp but in the Daisies, it has found its natural home on the likes of Rise Up and the Aerosmith sleazy, swagger of Last Time I Saw The Sun.

A mid-show interlude featured an acoustic set including their own Something I Said along with a couple of covers Let It Be and Maggie May with Castronova taking over on lead vocals giving a more Soulful take on the Rod Stewart classic.

Carrying on the covers theme, each band member was introduced to the crowd with a short run through a Rock standard including School’s Out, Long Live Rock’n’Roll and You Shook Me All Night Long before heading back into the main set for Long Way To Go and the supremely melodic Song And A Prayer alongside a biting cover of the Rolling Stones Bitch leaving Mexico and Deep Purple’s Highway Star to wrap it up.

Review and Photos By Mick Burgess

Author

  • Mick Burgess

    Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell!   Over the ensuing years, he's enjoyed the Classic Rock music of Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Deep Purple; the AOR of Journey and Foreigner; the Pomp of Styx and Kansas; the Progressive Metal of Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Symphony X; the Goth Metal of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica, and a whole host of other great bands that are too numerous to mention. When he's not listening to music, he watches Sunderland lose more football (soccer) matches than they win, and occasionally, if he has to, he goes to work as a property lawyer.

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