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Another Friday
night another trip down the motorway to Bradford Rio, the event this
time is the tour of two of the biggest names in 80's rock.
With
both bands seeing line-up changes from their original band persona’s
of the late 80's, the nucleus of both bands remains the same, with House
of Lords it’s the very presence of vocalist James Christian that has
always made the band for me, and in the Vixen corner the gal who put the
whole Vixen thing together guitarist Jan Kuehnemund.
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But
first the formality of the support act. In this case it
was London based band Jack Viper, a band that have been
described as a band who have “the speed of Motorhead and
the intensity of Guns n Roses” and “Easily one of
most exciting sleaze bands around today”.
A brave boast indeed so with these quotes in mind I was
really looking forward to actually seeing if the lived up to all
the recent publicity.
Sadly I had caught the band on an off night as vocalist Jay R
was suffering from a severe cold and the usual poor sound set up
that is reserved to the support acts at Rio’s.
The
band tried their best but the lack of enthusiasm from the few
numbers that had decided to come to the venue early (another
familiar practice at Rio’s). The set was a little samey
song wise with the band looking rather uncomfortable on stage,
whether this a combination of nerves and Jay’s cold, I will
have to see the band on another occasion to judge.
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The
band did a seven song set that consisted of songs of note like ‘Rock
the Night’, ‘Merry Go Round’, ‘Murder City Blues, and the
charmingly titled ‘Go F**k Yourself', which were the pick of the bunch
for me. I would like to see this band again to compare shows, just
to see if tonight was just a one off and see whether the band could
really live up to all the praise they have been had heaped upon them by
the rock press lately.
I
have only one thing to say about what the next three hours had in store
and that is ... a hot night is Rio’s was about to get even hotter.
On to the House of Lords who have gone through a major line-up change
since I caught them at Firefest II at Nottingham Rock City in 2005, at
which they headlined and totally blew me away.
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Now
in the year 2006 the band return with a new album under their
belts and a new line-up. I for one feel that this line-up
is a much stronger animal that the one I witnessed perform at
Firefest. James Christian and Co have returned to the
stages of the UK to put the name of House of Lords well and
truly back on peoples lips.
Joining
James tonight on stage were Jimi Bell on guitars, BJ Zampa on
drums, and replacing Jeff Kent on bass for this tour was Jeff
Scott Soto's bassist Chris McCarvill.
The
band opened up in emphatic style with ‘Sahara’ from the
bands debut release and as if by magic a vast crowd had just
appeared. It was as if you'd just opened a packet of
powdered audience that simply required you to add water, or
alcohol ..., whichever seems more appropriate to the night.
This once again is a quite unique phenomena that I have now
witnessed on numerous occasions at Rio's.
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Then
it was straight into ‘Talkin Bout Love’ from the Demons Down album
and it's plain to hear that Christian still has a mighty set of pipes on
him, as this song sounds just as it did all those years ago.
With
James announcing that we would hear something off every House of Lords
album, this met with a great roar of approval by all the House of Lords
fans out in the crowd.
The
set continued with ‘Love Don’t Lie’, also taken from the band self
titled debut release and once again I was just swept away by the majesty
of Christian's vocals.
The
band then heralded the new era in their history with a track taken from
the new album World Upside Down, the sassy ‘Rock Bottom’, with Bell
just ripping out some magnificent riffs on this one. The set
continued with ‘SOS’, also from the new album, and this like the
previous song, sounded great live.
Then
it was time to go back to the classic cuts with ‘ Edge of Your
Life’, before it was back to the new album for ‘All The Way To
Heaven’ and another splendid live rendition.
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Now
for a song that first got me into the band and one that is
instantly recognizable as House of Lords the superlative ‘I
Wanna Be Loved’. The band had managed to mix the old
House of Lords splendidly with the new with great ease and the
well balanced set continued with ‘These Are The Times’ and
‘Can't Find My Way Home’, with Christian taking up the
guitar for the later.
The
set continued to go from strength to strength with ‘I’m
Free’ and the surprise package for me at least, the inclusion
of the infamous ‘Pleasure Palace’, which ended with a short
solo from Bell leading nicely into the final song ‘Slip Of The
Tongue’, which rounded off a magnificent set and one that
would be hard to follow.
So
were Vixen up for the challenge of following a great set by
Christian and Co ... you bet they were!
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Vixen
opened up with ‘Love Makes You Blind’ and immediately the band up
for the gig with Jena SanzAgero showing what a great vocalist she is and
Lynn Lowrey giving it all on the bass and the glue that holds its all
together Jan Kuehnemund ripping it up on the lead guitar with drummer
Kat Kraft thrashing out the beats behind the drums.
The
set continued in similar vein with ‘Anyway’ the first song tonight
off the bands new album ‘Live And Learn’ which is now due for an
October release, then it was back to the band second album ‘Rev It
Up’ for ‘Street In Paradise’ with Jena Sanz-Agero giving this her
own personal touch by making this a little more hard edged feel than the
original and in my opinion a better version than the original album
version.
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Then
it was back to the new album for the title track ‘Live And
Learn’ with Jena donning a guitar of her own for this one.
The band went from the new back to old without a breath and then
went straight into the classic ‘How Much Love’, quickly
followed by a rocking rendition of ‘Rock Me Roll Me’, with a
little audience participation with the mix of ‘We Will Rock
You’ thrown in for good measure.
By
now the band were really going for it, especially bassist Lyn
Lowrey whose antics were very reminiscent of a mix between Marco
Mendoza and Gene Simmons, and on ‘Love Is A Killer’ she
really was pulling out all the stops, as was Kuehnemund as she
showed what a great guitar player she is.
Then
it was back to the new album for the next one ‘Pacifist’.
By this time the band were on fire as they continued with one of
my favourite Vixen songs ‘Cryin’, before another very
impressive song off the new album ‘You Wish’.
By the time the band had reached the climax of the show the
doors of Rio’s had been opened for the regular clubbers, who
arrived just in time to see the band really show what they are
made of with the classics ‘Rev It Up’, ‘Cruisin’, and
what Vixen set wouldn’t be complete without the show stopper
‘Edge Of A Broken Heart’.
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With
just a short break giving them just enough time to catch their breath,
the band returned to give an outstanding version of Bowie’s
‘Suffragette City’, which rounded off a quite superb set and a great
night of old school rock n roll.
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