The Dead Daisies — Padua’s Full-Throttle Rock ‘n’ Roll Rush and Doug Aldrich’s Triumphant Return (2025)
The Dead Daisies (support acts: The Treatment, Broken Wings)
Sunday, 9 March 2025
Padua / Hall / Italy
(for an English version, please scroll down the bar)
The Dead Daisies, the super-rock sensation formed by a quintet of great heroes of classic hard rock, under the watchful and committed leadership of the band’s boss — Australian financial mogul and guitarist David Lowy — confirmed new dates for a shorter European tour this March following a successful autumn European tour last year, on which Rockline caught them in Vienna, Austria on 16 November 2024, bringing the tour gratefully close to Slovenia on 9 March 2025, when the band confirmed their gig in the Italian city of Padua at a venue simply named Hall — a place that was actually unknown to us three concert-goers of enormous mileage, as we had never been there before.
It was precisely the day when, after a spell of beautiful sunny days, the weather started turning sour and brewing trouble again. Fortunately navigation works in any weather, and we happily parked the car right next to the venue, which is located in the north-eastern outskirts of the great city of Padua — saving us (as Cole from En X Bend would say) quite a bit of travel energy on that quiet, rainy Sunday.
During our well-practiced pass-collecting ritual, the Italian rock outfit Broken Wings from Udine was already performing their third song of a short half-hour warm-up set (hence the modest representation in the photo gallery below). The venue, with its quite high and deep stage, was at that point still radiating a predominantly modest attendance — but it was clear the place would fill up steadily over the coming minutes. Broken Wings didn’t serve up anything we hadn’t heard before. They’re a hard rock outfit that has drawn inspiration from bands like AC/DC, Guns’N Roses and Mötley Crüe, among others, possessing a direct rock’n’roll swagger, a mild veil of crunching punk insubordination, and — given their build and the vocal approach of their vivacious and cutting singer Sabrina Coianiz (whose surname suggests roots from the Balkan peninsula) — they’re pretty much built for parties of boundless drinking and debauchery at motorcycle rallies. The Italian crowd knows them well, of course, and didn’t seem particularly interested or moved during the set, used as they are to what they get at the band’s shows. The band carried things off correctly, confidently and respectably in every way. The main problem was sonic — the guitar phrases were completely buried and indistinct, and the squeaky resonance of Sabrina’s otherwise highly committed and engaged vocal performance was also a nagging issue. The band, founded in December 2017, presented material from their conceptual eleven-track debut “Against the Wind”, which was released at the end of June 2022.
A whole different story was the arrival of The Treatment from Cambridge, England. This is a hard rock quintet with serious mileage who, before becoming The Treatment in 2008, operated under the name God Sacks Man. They arrived in Padua armed with their new sixth studio album “Wake Up the Neighbourhood” (released in May 2024 on Frontiers Music Srl.). The quintet, which at the end of this past January integrated a new bassist by the name of Bailey Richardson into their ranks, delivered an utterly fascinating and captivating performance. Serving as the support act for the entire The Dead Daisies tour, they were treated to excellent sound throughout their set — which made the performance all the more likely to get under your skin. You can sense quite a bit of inspiration drawn from the legacy of classic rock’n’roll veterans AC/DC, Nazareth, Free and Thunder, while at moments they also release a fair amount of arena-friendly catchiness characteristic of the glam metal heyday of the late eighties (the mid-tempo, atmospheric new track When Thunder and Lightning Strikes grabbed particularly hard). The Treatment operate on stage organically, primitively, rough-edged and unpolished — and that’s exactly why their riffs connect directly and kick you square in the forehead! They possess that proverbial British brooding quality and evoke genuine mystique, which makes their live intensity all the more penetrating! On top of that, they carry a palpable level of musical infectiousness, and if you give them good stage sound conditions, then a phenomenal time with the band is inevitable. They operate classically, yet kick with extraordinary intensity and potency. Their 40-minute set turned around in the blink of an eye. The band skillfully made use of the spacious stage, especially the two fired-up guitarists who switched sides several times during the show. Intense — and all of this despite vocalist Tom Rampton battling a cold, who nonetheless sang phenomenally. His mild vocal wear only crept in just before the end, when he gentlemanly (but completely unnecessarily) apologized to the crowd for not being able to sing in full form. In truth, it was not noticeable at all during the explosively charged performance of this brilliantly tight outfit, which knows exactly what its job is on stage. They fired up the crowd brilliantly, and that fierce energy is precisely what you come to a proper rock’n’roll gig for! The Treatment are the band that had been drawing us to Padua from the very start, as we hadn’t had the chance to experience them live before. They lived up to their reputation in every way and absolutely killed it live. The band performed all three singles from the new album, threw in the new Man On A Wire, and in the rest of the set delivered one track apiece from their previous studio records. No brakes, no let-up. Full throttle! A band you absolutely must check out. The sooner the better!
The stars of the evening, The Dead Daisies, drew a devoted crowd of around six hundred fervent fans. The special thing about this tour is that the band’s regular guitarist Doug Aldrich is back in the fold. On the autumn 2024 tour, Winger and Whitesnake’s grandmaster of six-string theory Reb Beach stepped into his shoes — in fact the most fitting choice to substitute for Aldrich, who had been diagnosed with throat cancer last year. Everything turned out well for him, and to the great delight not only of The Dead Daisies fans but of rock music on a global level, the man is once again the same old, good Doug. Ready for new adventures! He is a guitarist who is more important to the global hard rock scene than he himself realizes. Through his work over the past two decades he has become a key building block in bringing the classic hard rock tradition back into the focus of the masses. He first made his mark on the broader international scene with Dio, then exploded beyond all dimensions with Whitesnake, and for many years now has been the irreplaceable linchpin of The Dead Daisies. Anyone who watches him on stage and practices guitar at home would want to be their own kind of Doug — with a similar golden Gibson LP in their hands. Infectious in his bearing and stage presence, a sharp-dressed musician of exceptional talent, knowledge and experience.
The band delivered exactly what we came for! An hour and three-quarters of exceptional partying. In the first half they mostly performed tracks from their wide arsenal of original compositions, with an emphasis on new songs from the “Light ‘Em Up” album (2024, RockLine review)! The energy of debauchery, carefree looseness and impeccable high-octane voltage consumed the venue in fiery flames. And throughout the excellent performance, they were only ever adding petrol to the fire!
Two things stand out as special moments from the first part of the concert. The reintegration of Love That Will Never Be — an acoustic solo performance by vocalist John Corabi. The other was With You And I, backed by the wah-wah twirl of a ‘talk box’ (courtesy of the wicked Doug Aldrich), taken from the second studio album “Revolucion” (2015). Tommy Clufetos was handed a dedicated drum-solo spot, and we found ourselves wondering how any drum kit could possibly withstand such an assault of his devastating tonnage. ‘Klofutos’ Clufetos. Utterly flawless.
Corabi, who kept the hall’s atmosphere at a boil throughout (among other things by obligatorily throwing devil horns at the crowd), announced in an extended address that The Dead Daisies plan to put out a strictly blues album this May, featuring a handful of covers of great blues classics. So Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready from the previous tour was replaced in the setlist by Robert Johnson’s Crossroads and Freddy King’s Goin’ Down — hammered out in the strict manner and spirit of The Dead Daisies, with full-on rock explosiveness. The highlight of the second part was Get a Hair-cut — the TDD take on Don’t Panic — with band leader David Lowy stepping up to the lead mic. His thinner, mildly nasal voice, which would feel more at home in a punk rock band, was admirably covered by the vocal power of bassist Michael Devin, for whom this was a familiar ritual he had perfected to a tee during his time at Whitesnake, where he similarly helped pull another David out of the vocal mush — one who was harder to let things slide with than Lowy. On the other side, the ‘sonic alarm siren’ — John Corabi, naturally — fulfilled all his duties with flying colors!
Then came the established classics — indispensable ones that perfectly ignite and keep the crowd’s temperature at its peak even in the final third of the show. It always starts with Fortunate Son, closes with Midnight Moses, and in between they throw in their own Mexico! The crowd’s response was thunderous. Always. This time was no different — all capped by the closing Revolucion and an adaptation of The Beatles classic Helter Skelter, a true template for the entire subsequent development of heavy metal.
The Dead Daisies remain bulletproof. They are a band of five extraordinary musicians united by an inexhaustible, heartfelt devotion to the magic of rock’n’roll and an unstoppable creative and performative enthusiasm. Doug Aldrich has dropped a few pounds, but his guitar playing and interpretation remain at a fearsome level, and the character he brings to everything he touches on the guitar is nothing short of breathtaking. He remains exactly as he has always been. Welcome back among us, dear Doug.
The magic remains! The Dead Daisies are a pivotal building block on the international hard rock scene, bringing the masses’ focus back to the classic era of the genre and helping keep its flame burning intensely even in times when it risks being labeled archaic. The Dead Daisies are a band that ensures the classic hard rock tradition stays perpetually relevant — a mission the band itself may not even be fully aware of. And on stage they remain fantastic in every way. Including in terms of venue acoustics, which their technical crew worked hard to get right and which was an added guarantee of the great concert pleasure that we wished would never end. But that’s how things go — everything comes to an end. Watch out, though: the band will be confirming new concert dates for autumn 2025 soon. We can hardly wait!
Author: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
English version:
The Dead Daisies, the super-rock sensation consisting of a quintet of classic hard rock heroes, under the watchful and committed leadership of the band’s boss, the Australian guitarist David Lowy visited our vicinity after a successful European tour last autumn. (Rockline report from Nov. 16th. 2024 here). The dates of a new shorter European tour were confirmed for this March, which gratefully approached Slovenia on 9 March 2025 when the band confirmed their appearance in Padua, Italy, at a venue simply named Hall. The venue was actually unknown to us – three concert-goers of enormous mileage, as we had never been there before.
It was the day when after a period of beautiful sunny days the weather started to turn sour again. But fortunately navigation works in all conditions and we luckily parked the car in the immediate vicinity of the venue which is located in the north-eastern part of the beautiful city of Padua.
During our pass-receiving ritual the Italian rock band Broken Wings from Udine was already performing the third song of their short, i.e. half an hour-long warm-up repertoire (hence the modest representation in the photo gallery below). The venue with at that time still radiated the predominant modesty of the attendance. But it was clear that the venue would fill up over the coming minutes. Broken Wings did not serve anything we had not heard before. They are a hard rock band inspired by, among others from bands like AC/DC, Guns’N Roses or Mötley Crüe. Still they possess a straightforward rock’n’roll swagger, a mild veil of crunching punk rebellion and the vocal approach of Sabrina Coianiz, who is a vivacious and incisive singer with roots from the Balkan peninsula, judging by her surname. Their music is built for parties of endless drinking and getting wild on motorcycle choirs.
The Italian audience of course knows them well and wasn’t too interested or moved during the performance. The band carried their music out correctly, sovereignly and in all respects decently. The problem was mainly of a sonic nature as the guitar phrases were completely muddled and indistinct, so the squeaky resonance of the otherwise highly engaged and committed vocal performance of the likeable Sabrina was also a problem. Formed in December 2017 the band represented material from their conceptual eleven-track debut album Against the Wind which was released at the end of June 2022.
But the arrival of The Treatment from Cambridge was a whole other affair. This is a hard rock quintet with a lot of mileage, which, before becoming The Treatment in 2008, was known as God Sacks Man. It arrived in Padua with the new sixth studio album Wake Up the Neighbourhood released in May 2024 via Frontiers Music Srl. label. The quintet integrated this January a new bassist into its ranks, by the name of Bailey Richardson. The guys delivered a fascinating and engaging performance. For their role as a support band for the entirety of The Dead Daisies tour they were treated to a very good sound throughout the show, which gave us goosebumps. There’s quite a bit of inspiration from the legacy of classic rock and roll veterans such as AC/DC, Nazareth, Free and Thunder but at times they also deliver a fair amount of arena-esque decadence typical of the late 80’s glam metal heyday (the mid-tempo and atmospheric new track When Thunder and Lightning Strikes was particularly perfect).
The Treatment are organic, primal, edgy, unflattened on stage and that’s why their riffs kick you right in the forehead! They possess that proverbial British gloominess and evoke mystique which makes their concert intensity all the more penetrating! They also possess a palpable level of musical infectiousness and if you give them a good stage sound then a great party with the band is inevitable.
They act classically andime they kick with great intensity and potency. Their 40-minute concert performance turned around like a twinkle in the eye. The band skillfully used the spacious stage, especially the two sizzling guitarists who switched sides several times during the set. Intense and this despite the cold of vocalist Tom Rampton who sang phenomenally. His mild vocal strain only crept up on him just before the end when he apologised to the audience in a gentlemanly (but completely unnecessary) manner for not being able to sing in full form.
Indeed, this was not evident during the highly explosive performance of this brilliantly orchestrated ensemble which knows exactly what its stage duties are. They fired up the crowd brilliantly and that roaring energy is exactly what you come to a proper rock’n’roll gig for! The Treatment are the band that drew us to Padua from the start, as we hadn’t had the chance to experience them live yet. The band performed all three hits from the new album added the new Man On A Wire and did one song from the previous studio albums in the rest of the set. No brakes and no let-ups. A band you must check out. Soon!
The stars of the evening, The Dead Daisies, gathered a devoted group of followers. There were about six hundred of them. The special thing about this tour is that the band’s regular guitarist Doug Aldrich is back in the line-up. On the autumn 2024 tour Winger and Whitesnake’s grandmaster of six-string theory Reb Beach stepped into his shoes which was in fact the most correct choice to replace Aldrich who was diagnosed with throat cancer last year. Everything turned out well for him and the man is the good old Doug again much to the delight not only of fans of The Dead Daisies but of rock on a global level. He is a guitarist who is more important to the global hard rock scene than he thinks. His work over the last two decades has made him an important building block in bringing the classic hard rock tradition back into the focus of the masses.
He first burst onto the international scene with Dio then exploded across the board with Whitesnake and has been an unmistakable member of The Dead Daisies for many years. Anyone who watches him on stage and practises guitar at home would like to be his own kind of Doug with a similar golden Gibson Les Paul in his hands. Douglas is infectious in his stasis and a sharp dressed musician of exceptional talent, knowledge and experience.
The band delivered exactly what we came for! An hour and three quarters of a great party. In the first half the band mainly performed tracks from their wide arsenal of original compositions with an emphasis on the new songs from the “Light ‘Em Up” album (2024, RockLine review)! The energy of debauchery, carefree relaxation and impeccable high-octane voltage consumed the venue with fiery teeth. And the fire was extinguished with nothing but new petrol throughout the excellent performance!
Two of the special features of the first part of the concert performance were the reintegration of Love That Will Never Be. It was a solo acoustic performance by singer John Corabi. The second item was a wah-wah ‘talk box’ cruise by the killer Doug Aldrich backed by With You And I taken from the second studio album ‘Revolucion’ (2015). Tommy Clufetos was given a solo drum slapping spot and we wondered how the drum structure could possibly withstand such an onslaught of the devastating tonnage of his slaps. Klofuta in slovene means a slap – so to us he became Klofutos! A really impeccable performance!
Corabi, who kept the atmosphere in the hall great (among other things by showing the crowd the obligatory flowers), announced that The Dead Daisies are planning to release a strictly blues album this May with a few covers of the great blues classics. Thus, Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready from the previous tour was replaced by Robert Johnson’s Crossroads and Freddy King’s Goin’ Down in the setlist. Their rendition was in the strict manner of the character and work of The Dead Daisies full of rock explosiveness.
The second part was a special feature of the Don’t Panic integration of the original Get a Hair-cut with David Lowy on lead vocals. His thin, mildly nasal vocals which would belong more in a punk rock band were perfectly covered by the vocal power of bassist Michael Devin for whom this was a common ritual which he had perfected during his days in Whitesnake. There he similarly pulled out of the vocal mush another David, namely Coverdale. On the other hand, the ‘siren of alarm’ – John Corabi of course, did all his duties with great distinction!
There were the established classics which are indispensable and which perfectly ignite and keep the audience’s heat at its highest level even in the last third of the concert performance. It always starts with Fortunate Son concludes with Midnight Moses and in between they add the original Mexico! The feedback was tremendous as always. This time it was no different! Led by the closing Revolucion and the adaptation of The Beatles classic Helter Skelter which is a true foundation stone for the whole development of heavy metal.
The Dead Daisies remain bulletproof. They are a bunch of five extraordinary musicians united by an unbreakable and heartfelt devotion to the magic of rock and roll. They posess an unstoppable enthusiasm for creativity and performance. Doug Aldrich has lost a few pounds but his guitar playing and interpretation are still at a fearsome level and his guitar-playing approach to everything he does is absolutely stunning. He remains as he always has been. Welcome back to the fold dear Doug.
The magic remains! The Dead Daisies are a preeminent building block on the international hard rock scene bringing the masses back to the classic days of the genre and helping to keep its flame burning intensely even in times when it is in danger of becoming archaic. The Dead Daisies are a formation that ensures that the classic tradition of hard rock remains relevant at all times. A mission that the band itself may not even be fully aware of. And they remain fantastic on stage in everything. The acoustics which their technical team did their best to achieve was an additional guarantee of a great concert pleasure that we wished would never end! But that’s how things go. There is an end to everything. But watch out – the band will confirm new concert dates soon for autumn 2025. We can’t wait!
The Treatment – setlist:
1. Let’s Wake Up This Town
2. Let It Begin
3. Eyes on You
4. Man on a Highwire
5. When Thunder and Lightning Strikes
6. This Fire Still Burns
7. Bite Back
8. Running With the Dogs
9. Shake the Mountain
The Dead Daisies – setlist:
1. Long Way to Go
2. Rise Up Play
3. Dead and Gone
4. Last Time I Saw the Sun
5. Light ‘Em Up
6. Bustle and Flow
7. Drum Solo
8. Love That’ll Never Be (acoustic solo performance by John Corabi)
9. With You and I
10. I’m Gonna Ride
11. Take a Long Line (orig. The Angels)
12. Highway to Hell / Living After Midnight / Heaven and Hell / Seven Nation Army / Whole Lotta Love (with band introductions)
13. Crossroads (orig. Robert Johnson)
14. Goin’ Down (orig. Freddie King)
15. Fortunate Son (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
16. Get a Hair-cut (orig. Don’t Panic, David Lowy on lead vocals)
17. Mexico
18. Midnight Moses (orig. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
—encore—
19. Resurrected
20. Helter Skelter (orig. The Beatles)
