By Monk
Don’t you just love the smell of rock ‘n’ roll in the morning? Especially in the wee small hours of the morning? Well, we obviously do here at ÜRHQ, as here DQ and I are up and about at the ungodly hour of 4.30am tuning into this live simulcast of AOR legends SteelHeart’s belated 30th anniversary show, all the way from the rather strange location of a city by the name of Grapevine, located between the better known Dallas and Fort Worth. I say “strange” because, just a few weeks’ earlier, SteelHeart had headlined the infamous Whiskey A-Go-Go’s official post-lockdown re-opening party, so it might have made more sense to tie both of these historic events together… but, hey, that’s one of the many vagaries of the rock ‘n’ roll business that we all love… And thus it is we find ourselves burning the candle at both ends to mark three decades since the release of one of the best albums of its generation, and one which introduced us to one of the most unique, and under-rated, voices in the Überverse.
Unlike a lot of livestream events which have been staged over the past, highly traumatic 18 months, this is an actual live show, in front of a real crowd, with the band choosing to use the occasion to extend its reach to a more global audience. And kicking off with a thumping version of ‘Blood Pollution’, it is immediately obvious that Miljenko Matijevic and his current bandmates have missed live music as much as we have, as the singer is wreathed in smiles, immediately interacting front and centre, with the rabid audience, who are responding with equal enthusiasm, singing along to every word, while the band bump and grind with aplomb and precision. Yes, band and fans alike are definitely ‘Livin’ The Life’.
While billed as a 30th anniversary celebration of their debut album, it is not until four numbers in that we get the first track from that eponymous release, in the shape of ‘Gimme Gimme’: normally when bands advertise that they’re going to play an album in full, they do so in the songs were laid down on same. Some bands have fucked with this particular formula, such as Tyketto playing ‘Don’t Come Easy’ in reverse order on its 25th anniversary tour, but setlists from earlier dates on the tour, such as the aforementioned Whiskey gig, indicated that SteelHeart were only playing four songs from the album: would tonight be any different, or would we be putting a call through to the Advertising Standards Authority? Well, with ‘Gimme Gimme’ being followed by ‘Cabernet’ – complete with drum and bass solos – it looked like the latter might most definitely be the case…
But then comes ‘She’s Gone’, with Mili standing alone, lit by a single follow spot, in the middle of the stage, building slowly up to those few mitigated seconds in which he makes the hair on the back of your neck stand to attention by hitting THAT note, not just once but three times – although he does seem to concede to the aging of his voice by omitting what DQ would refer to as the ovary-wobbling finale. An extended version of ‘Everyone Loves Eileen’ showcases the tightness of the band – made up these days of guitarist Joe Pessia, bassist Marten Andersson and drummer Mike Humbert – as they bounce energetically off each other, before Mili once again displays his full range on a triumphant version of ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’ and then takes us into the finale, and his obligatory dig at the Hollywood machine, with the band’s cover (sic) of ‘We All Die Young’.
It has to be said that, while this was a tight performance by a highly professional band paying due cognizance to their legacy, and an exemplar of what a great singer can do when they work to preserve their voice, it was not what was advertised, which was a celebration of their debut album. To quote the press release sent to ÜRHQ, this was supposed to see “Miljenko and SteelHeart bring it all back to the beginning, performing ’SteelHeart’ in full, along with fan favourites from throughout their 30 years as a band”. What we got was, essentially, the latter, with a few notable exceptions: but, then, they’re the songs on the album that they didn’t play!
But, not to denigrate from the overall performance, which was exemplary in its own right, I’ll leave the finishing words to DQ: “he’s still got the voice… and he’s still sexy!”. Well, that’s me blown out, isn’t it?
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