The Dead Daisies (plus: Mike Tramp, Beasto Blanco)
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 7:45 p.m. to 11:10 p.m.
Vienna (Wien) / Simm City / Austria
(For an English version, please scroll down the bar)
It’s hard to dodge a tour that bundles The Dead Daisies, Beasto Blanco and Mike Tramp into one package. Honestly, it’s a sin to skip a tour like that when it rolls through Europe. Last year we caught The Dead Daisies in a jam-packed Cvetličarna in Ljubljana, and the year before that, also in Ljubljana, when they opened for Judas Priest. A band that always delivers a top-notch rock’n’roll show and a proper party.
It’s a quarter to eight in the evening, Simm City in Vienna is still pretty empty, with barely 250 people in the hall. Mike Tramp, together with guitarist Markus Nand, hit the stage to play us half an hour of White Lion classics, the songs that long ago made him one of the immortal heroes of glam metal. Tramp made no secret of the fact that his touring budget is modest. Drums, bass, keyboards and backing vocals were all on tape. Live, there were just the two guitars and, of course, Tramp’s voice. Tramp proved to be a guy with remarkably well-preserved pipes. The sharply dressed vocalist knows exactly how to fire up a crowd. That night, the famous White Lion classics did the job all by themselves. In the front rows there were some seriously hardcore fans and White Lion connoisseurs who knew every verse down to the last detail. The excellent Markus Nand, who fleetingly looked like Steven Perry (Aerosmith), delivered his part. He had studied to a T the solos that the unforgettable Vitto Bratta was once responsible for in White Lion, and the whole thing worked really well even though we were only watching a duo on stage. The next fifteen minutes brought three Pride hits: Tell Me, When The Children Cry and Wait. Ufffff….. Goosebumps. Let’s hope Trump gets back to a European club tour with a quartet, like back in November 2006, when we managed to catch him in Muggia near Trieste.
Beasto Blanco are a relatively new band, but one fronted by seasoned musicians. The band keeps a tie to Alice Cooper, mainly thanks to two members. The first is vocalist Calico Cooper, the famous musician’s daughter, and the other is his longtime bassist Chuck Garric, who handles lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar in Beasto Blanco. No great guesswork is needed to see that the band, with its grotesque stage performances that of course stir up a bit of horror shock theatre, has carried over plenty into its own direction from everything Alice became famous for, and in the last few years has especially built the whole thing up. Calico is a proper wild amazon on stage, while Garric needs very little to be declared the second monster up there – his scary smile and gap teeth are enough. The band thundered mightily through its allotted three quarters of an hour and thoroughly entertained an otherwise demanding crowd, which it soon won over to the point that they went along with every stage shenanigan Calico and Chuck cooked up. The quintet ran through material from its four released albums and poured oil on the fire with Alice Cooper’s Feed My Frankenstein, which was the show’s peak. A blend of utterly entertaining debauchery and unbridled clowning, bordering on full-blooded provocation, won everyone over.
The Dead Daisies were the most eagerly awaited act of the night for most of the audience. Interestingly, the venue, which at half past eight still looked relatively thinly attended, filled up solidly by the time they came on. When Mike Tramp took the stage, the hall was still more than half empty. The Dead Daisies are the band that today gratefully fills the gaps in hard rock that open up as the very bands who left a lasting mark on the scene ‘ease off’. Just check the members’ birth years and it’s instantly clear who they learned from. But none of it would exist without the heart, huge enthusiasm and financial injections of Australian business magnate David Lowy, airline owner, passionate pilot and, what matters most to us, guitarist and boss of The Dead Daisies.
What’s interesting about our past visits to this band’s shows is that it’d be hard to find two consecutive concerts we’ve seen where the lineup stayed unchanged. The same. This time was no different. Over the last eleven months The Dead Daisies first swapped drummers. The new guy is Tommy Clufetos; before him it was Brian Tichy behind the kit. The second change happened recently. The band was pushed against its will into a situation where it had to adapt on the fly to save the announced “Light ‘Em Up” tour. The tour was seriously threatened by the news that guitarist Douglas Aldrich has throat cancer. Coming to the rescue for the “Light ‘Em Up” tour was none other than Aldrich’s buddy from his Whitesnake days, the outstanding Winger guitarist Reb Beach. Seeing Reb Beach in Europe playing Aldrich’s gold Les Paul with a black top? Priceless. We can safely say The Dead Daisies couldn’t have found a better solution. Reb had been knocking around Europe through October this year anyway with his backing band on solo shows, so he was already well adapted to Europe.
Besides David Lowy, the other two in the crew are vocalist John Corabi and bassist Michael Devin! In their standard positions. The band hit the stage at half past nine in the evening and delivered exactly what we came for. A perfect, flawless cannonade of gleeful rock’n’roll mischief and boundless fun. All of it accompanied by top-class, tightly rehearsed execution. Tommy Clufetos, with a drum kit less than half the size of predecessor Brian Tichy’s, proved a real monster as he slapped and ‘smacked’ and mangled heads and cymbals while toothpicks flew off his sticks. Michael Devin, whose beard looks more and more like a beehive with every passing year, impressed with an exceptional musical rattle as he dug wildly into his bass, while both guitarists, especially Lowy, who had less than half the work Beach did, made more active use of the available stage space. What was left of it, that is, since there was also the extremely agile tongue doctor, who sharpened his tongue even more than usual that night. That’s the top-class frontman John Corabi, who kept cracking lame jokes between songs and so kept up a good dose of cheer and good mood. The Dead Daisies really are a well-oiled machine! Lowy picked only the best to have at his side. And that goes for the temporary swap on one of the two guitar spots (the best for the best). Why? Because he can.
The show flew by at high speed. The sound was very good. Everything clearly audible. The band put all of its albums into the repertoire, with the latest one – “Light ‘Em Up” (RockLine review) – getting a slight nudge, as expected. The band started its assault with the title track of the new album, followed by “Burn It Down” tunes Rise Up and Dead And Gone. The popular Make Some Noise poured oil on the fire and practically the whole hall was partying with the band. Packed, but not entirely sold out. Corabi held up very, very well. Of course, reinterpreting classics recorded with Glenn Hughes on vocals is a story of its own, and they didn’t ‘land’ with the intensity that only the famous ‘Voice Of Rock’ can conjure on stage and in the studio. At that task every vocalist, however good, falls short.
Next came a drum solo and three slaps in a row: Lock’N’Load, I’m Gonna Ride and Born To Fly, where Corabi had to stretch his vocal cords again. But by the next number he’d caught his breath. In the middle of the show the band treated itself to a longer member introduction, which was nowhere near as long as in Ljubljana less than a year ago. Then came the second part, heavy with covers; Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready especially stood out. Corabi said up front that during the last recording sessions they didn’t just record the album “Light Em Up” but ended up with so much material that the band already has a new album ready. And, in Corabi’s words, it’ll be a blues album. We can’t wait, of course. Then a top-class finale! First Fortunate Son, where the whole hall sings the chorus with Corabi, then the long-awaited and hugely fun Mexico, and after it a tornado with another long-awaited cover that mustn’t be missing from the band’s repertoire – Midnight Moses, with Alex Harvey grinning happily from rock’n’roll heaven. The big finale was of course Long Way To Go, which fit nicely with the fact that the Vienna show was the second-to-last of the whole European tour, with a long intercontinental flight to follow. Helter Skelter – you can’t go wrong with it. Ever. Especially in The Dead Daisies’ hands. Hell-for-leather through this The Beatles proto-metal ‘blueprint’, The Dead Daisies wrapped up their hour-and-40-minute show at the highest level of performance! Simm City was bursting at the seams from all the electricity of the high-octane burn the quintet ignited!
Straight up, no detours! With staggering vehemence and a performance character that takes your breath away. When a concert like that ends, you only ask yourself: “When and where is the next one?” Don’t worry. As the band hinted, they’ve already got a new album in their pocket. So? We can slowly start looking toward dates in late autumn next year.
Authors: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
English version:
It’s hard to resist a tour that combines the names The Dead Daisies, Beasto Blanco and Mike Tramp in one package. In fact it’s a sin to turn your back on such a tour when it’s taking place in Europe. Last year we even saw The Dead Daisies in a packed Cvetličarna in Ljubljana and the year before that they opened for Judas Priest in Ljubljana as well. The band always delivers a top-notch rock’n’roll show and a complete party.
It’s 5.30 p.m. and Simm City in Vienna is still quite empty with only about 250 people in the hall. Mike Tramp accompanied by guitarist Marcus Nand takes the stage to play us a few White Lion classics in half an hour with whom he made his name among the immortal heroes of glam metal long ago. Tramp has made no secret of the fact that his budget for the tour is modest. The drums, bass guitars, keyboards and backing vocals were prerecorded. Live were both bguitars and of course Tramp’s voice. Mike proved to be a man of exceptional vocal preservation. The sharply dressed vocalist knows well how to fire up the crowd. On this night, the well-known White Lion classic tunes did it all by themselves. In the front rows there were some really tight White Lion followers and connoisseurs who knew the verses to perfection. The excellent Marcus Nand who looked vaguely reminiscent of Steven Perry (Aerosmith), delivered his part. He did the spot-on solos that the unforgettable Vitto Bratta was once in charge of at White Lion. The whole thing worked very well despite the fact that we were only watching a duo on stage. Another fifteen minutes with three Pride hits: Tell Me, When The Children Cry and Wait. Goosebumps! Let’s hope Trump gets a European club tour with a quartet like he did back in November 2006 when we managed to intercept him in Muggia near Trieste.
Beasto Blanco is a relatively new group consisting of experienced musicians. The group maintains a link with Alice Cooper in particular because of two of its members. The first is vocalist Calico Cooper who is the daughter of the famous musician and the second is his long-time bassist Chuck Garric who provides lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar for Beasto Blanco. It doesn’t take much guessing to say that the band with its grotesquely grotesque performances that naturally evoke a bit of horror shock theatre has taken a lot of its direction right from everything Alice was famous for and especially in the last few years has built on it all. Calico is a freaky amazon on stage while Garric doesn’t need much to get you to declare him the second monster on stage – his creepy smile and diastema are enough. The band thundered into the available three quarters of an hour rigorously entertaining the otherwise demanding crowd who was soon won over to their side to concretely engage with every onstage antics Calico and Chuck pulled off. The quintet covered material from their four released albums and added fuel to the fire with Alice Cooper’s Feed My Frankenstein, which brought the show to its climax. A combination of utterly entertaining debauchery, unbridled antics, bordering on full-blooded provocation, it was a delight all round.
The Dead Daisies were the most anticipated act of the night by most of the visitors. Interestingly, the venue which still radiated a relatively modest attendance at half past nine, had filled up by the time they arrived. The Dead Daisies are the band that today gratefully fills the gaps in hard rock created by the ‘letting go’ of the very bands that have left a lasting mark on the scene. Just check the members’ birth years and it becomes immediately clear who they learned from. But it would be nothing without the heartfelt enthusiasm and financial injections of Australian financial mogul David Lowy, airline owner, passionate pilot and most importantly for us, guitarist and boss of The Dead Daisies.
What is interesting about our visits to the group’s concerts so far is that it would be difficult to find two concerts in a row that we have seen, and yet the line-up of the group on both of those concerts remained unchanged. This time it was the same. The Dead Daisies have changed drummers over the last eleven months. Tommy Clufetos is the new drummer preceeded bi Brian Tichy. The second change happened recently. The band was thrown into a situation where they had to adapt against their will in order to save the announced “Light ‘Em Up” tour. This tour was seriously jeopardised by the news that the band’s guitarist Douglas Aldrich was suffering from throat cancer. So the band has enlisted the help of none other than Aldrich’s Whitesnake sidekick the great Winger guitarist Reb Beach for the “Light ‘Em Up” tour. To see Reb Beach in Europe playing Aldrich’s gold Les Paul with a black plateau? Priceless. It’s safe to say that The Dead Daisies couldn’t have found a better solution. Reb has been roaming Europe with his backing band on solo gigs in one way or another throughout October this year so he was already pretty well adapted to Europe.
In addition to David Lowy the other two members of the team are vocalist John Corabi and bassist Michael Devin in their standard positions. The band took the stage at half past ten in the evening and delivered exactly what we came for. A perfect and immaculate cannonade of outrageous rock’n’roll antics and boundless fun. All of this was accompanied by a top-notch, hair-brained execution. Tommy Clufetos, with a drum kit more than half the size of predecessor Brian Tichy, proved to be a monster as he slapped and ‘clapped’ and idolised brass and cymbals while toothpicks whizzed out of drumsticks. Michael Devin, whose beard has become more and more like a bee’s nest over the years, impressed with a remarkable musical rasp as he dug wildly at the bass guitar. Both guitarists, especially Lowy, who had less than half the work as Beach, made more active use of the available stage space. What was left of it was free as there was also the forcefully agile tongue doctor, who sharpened his tongue more abundantly that evening. This is the superb frontman John Corabi who was always shaking off unsalty jokes during the breaks and in this way also kept the atmosphere cheerful and good humoured. The Dead Daisies are a well-oiled machine! Lowy has chosen only the best to be at his side. And this also applies to the temporary change in the position of one of the two guitars (the best for the best). Why? Because they can.
The performance was very fast-paced. The sound was very good. Everything clearly audible. The band included all of their albums in the repertoire with the last one – “Light ‘Em Up” (RockLine review) – taking the lead, as expected. The band went on the offensive with the title track of the new album, followed by “Burn It Down”, “Rise Up” and “Dead And Gone”. The popular “Make Some Noise” added fuel to the fire and practically the whole room was rocking with the band. Packed, but not completely sold out. Corabi held on very, very well. Of course, the reinterpretation of classics recorded with Glenn Hughes on vocals is a story in itself and they didn’t ‘grip’ with the intensity that only the famous ‘Voice Of Rock’ can conjure up on stage and in the studio. Any vocalist, no matter how good, will fail in this task.
A drum solo and three consecutive Lock ‘n’ Load, I’m Gonna Ride and Born To Fly followed. Corabi had to retune his vocal cords but came up for air again at the very next point. The band had the luxury of a longer member introduction in the middle of the show, which was not nearly as long as in Ljubljana less than a year ago. Then came the second part, heavy with covers, and in general Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready stung the ear. Corabi opened by saying that during the last recording session not only did they record “Light Em Up” but there was so much material that the band already has a new album ready to go. And according to him it will be a blues album. We can’t wait, of course. A superb finale to follow! First the Fortunate Son with the whole hall singing the chorus with Corabi, then the much-anticipated and hugely entertaining Mexico, followed by Tornado with another much-anticipated cover that shouldn’t be missing from the band’s repertoire. It was Midnight Moses with Alex Harvey happily mooing his way out of rock’n’roll heaven.
For the grand finale, of course, there was Long Way To Go, which worked well with the fact that the Vienna gig was the penultimate one of the whole European tour and that it was followed by a long intercontinental flight. Helter Skelter – you can’t miss it. Never. With this Beatles proto-metal ‘plan’, The Dead Daisies concluded their hour and forty minutes concert show at the highest performance level! Simm City was ablaze with all the electrifying high-octane combustion ignited by the quintet.
Straight and without turns! With breathtaking verve and a performance character that takes your breath away. When such a concert comes to an end, you just have to ask: “When and where will the next one be?” Don’t worry. As the band hinted, they already have a new album in their pocket. So? Slowly, we can already start looking towards dates in late autumn next year.
Authors: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Mike Tramp – setlist:
1. Living On The Edge
2. Broken Heart
3. Little Fighter
4. Tell Me
5. When The Children Cry
6. Wait
Beast Blanco – setlist:
1. Il Nostro Spirito (taped intro)
2. Run for Your Life
3. Freak
4. Grind
5. Nobody Move
6. Feed My Frankenstein (orig. Alice Cooper)
7. Machine Girl
8. Honey
9. Lowlands
10. Blind Drive
11. Breakdown
The Dead Daisies – setlist:
1. Bitch (orig. The Rolling Stones, taped intro)
2. Rock and Roll (orig. Led Zeppelin, taped intro)
3. Light ‘Em Up
4. Rise Up
5. Dead and Gone
6. Make Some Noise
7. I Wanna Be Your Bitch
8- Unspoken
9. Bustle and Flow
10. Drum Solo
11. Lock ‘n’ Load
12. I’m Gonna Ride
13. Born to Fly
14. Take a Long Line (orig. The Angels)
15. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Seven Nation Army / Children of the Grave / Living After Midnight / Join Together (Band Introduction)
16. I’m Ready (orig. Muddy Waters)
17. Fortunate Son (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
18. Mexico
19. Midnight Moses (orig. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
—encore—
20. Long Way to Go
21. Helter Skelter (orig. The Beatles)
