It's been a while since I last reviewed Gypsy Pistoleros back in 2012 but we decided it was time to see them live again, on the bands current uk tour to promote The Church Of The Pistoleros album, the tour ends at The Rebellion Festival in August.
We arrived just as the first support act Dixie Dix was starting her last song that appeared to be called Save Me, it was heart felt and dark with some great vocals and guitar from Dixie who was playing solo, it left us wanting to hear a full set from her soon.
The main support was from the Outlaw Orchestra who are a trio from the south coast who opened with Doing My Time a dark heavy blues song about being banged up, that featured some cool vox teardrop.
Banjo Pete then switched to his cigar box guitar for Rotten Apples that made clear just how bad this trio of hombres were when riding in their cars.
Born To Be A Thief saw Banjo Pete playing his electric Banjo guitar that had a killer sound, that had the whole audience with them. Guitar Dave did a long introduction to the bands monumental Too Much Willie Nelson (Not Enough Johnny Cash) all about getting stoned on some of Willie's weed it was great fun, they played up to just how stoned they got.
For See You In Hell Guitar Dave switched to what the bands setlist describes as open guitar, well the moment he hit the bass notes the whole room vibrated, you felt those notes from the core of your ears right down to your feet, it was immense and slightly scary, but damn what a tune and what an incredible sound that open guitar made.
Back To Georgia had a great swagger to how Banjo Pete was playing against that devilish Open Guitar before the long instrumental section that led into Gypsy Queen, at which point Banjo Pete strapped on his flashy Electric Lap Steel to add several layers of texture to the sound.
Blame The Horse had some more of the magical lap steel and the Bass abusing Open Guitar to help accentuate the lyrics, before Banjo Pete switched back to the vox Teardrop and Guitar Dave to his normal guitar while telling us the dark tale that Bag Of Bones is based around, of his giving a Bag Of Bones intended for his dog to someone who arrived at the butchers shop just after they closed on new years eve, this was a cool song of redemption with a bit of the vibes of Willam Burrough's The Priest They Called Him. It was a great close to a brilliant set.
Finally it was time for the current line-up of Gypsy Pistoleros to welcome us all to the Church Of The Pistoleros a place where you can safely worship at the altar of glam metal and slightly theatrical punk with far less flamenco than in the old days.
Lee Pistolero then welcomed us all and began his first rant of the evening about the bands soon to be ex-record label Earache, they are none to happy with not being chart registered for release week, apparently chart placing really matters to Lee, this rant continued between most songs of the set sadly, before they played a rip roaring version of Wild Beautiful And Damned.
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They then jumped on The Last Train To Nowhere that had full on rampaging glam guitars and supercharged bass. They went back to the Forever Wild, Beautiful And Damned album for the bands legendary reworking of the agit-punk classic Living La Vida Loca that seemed to be missing some choreographed dance moves but was great fun none the less.
Lee then asked if any of us had ever danced naked, one or two fans admitted they had by way of an intro to Dance Naked, I wondered if Lee even took his make-up off before doing his dance. Lee then anointed one fan with "Holy Water" as part of the intro to Close As You'll Ever Be that had easily the most catholic drumming of the set.
Tears In The Rain are what the band were crying for the treatment of the bands current album launch, Shadow Walker seemed to be stalking them all over town, trying to make them wear more bangles on there arms no doubt. Lee then asked one of the more pressing questions of our times What's It Like To Be A Girl that was addressed to the bands one female member the bass player, this was the song that most reminded me of Faster Pussycat.
Lee then drew his laser pointing sword to help make clear that I'm In Love With Myself an anthem for all his fellow narcissists. Lee then donned a flat cap for Ballad Of Tommy Shelby that makes clear just how rotten a character Tommy Shelby was.
Lee then told us the set was over, but they didn't leave the stage and then launched into the first song of the encore Revolution that wasn't a cover version but was calling for massive change in how the world is run, and we can all get on board with that. They then closed with the black metal classic Come On Eileen that to be honest was a total mess, the break down in the middle went on far too long and although we all sang along, it felt a bit all over the place, I missed all the flamenco elements the band used to have last time I saw them.
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