This show was another in the long line of Buckcherry package tours, this time with Michael Monroe, that was a far better fit than the tour with Hoobastank was, on a par with the tour they did with Hardcore Superstar in being a good fit. Of course like the Hardcore Superstar tour the line up is the wrong way round and Michael Monroe should be headlining, like Buckcherry should have on that bizarre night with Hoobastank. If Michael Monroe had headlined this show would have been 9 out of 10.
We arrived while opening act Rubikon the 5 piece from Boston were opening things up. I had trouble figuring out who they were, the first band intro by Jae sounded like Billyclub but they weren't hardcore enough for that, then I thought he said they were called Wasteland and it was only when Josh from Buckcherry thanked them that I got they were called Rubikon. They were a perfect accompaniment to the far too long queue up the wheelchair ramp to the cloakroom, a song that seemed to be called I Wish I Could Survive was apt for, with its crunchy guitars and throaty vocals.
Time seemed to tick far too slowly in that queue, the new system didn't seem to work, especially when they needed to get a fan in a wheelchair down the ramp, still the accountant on guitar was pulling some great faces. Quicksand signalled we had extricated ourselves from the cloakroom queue hell and had a drink to hear this meat and potatoes heavy rock tune, that saw the bassist playing like his life depended on it. They tried to get a bit saucy on Too The Bone but it lacked the essential sleaze need for a song on this subject to work.
Too Little Too Late was tight enough and Jae was doing his best to get the crowd going but they were far too by the numbers to really cut through. They closed with what I guess was Leave it All another decent heavy rock song that was forgotten about 20 seconds after Michael Monroe's set began.
The Michael Monroe band has kept the same line-up for a long time now and from the moment the bands intro track struck up the excitement built and they ran out and launched into the classic Dead Jail Rock & Roll that saw Michael dancing over the stage, blasting on his harmonica and looking like he has totally recovered from his accident. Motorvatin' was the first of the Hanoi Rocks classics in the set and has some scintillating guitar from Steve Conte and Rich Jones, while Michael seemed to practically bounce all over the stage and let rip on his harmonica again.
With Steve Conte leading them into The Old Kings Road this now sounds like a classic, with all the memories of how much fun the Kings Road was back in the 80's, Sami Yaffa's bass really sounded like he was in an old American car cruising down the Kings Road on a Saturday. Michael then introduced the first song from the band's latest album OuterStellar that was Rockin' Horse that made clear he isn't ready to hang up his spurs and relax anytime soon with Karl Rockfist's drums providing a galloping beat. They then hopped on board the Last Train To Tokyo that is full of observations from the many legendary tours Michael has played in Japan, this has a great riff and the band didn't stop moving throughout it.
It was back to Hanoi Rocks and Sami Yaffas classic bassline on I Can't Get It that had most of the audience singing along with them. It was back to the new album for Shinola that was a good comment on the dreadful state of a world where the worst shit is promoted over anyone with real qualifications for a job, this sounded like a classic in the making. They sped through Hammersmith Palais at a frantic pace taking us back to the good old bad old days while sounding immense and totally on it.
Disconnected was the last of the new songs and it was played with bundles of energy with Michael running all over the stage, with a few high kicks. They then slowed things down for the Hanoi Rocks classic Don't You Ever Leave Me that was also when Michael started climbing the speaker stacks so he could sing a verse and chorus on top of the speakers. The during Boulevard Of Broken Dreams he went to the other side of the stage and climbed onto the stairs up to the balcony to sing from there to the delight of the audience, but to the horror of the management, who handed him a note at the end of the song to tell him climbing wasn't allowed anymore, not like the old days when Iggy climbed up the lighting rig while Andy McCoy played his solo.
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All the band sat down at the start of Ballad Of The Lower East Side before they all jumped up as the band fully come in and everyone sang long to this recent hit. Malibu Beach Nightmare went down a total storm especially Michael's stonking sax solo and Rich Jones doing all the spoken word parts, before they closed with the Creedence Clearwater revival classic Up Around The Bend that Michael made his own back with Hanoi Rocks this was a rampaging finale to a great set.
During the break about a fifth of the audience left, knowing Buckcherry could never top that set, so when Buckcherry came on and opened with one of the three songs that neutrals want to hear, it seemed like they knew it too, Lit Up sounded a bit laggy and the sound man struggled for half the song to get Josh's vocals to sound right, just before the normal breakdown where he tells us it is about the first time he took cocaine. Roar Like Thunder the title song from the new album was more like a gentle rumble no matter how much Stevie D. squalled on guitar.
So Hott was on Josh's favourite topic of how to get that Hott girl, it was great to see Billy Rowe giving it large on guitar. Let It Burn was a bit middling, the audience had started to thin out a little more, while the group of Buckcherry fans in front of us had started talking to each other, the performance wasn't holding their attention. Ridin' had a decent amount of bite and Josh's vocals sounded good, Hellbound was where this set seemed to be heading no matter how hard Francis Ruiz was hitting those drums.
Come On sounded more like the shout before a fight than begging for some fun and games, with Kelly's bassline being the best thing about the song. Then as usual they covered Icona Pop's classic Say Fuck It that brought out the teenage rebel in most of us, even if it didn't stop the conversations going on in front of us. Gluttony was played at a ferocious pace and had the best interplay between Billy Rowe and Stevie D of the set.
They then slowed things down for Sorry that was the biggest sing along of the bands set and saw a couple of women flashing their boobs at the band. Blackout saw Josh giving it large on his tambourine as they tried to keep things lively, before they closed with Crazy Bitch that included the band intros and breakdowns into Sex Machine whose throbbing bass became Bad Girls and into irresistible Bitch and onto Proud Mary before they found there way back to Crazy Bitch to close this slight damp squib of a set, following Michael Monroe is never a good idea.
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