Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: 01.08.2018
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: €29.00 (advance)
This time Kino Šiška played host to the famous American hard rockers Mr. Big, who had their biggest commercial successes in the early nineties with a handful of hits, among which »To Be With You« and »Just Take My Heart« ruled the radio stations of the day most often. A hot night was in store for all fans of quality vocal harmonies, scorching hard rock riffs and melodic tunes, along with worshippers of guitar and bass virtuosity. There was something for everyone, so the crowd was pretty motley too, made up of plenty of listeners from different genres and age groups, which doesn’t happen all that often at gigs by acts that are almost three decades old.
Before Mr. Big showed up, we were first entertained with a decent set and a big dose of heart by a Croatian hard rock trio led by the energetic guitarist and singer Alen Brentini. Their pretty basic hard rock proved a good choice for an early warm-up, and they made fairly good use of the chance to introduce their music to the Slovenian crowd, even though plenty of the music fans in attendance were from Italy, Austria and Croatia, who solved the usual problem of filling the hall at Kino Šiška whenever big foreign names from the rock world come our way. Attendance was rather dismal during Brentini’s set, but that soon changed.
The next support act, the American heavy metallers Fozzy, led by the notorious Canadian singer and professional wrestler Christopher Irvine, better known as Chris Jericho, stirred up far more interest in the crowd. Having picked up a thing or two from far better-known and more influential metal frontmen, Jericho won everyone over mostly with a big dose of charisma, energy and a knack for quickly learning Slovenian. Much less impressive was the fact that Fozzy, who were presenting their current album »Judas« (2017), leaned heavily on backing tracks and pre-recorded backing vocals, which is certainly nothing to be proud of. A shame, because their classic metal with occasional power metal and hard rock touches, which, let’s be honest, offers nothing new, went down well with plenty of people in the audience and was rewarded with a loud response more than once. Best remembered were the rather neat cover of the ABBA evergreen »SOS« and the antiwar song »Do You Want to Start a War«, where Jericho armed himself with a spray canister. Fozzy proved they’ve solved the problem of the metal mascot, since Jericho fills that role himself, briefly reviving his wrestling persona with a glamorous cape decked out with lights that make him glow like a Christmas tree. Sadly, that wasn’t enough, as after this rather electrified and noisy show, a bitter aftertaste lingered, partly because of the overly loud sound.
Surprising but true, plenty of women came to see Mr. Big that night, including quite a few who weren’t even born yet when the band released their first record in 1989. The obvious showmanship and charm of Mr. Big’s frequently physically ‘touched-up’ singer Eric Martin, who can boast a well-preserved voice, still work, because it’s hard to explain otherwise how this is one of the few groups of the genre that still enjoys fairly decent popularity, even though stylistically and lyrically they’ve stayed rooted deep in the late eighties and early nineties. A good chunk of the male part of the crowd, meanwhile, came to Mr. Big’s show mainly to witness the feats of the virtuoso duo of the brilliant bassist Billy Sheehan and the guitar wizard Paul Gilbert. The two stick with Mr. Big rather than more experimental projects, where their talents could shine through far more, simply for the sake of a fat paycheck, of course. That night they fully lived up to their reputation, and right from the first song of the evening, »Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)«, where for a short while they worked the strings of their instruments with electric drills too, though that was only the warm-up for more pompous virtuoso exploits.
Sadly, the late original drummer Pat Torpey is no longer in the band, but he was more than worthily replaced by Matt Starr, who is still a ‘small fish’ for now, not yet able to earn himself a solo spot next to Gilbert and Sheehan. The selection of songs was nicely balanced between newer material from the last three studio albums, led by the current effort »Defying Gravity« (2017), and longtime standards led by »Alive and Kickin’«, »Green-Tinted Sixties Mind« and »Rock & Roll Over«, all of which were played and sung just the way they should be. First up for a solo spot was the ever good-humored beanpole Gilbert, who with his technically demanding moves and lightning-fast fingerwork showed clearly why many count him among the very top of the great guitar virtuosos, and it was also the first highlight of the evening.
The band struggled too, thanks to the unbearable heat that made the hall feel like the middle of the Amazon rainforest. All four members were sweating like crazy and used every break to cool off, and Martin didn’t even hide that some air conditioning would have come in handy. Slathered in plenty of charm and stage poses, the singer still knows how to play the female part of the audience like a fiddle, and he held up pretty well vocally through most of the show. After the new song »Open Your Eyes« from the album »Defying Gravity«, plenty of people were surprised by their performance of one of their lesser hits, the cover of »Wild World«, originally by Cat Stevens, which sparked plenty of conflicting reactions back when it came out. Sheehan’s solo spot, which you have to hear and see with your own eyes to believe that anything like that is even possible on a bass guitar, was the second highlight of Mr. Big’s show.
For those who came to the gig mainly for a good time and a hard rock ‘party’, the highlight of the night was definitely the performance of Mr. Big’s biggest hit, »To Be With You«. With its love-song lyrics, it warmed up mostly the female part of the crowd, while for the finale they also played »Colorado Bulldog«, shifting into a somewhat punchier gear one last time. Despite loud calls for more, they didn’t come back on stage for a possible encore to play at least one more song, say »Just Take My Heart«, which they unexpectedly left out. Together with the unbearable heat in the hall, that irritated some in the audience even more, and loud whistles of disapproval could be heard before they left through the exit doors.
Mr. Big delivered a very solid, professional show at Kino Šiška, with the two highlights coming in the solo spots of their two virtuosos, though plenty of the more devoted fans were hoping for at least one more song. In their favor, despite Martin’s occasionally somewhat kitschy stage mimicry, they didn’t act overly starry, and they managed to build a genuine connection between the stage and the crowd. Even though the sound was pretty decent this time by the usual standards at Kino Šiška, and the famous band confirmed its reputation, many of us left the gig with mixed feelings. The fact remains that Mr. Big are still prisoners of a certain era and as songwriters have long since gone rather stiff, also when it comes to new material, not to mention the lyrics, so it’s pretty hard for fans of more eclectic sonic adventures to be won over by what their live shows currently offer.
Setlist
MR. BIG
1. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)
2. Undertow
3. Alive And Kickin’
4. Take Cover
5. Green Tinted Sixties Mind
6. Everybody Needs A Little Trouble
7. Price You Gotta Pay
8. Paul Gilbert solo
9. Open Your Eyes
10. Wild World (orig. Cat Stevens)
11. Rock And Roll Over
12. Around the World
13. Billy Sheehan solo
14. Addicted To That Rush
15. To Be With You
—encore—
16. Colorado Bulldog
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