Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Y & T
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2012
Running time: 122:20
Rating: 4/5
The legendary San Francisco hard rockers Y&T, who have been defying the odds on the scene since 1974, have had a pretty eventful few years. 2010 especially. That was the year they put out their first studio album in 13 years, and just at the start of January of that same year, bassist Phil Kennemore, alongside vocalist and guitarist Dave Meniketti an original and founding member of the band, died of lung cancer. Y & T had been announcing their return to studio albums for a while, and since 2008 they’d actually been showing up on European stages again, but they only hit the road for a proper, more extensive European tour once »Facemelter« came out, in the fall of 2010. Y & T were gigging like crazy. After wrapping up the new shows across the old continent in October 2011, they toured the USA in November. For recording a live document they picked the Mystic club (in Petaluma, California, USA), where they play every year and which is an especially beloved stop in the band members’ long list of venues.
Y & T are an exceptional band when it comes to live performances. They’ve played so many shows in their career, and yet the passion hasn’t left them for a second in all those years. That incredible strength and confidence shows up even in a side detail (one that seems totally irrelevant at first glance): the band regularly swaps out up to a third of the repertoire between individual shows on a tour.
Every show was a special kind of treat for RockLine’s visits to the band between 2008 and 2011 too, because the band always surprised us with songs it had never even played on stage before. The Mystic club gig is something special in that respect too. Demanding fans don’t have to wait long for the first indulgence. It’s by no means the band’s artistic peak, but it’s a pick you wouldn’t expect. That’s the »Ten« classic Girl Crazy, which, knowingly or not, echoes the Aerosmith hit Love in An Elevator. Or rather the other way around, since it’s a four-year-older song, so if anything, it was Aerosmith who could have done the copying. Straight Thru The Heart is here too, so the title track of »Mean Streak« (1983) wasn’t left all alone after all. The real cherry on top of the fruit sundae comes just before the end of the first CD, when the band hammers out Surrender, the closing track of »Ten« (1990).
The set list is partly devoted to showcasing the new album »Facemelter«, but in 2011 the band was also celebrating 30 years since the release of »Earthshaker« (1981), and already gearing up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the even more famous classic »Black Tiger« (1982)! So »Earthshaker« and »Black Tiger« are both represented by several songs. »Earthshaker« brought the quietly expected Hungry For Rock and the superb Dirty Girl (stretched by a solid three minutes in a phenomenal tangle of solos from Nymann and Meniketti), the must-have staple Rescue Me, and two gems of a special kind, Squeeze and Hurricane. The »Black Tiger« album is well represented in the repertoire too, with the one-of-a-kind punchy ballad Winds Of Change adding extra shine to the set list and Don’t Wanna Lose in the second half of the show (a month earlier the lineup had also played the wild pulse-pounder Open Fire in Europe), while Forever and Black Tiger are already a mandatory part of every Y&T repertoire. In 2012, on a new visit to Europe, the band filled out the live set with even more »Black Tiger« numbers.
Let’s not drag this out. Meniketti, whose voice has grown bronzed with maturity, is surrounded by a few somewhat younger members. Brad Lang is the new bassist, previously playing for Jet Red, while John Nymann, a Swede with an American passport, and Mike Vanderhule have been solid support for Meniketti for a few years now. Dave sings brilliantly for his age. Of course, here and there he steers clear of the harder lines, but mostly that’s just the ends of verses. Meniketti never “cheats,” though, in that tasteless manner that’s become standard practice for rock vocalists “of a certain age,” skipping whole verses and theatrically leaving them to the crowd to sing. Meniketti doesn’t do pathos! In On With The Show the vocal isn’t yet building the explosiveness we’re used to from Meniketti’s delivery, but by Black Tiger it locks full-bloodedly into the tight sound of a one-of-a-kind Y&T live tornado.
The performance is outstanding, but above all it’s the raw, authentic attitude that feels so good, like a kick straight to the face. In his later years Meniketti radiates his black bluesy passion more than ever, and it sparkles especially in some of the guitar ornaments at the transitions between songs, which gain roughness and substance compared with the studio originals. Meniketti also impresses enormously with his superior control and occasionally delicate sophistication in the improvised bits. Meniketti remains one of the few acrobats who belong in the top league when we talk about hard rock vocalist/guitarists rolled into one person. Meniketti’s voice has a recognizable delivery that holds on to incredible power and explosiveness and (still, for his age) an exceptional vocal range.
»Live At The Mystic« is the band’s double live album, and with it they’ve finally fed their starving fans on the old European continent after long, long years. Does anyone still remember the legendary RTB vinyl release in the days of the late Yugoslavia, »Open Fire« (A&M Records, 1985)? Ah, where have those years gone… In short: 22 songs full of eruptive detonation from the unique hard rock school of Y&T, which will make you itch to catch the band on stage as soon as possible. And don’t forget that what you’re listening to is a live record by a band that started its musical journey in 1974.
Lineup
Dave Meniketti – guitar, vocals
John Nymann – guitar, backing vocals
Mike Vanderhule – drums, backing vocals
Brad Lang – bass guitar, backing vocals
Track list
CD1.:
1. Prelude
2. On With the Show
3. Black Tiger
4. Dirty Girl
5. Mean Streak
6. Girl Crazy
7. Shine On
8. Blind Patriot
9. Winds of Change
10. Straight Thru the Heart
11. Gonna Go Blind
12. Surrender
13. I’m Coming Home
CD2.:
1. Hungry for Rock
2. Don’t Wanna Lose
3. Don’t Bring Me Down
4. Hurricane
5. I Believe in You
6. Eyes of a Stranger
7. Rescue Me
8. Squeeze
9. Forever
