They say familiarity breeds contempt but on their third visit to this very venue since February the only feelings were ones of genuine affection towards the southern rockers from Oklahoma.
It’s easy to see why. In Steve Harris they have a front man of genuine class. Not only does he possess the requisite gravel hewn powerhouse vocals needed bring that Southern authenticity to the music but his affable stage presence and genuinely funny banter really connected with the audience.
Adding the mainly dual guitar assault led by Stacy Thornburg and Austin Ward augmented by a third guitar from time to time by their touring keyboardist added plenty of bite to the likes of “Livin’ Loud” and “Shake It Like A Hillbilly” the latter appearing unusually early in the set prompting Harris to bid everyone goodnight as it has been their traditional set closer for quite some time.
Riding high on something of a crest of a wave, Harris announced their latest single “Let It Ride” is currently storming the Billboard Top 20 singles charts and quite right too as the heavy groove and biting riff deserves to be heard on radios around the world and disproves the notion that nothing decent gets played on the radio these days. Class will always prevail.
A neat mid-show acoustic set saw Harris and Ward slow things down a touch to bring a more reflective tone to the night before the band returned for power ballad, “Long Way Back”.
A real treat followed as Lorraine Crosby a.k.a Mrs Loud, who duetted with Meatloaf on “I’d Do Anything For You”, jumped up on stage to mark her birthday to perform two songs including the Bryan Adams/Tina Turner classic, “It’s Only Love” and her powerful voice alongside Harris brought a real kick to song.
Instead of partaking in the age old, leave the stage and return for an encore routine, Hillbilly Vegas briefly turned their backs to the crowd before turning back and launching into a fiery “Hell To Pay” before closing with an absolute barnstorming rampage through AC/DC’s classic “Walk All Over You”.
As the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and their kin wind down to their inevitable retirement it’s comforting to know that the southern rock baton can be safely passed on and carried proudly by Hillbilly Vegas.
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