Liberating Liberty
Straight outta the Black Country we have our hometown heroes Liberty Lies, who climb aboard the crazy train for tonight’s extravaganza. Their story begins in 2008, and like most bands they got together in school/college and took it from there. Their current line-up is a roarsome foursome who have an album and 2 EP’s under their belt and are surprisingly unsigned. The singer Shaun Richards sounds quite Meatloaf-esque with his rich, deep delivery of tunes that are reminiscent of Shinedown and Alter Bridge.
I love the friendly fire of ‘The Wire’, where the band leave us hanging gleefully, and bugger off down the pub. Stuffed to the gills with supersonic drumming and mind numbing riffery, these guys have been overlooked, criminal really. A lot of bands fall by the wayside, please pick these fellas up and take them home, they are a warm and affable bunch and quite lonely too as Shaun asks us to meet them at merch for a chinwag.
Gems include ‘Coming Home’, ‘Letters’ and newbie ‘United Nothing’ and the end of season one ‘Are you Listening?’ Well I hope you were because you missed a corker here.
Next up, well we have our Japanese cousins Electric Eel Shock and my what a comical bunch they are. Now the one thing the Japanese cannot be faulted for is their passion and total absorption of the genre. We do not need to understand each other’s languages when the music unites us.
The drummer in this outfit was more or less in his birthday suit, I mean I couldn’t watch, prude that I am. At certain points he removed his top as well, his nethers covered with an extraordinarily long sock which he proceeded to twirl around much like a majorette. I did see Sami and Rich from Michael Monroe’s band side stage taking a gander at this spectacle. I’m not criticising his expression or his art, but I’d never seen anything like it. The guitarist, a self-confessed Ozzyist, opens a neat little tribute where the greats are honoured with snippets of AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Metallica. Alongside their own material, the rabble rouser ‘Bastard’ and ultimate party tune’ Rock ‘N Roll Can Rescue The World’ they announce their pleasure at being onstage by declaring ‘we bring CD, you bring money’, well that’s a neat way to put it. Exciting, invigorating and highly eccentric, our friends here are not the shy and retiring type, unlike yours truly. In this game though you need to entertain, adapt and let go of any inhibitions to engage, enthral and laugh at yourself and with the crowd.
Now who said, ‘Mama we’re all crazy now?’
All Aboard!!
It’s the ‘Last Train To Tokyo’ my friends so let’s hitch a ride with our hero Michael Monroe and his band of loveable rogues, who for the ardent and the ravenous can do no wrong. Rising like a phoenix, they swing and sway across the stage, leaving no stone (or speaker) unturned as the fans from America and Sweden( one fan seeing him for the 73rd time tonight) rejoice at the appearance of this most charismatic of frontmen. During the set change, his scarf adorned mic stand was enough to send me into a frenzy, you see my friends Michael is a legend, he was in Hanoi Rocks, who fragmented due to the death of their drummer, Razzle, an incredibly sad time for the band and fans alike. Hanoi Rocks taught the likes of L.A Guns, Faster Pussycat and Guns ‘N Roses, that is the magnitude of their influence and input.
A welcoming return with new album ‘One Man Gang’ the guys are flawless in their ownership of the stage and the crowd. Overflowing with sing-out-loud tracks we sang along with gusto, as our man passed the mic around so we could all have a go.
The faithful were treated to some classics ‘Don’t You Never Leave Me’ and ‘Motorvatin’ which we ate up hungrily. It was an energetic, high spirited show as Michael jumped, jived, leapt and crept all across the floor, he even did the splits, I mean what athleticism! He is an attentive performer, reaching out to each and every one of us, and yes, he held my hand, so that was my ‘never gonna wash this hand’ moment. His versatility is amazing to watch, changing from saxophone to mouth organ and back to his mic, all seamless and supple. I managed to grab his attention and he read the slogan on my custom- made T-shirt, we looked at each other, and for that one brief moment it was as if he and I were privy to a secret only we shared. It was a recognition, an acknowledgement for which there are no words.
So take a stroll down the ‘Old King’s Road’ draped in your ‘Black Ties And Red Tape’ witness the ‘Low Life In High Places’ and at ‘78’ maybe you’ll be ‘In The Tall Grass’, I mean anything’s better than that ‘Hollywood Paranoia’, what if ‘Nothin’s Alright’? I guess those are ‘The Pitfalls Of Being An Outsider’.
Tonight, I got to see someone whom I’ve admired through magazines. Tonight, I got to see a true rock band. Tonight, I saw Michael Monroe, and I also think I saw Hanoi Rocks.