Y&T The Brook Southampton 11-10-12
First up were The Jokers who’s AC/DC inspired heavy rock was a good warm up.The slightly mad antics of the guitarist did start to grate after a while though!! Their new cd is due next year so one to look out for.
On the 18th of October 1982 I went to my first arena gig and saw AC/DC on the For Those About To Rock tour with Y&T as support.
Ever since I have loved the band and their early output of Earthshaker, Black Tiger and Meanstreak are still very regular visitors to the Evans death deck.
Since their return in 2003 with Whitesnake their yearly gigs are always a highlight of the gig year, and for me after missing last years gig for a heart procedure an even greater sense of anticipation.
We were not disappointed as over the course of 2 and a quarter hours they took us through every emotion and showed how after a 35 year career they have not played better than this.
Here’s what they played:
Black Tiger
Hard Times
Dirty Girl
Rock n’Roll’s Gonna Save The World
Meanstreak
Rhythm Or Not
Summertime Girls
Midnight In Tokyo
Shine On
Blind Patriot
Winds Of Change
25 Hours A Day
I’m Coming Home
I’ll Cry For You
Contagious
Hurricane
Gimme The Beat
Squeeze(with John Nymann on vocals)
I Beleive In You
Forever
Encore of Rescue Me
Even with a heavy cold Dave Meniketti is still the consummate professional.His bluesy melodic vocals were fantastic and his guitar playing was a joy as ever. He wrung every last drop from his guitar on “I’ll Cry For You” and my all time favourite track “I Believe In You” and got the standing ovation it fully deserved.
His partnership with John Nymann on second guitar grows with every tour. Also nice to see John play a great lead towards the end of “Hard Times”and the guitar duelling solos during an extended middle section to “Dirty Girl” was pure magic. Nice vocals for “Squeeze” too!!
The rhythm section of Mike Vanderhule on drums and Brad Lang on bass is second to none. Mike’s powerhouse drumming keeps it all together and his short solo also kept the attention too.
Brad had the thankless task of replacing original member Phil Kennemore and has done it with his stunning playing and his happy demeanour and just joy at playing the music!!
The whole set was a highlight but I love the relaxed feel of the gigs with the band making eye contact and talking to the crowd and even letting the crowd make requests and changing the set too.
This years nuggets included “Gimme The Beat off Endangered Species”, ”25 Hours A Day” (all of it this time not just a snippet!) off the debut cd and “Rhythm Or Not” and “Contagious” off that cd.
The band have recently released a 2 cd “Live At The Mystic” package on their own label with a European release set for November on Frontiers. It is the perfect showcase for a band that still have so much to give.
A perfect evening and we look forward to next year’s tour!!!
