Prior to Covid there was always something rather special about the first Friday night in November as pretty much every year for the previous decade or so, California’s Y&T, paid a visit to the town with their own brand of melodic Hard Rock.
Alas Covid put paid to that for a couple of years and then founder member, lead vocalist and guitarist Dave Meniketti had his own scare with cancer which kept him off the road for some time but now after winning that battle he’s back and raring to go.
This was not just any regular tour either, this was a 50th anniversary celebration of the formation of the band way back when they were called Yesterday and Today and the show in Newcastle was the penultimate night of their extensive European tour.
Only Meniketti survives from the original band that cut their first seven albums across a ten year period including that incredible three album run of stone cold classics “Earthshaker”, “Black Tiger” and “Mean Streak” whose songs still form the cornerstone of their set.
Tonight, the venue was absolutely rammed full of fans eager to catch Y&T after five long years away. Kicking off with the appropriately named “Hurricane”, Meniketti unleashed a whirlwind of riffs and screaming guitar work to open a show that would stretch for almost two and a quarter hours covering over 20 songs including at least one song from every album from their self-titled 1976 debut (“25 Hours A Day”) right through to 2010s Facemelter (“I’m Coming Home”).
Of course those Y&T classics that we all want were present and judiciously sprinkled throughout the beautifully paced set from “Meanstreak”, “Black Tiger”, a stunning “I Believe In You” featuring an absolutely jaw dropping display of guitar wizardry from Meniketti, Rock club floor filler “Rescue Me” and a powered up “Forever” closed the set while “Summertime Girls” brought some stadium sized hooks and powered up pop to the show as a piledriving “Open Fire” ferociously opened the first of three encores.
“Midnight In Tokyo” saw the crowd explode in unison singing the main guitar melody at the start and ended with football terrace chants of “There’s Only One Meniketti” much to the delight of Meniketti.
One of the strengths of a Y&T show is the variety in the setlist – there’s few songs in their illustrious catalogue that won’t appear on stage and tonight, Meniketti dug deep with “Gimme The Beat”, the Bon Jovi pop rock of “Contagious”, “Long Way Down” and “Struck Down”. Each tour features a different setlist and each night includes different songs from their vast repertoire. Other bands should take note.
Although criminally, they may not have had the big hits of some of their peers, Y&T, through sheer hard work, a consistently high quality of albums and an thrilling live show built on energy and passion, managed to build up a large, dedicated fanbase who comes back year after year while some of those “bigger” bands now struggle to pull in the punters to a small club. There’s no frills, no gimmicks, nothing, just great, great music played by musicians at the top of their game. The cream, as they say, always makes it to the top in the end. Tonight was a 50th anniversary celebration to savour. Absolutely stunning.
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