Author: Jernej Vene
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Villach (Bluesiana Rock Cafe) / Austria
Concert date: 20.12.2016
Attendance: 260
Ticket price: €45.00
The beloved club Bluesiana served up a feisty, powerful pre-holiday rock night with The Answer and The Dead Daisies.
Bluesiana was bursting at the seams this time. As often happens, there was no shortage of surprises, since the venue sold out a good week before the show, which is a huge success for Bluesiana, a club that was still fighting for its survival less than two years ago. This particular gig was reportedly extremely important: if they hadn’t sold enough tickets, the club would have been on the verge of closing. But the brave owner Gudrun Kofler, the programming director and really the lady for everything to do with how the club runs and the music in it, is stubborn as hell. And she’s happiest when the performers and guests are happy. This time, too, The Dead Daisies invited her up on stage for one of the songs and thanked her for everything she’s done for them over the years. The guys have actually been guests at Bluesiana before, just in other lineups. What was surprising was that the club was jam-packed to the last corner. Supposedly that has only happened once before in its history, at a show by blues master Eric Sardinas. Considering this was the last show for both bands before the Christmas and New Year holidays, both gave it everything they had and threw one hell of a party.
The Dead Daisies are a lineup of big names, except for founder David Lowy, the son of a Slovak émigré who gradually built a business empire in Australia. David is the oldest of three brothers and still looks after the multibillion-dollar family fortune, and besides aviation, he does music. In Australia, since the start of the new millennium, he played as a member of Mink and Red Phoenix, and most recently in the latest incarnation of the hard rock band The Angels. I hope The Dead Daisies aren’t with him just for the money, but mainly play for the fun of it. Of course, Lowy is productive as a songwriter too: the latest record, Make Some Noise, was written by all the band members together with producer Marti Frederiksen. Anyway, at the show Lowy proved himself a very decent rhythm guitarist who constantly complemented the master Doug Aldrich, got a chance for a solo spot twice, and helped out with the three-part vocals. The rest, of course, left the crowd speechless, jaws dropped and then beaming with huge smiles. It’s been a long time since a crowd, as we say, ate out of the protagonists’ hands on stage so devotedly. Because of the small stage, John Corabi didn’t exactly throw himself around it, but he was in confident command of the show, often slipped into the role of crowd “stoker,” reaching out his hand to the audience and giving them musical cues for group singing. The band introductions were also more or less American-bombastic, with each member introduced by a snippet of some rock classic and a tongue-in-cheek announcement. The Dead Daisies brought in all the necessary elements, from blues and rock ‘n’ roll to hard rock. These veterans of small and big stages included songs from all three of the band’s albums (all released on Spitfire Music, which is owned by the Lowy family, so there you go, right?), which feature not only originals but also selected covers from the rock ‘n’ roll treasure chest. They played songs by artists such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grand Funk Railroad, The Beatles, The Who and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. If you dig around online, you’ll see they went for pure-blooded rock anthems, which are more than perfect for warming up a crowd. And it really was hot, like it hasn’t been in ages. A few degrees below zero outside, and more than 25 inside, at least right below the stage. Even if you stood still, you were soaked in sweat in no time.
Even more action and craziness came from drummer Brian Tichy and the eternal joker Marco Mendoza, who couldn’t hide his Latin roots this time either. The bass master has so much experience that he knows where he can go in a split second without losing control of the music or what’s happening in the room for even a moment. During Join Together he treated himself to a trip into the crowd, where he hyped up the audience with jumping and dancing, and they instantly took him as one of their own. Patting his manly, drenched shoulders set off no small amount of all kinds of excitement and thrill, at least among the young women.
Mendoza is an excellent singer and entertainer, always on the lookout to pull some new stunt. Brian Tichy is a multi-instrumentalist best known for his drumming achievements. He cut his teeth with Foreigner, Billy Idol, Whitesnake, Pride & Glory and Stevie Salas, where he gathered rich and immense experience. Of course, he also played a drum solo that completely took the breath away of those seeing him for the first time. Sticks flew through the air, he deftly caught them and threw them up again to the ceiling, which is very low at Bluesiana, and then he finished the last part with his bare hands, since he’d of course been in Whitesnake, where longtime drummer Tommy Aldridge also has a solo spot like that. We basically witnessed a masterclass in drumming in five minutes, not to mention the incredible dynamics. The ever-reliable Doug Aldrich, who has been with The Dead Daisies for the past year, showed off a broad arsenal of guitar tricks, weaving them subtly into the mighty skeletons of the songs, in no rush at all until a song offered enough room for him to let loose. Douglas is a one-of-a-kind guitarist, nothing is foreign to him, and he enjoys original material just as much as covers. For him, music is the guitar and vice versa. At one point he placed a pick on Tichy’s cymbal, Brian hit it, the plastic landed right in Doug’s hand, and in the next fraction of a second he was already blasting out a monstrous solo. A few times he used a mouth tube and totally unpretentiously, yet meaningfully, spiced up the intros of a few songs.
Yes, it all went by too fast, it almost didn’t seem real that you can see such aces this close up, but that’s the magic of Bluesiana. The Dead Daisies delivered a serious showcase of their work, once again proved they’re an outstanding stage act, and after a good hour and a half wished everyone happy holidays and a great 2017. Those who caught them later at the bar went home even happier, since they happily posed for photos and signed records.
The task waiting for The Answer, who played after them, was surely a pretty thankless one. Did I perhaps get it wrong when I expected The Answer to be the opening act? Apparently so, because The Dead Daisies were probably catching a flight to the US and their tour bus pulled away pretty quickly. Fair enough. It was a somewhat thankless job, since after such a punchy set they had to at least try to top The Dead Daisies’ euphoric show.
The Irishmen from the Belfast area have six albums under their belt, offering slightly psychedelic, blues-based rock, sometimes adding a touch of traditional Irish melody. Singer Cormac Neeson sometimes reminds you a bit of Robert Plant, and you can find some musical role models in Bad Company or Led Zeppelin. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, as long as the thing isn’t too similar or more or less identical. But if Jimmy Page, Joe Elliott and Paul Rodgers count among your fans, everything becomes legit. The Answer actually played the headliner role confidently and honestly. Because of the double bill, a few songs got cut that they would surely have played at a solo show. The venue emptied out a little, since The Dead Daisies had their crowd and, sadly, the two bands didn’t share one. Rockline, of course, stuck it out to the end of the show. Guitarist Paul Mahon held the melodies firmly in his hands and showed a mature command of his instrument. For a rather short guy, the guitar looked more or less huge, but Mahon is extremely experienced, and plenty of well-worn stage miles are to thank for that. Singer Neeson mentioned that Paul was celebrating his birthday these days, and the crowd spontaneously sang that famous birthday song to him. The rhythm section is made up of drummer James Heatley, who has a degree in psychology, and bassist Micky Waters. They did their job loud, clear and extremely tight, and didn’t seem tired at all, even though this was the last show of this leg of the tour. The lion’s share of the set went to the current album Solas, which is a bit different from the earlier ones, as Neeson said they explored new territory on it. Like Mendoza earlier, he too came down off the stage and sang with the overjoyed fans. The Answer fully justified their status as a healthy rock ‘n’ roll attraction and wrapped up the pre-holiday music celebration convincingly and beautifully.
Setlist
THE DEAD DAISIES:
1. Intro : Whole Lotta Sabbath (Whole Lotta Love / War Pigs mashup)
2. Long Way to Go
3. Mexico
4. Make Some Noise
5. Song and a Prayer
6. Fortunate Son (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
7. We All Fall Down
8. Guitar Solo (Doug Aldrich)
9. The Last Time I Saw the Sun
10. Drum Solo (Brian Tichy)
11. Join Together (orig. The Who)
12. With You and I
13. Mainline
14. Helter Skelter (orig. The Beatles)
—encore—
15. We’re an American Band (orig. Grand Funk Railroad)
16. Midnight Moses (orig. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
THE ANSWER:
1. Solas
2. Beautiful World
3. New Horizon
4. Demon Driven Man
5. Tunnel
6. Waste Your Tears
7. Untrue Colour
8. Thief of Light
9. Spectacular
10. Demon Eyes
11. Battle Cry
Photo Gallery
