Y&T The Brook Southampton 14th October 2010

This is my first review for Rockgig.  Normally I just type the reviews for Mark Evans, but as Y&T are my all time favourite band I thought "What the hell, I'm gonna review the gig".  Enjoy!!

New venue for me & the ol' man (Mark Evans) and after a trip to Ikea and the joys of Southamptons lack of street names and a wild google chase thanks to googlemaps we arrived in plenty of time!!!!!

Large pub with an upstairs seated area and downstairs floor with quite a high stage and room for 550 people and as it turned out great sound.

First up was Fury UK a young 3 piece from Manchester who have just released their 3rd cd "A Way Of Life".
Led by the excellent vocals and stunning guitarmanship of Chris Appleton and backed by his brother Luke on bass and Martin Mcnee on drums they played a 6 song 40 minute set of straight up metal playing homage to Maiden, Priest and Megadeth.
Highlights included I See Red, Fall From Grace and Nemesis off the new cd and Death By Lightning off their "VR" cd.
One to watch out for.



In front of a sizeable crowd Y&T came on at 9.25 and hit us with a 2 hour 20 minute set showcasing their whole career including 5 from their first new cd in 13 years "Facemelter".

Setlist:

On With The Show
Hard Times
Meanstreak
Contagious
Shine On
If You Want Me
Lipstick And Leather
I'm Coming Home
I Believe In You
Eyes Of A Stranger
Hurricane
Midnight In Tokyo
Blind Patriot
Surrender (Played after a girl begged them to play it)
I'll Cry For You
Black Tiger
Drum Solo
Barroom Boogie
Dirty Girl
Summertime Girls
Forever
Encore of Rescue Me 

After an exile of way too many years this is the 5th successive autumn tour we have seen from Y&T and the first without founding member Phil Kennemore who is currently battling cancer (for which we at Rockgig wish him well).

His deputy Brad Lang of Jeff Pilson's War And Peace did an awesome job on bass.  He fitted into the band perfectly and was really working the stage (you're awesome Brad).

I first saw Y&T way back in 1982 supporting AC/DC after hearing 1981's stunning "Earthshaker" album and can't say how much I enjoy this annual tour.

Dave Meniketti (guitar and vocals) is a legend in my eyes and to see the solo of "I Beleive In You" played about a foot away from me brought the hairs on the back of my neck to attention!!

To finally hear "Contagious" played was a highlight and all 5 new songs fitted in superbly with "I'm Coming Home" and the ballad "If You Want Me" sound like favourites we have heard for many many years.

Ably backed by John Nyman on 2nd guitar (great solo on "Hard Times" and duelling solo on "Blind Patriot" and the powerhouse drumming of Mike Vanderhule.  They really do get better and when Dave starts doing his high kicks you know they are loving it to.
Not many bands change the setlist to accommodate a fan favourite and we also had a snippet of "Gonna Go Blind" and "Hungry For Rock" too.  In fact at times with so many being shouted out we could have gone on all night, not that I would have complained!!
During "Barroom Boogie" Dave stood back as Brad played a small solo and turned his guitar over and played along on the back to it.

A really great moment from a band who are dealing with playing without a great friend in the way they know how and that is to kick ass!!

Here's to next year!!

Shazz

10/10  *Ed's note - Nice job Admin - ME you're fired!

Popular Posts from last 30 Days