By David O’Neill
This is another coup for Big Day Pro Live promoters. Not only have they just supported the latest album release for Scarlet Rebels last night, but this is their second of three days at Chepstow Castle. This time, they are pulling in none other than Darren Wharton (ex Thin Lizzy) and Dare, Tyketto and Swedish rockers H.E.A.T, who blew me away at Steelhouse festival last year following the resumption of Kenny Leckremo as front man. This is going to be a list of second times for me, as it will be the second time I have seen all three artists.
First up was Dare, and opening up with ‘Born In The Storm’ and ‘Cradle To The Grave’ was a great start. Whartons’ voice didn’t miss a trick and the band of Vinny Burns (guitar), Nigel Clutterbuck (bass) and Kevin Whitehead (drums) were spot on as well.
There wasn’t a missed beat and Darren regularly discussed his career with the audience, especially his time with Thin Lizzy, which was superbly supplemented by his tribute to Phil Lynott on ‘King Of Spades’. The “final” track, ‘Return The Heart’, concluded in ample time for the band to have a debate on which “extra” track they would perform, finally settling on the Bob Seger (and Thin Lizzy) cover of ‘Rosalie’, thus providing a fitting end to a cracking opening set, despite only having a single guitar!
The last (and only previous) time I saw Tyketto was in a local venue when they were also on the same triple header bill as Dare and FM last year. Whilst the music was great, the sound quality at the time left a lot to be desired. Not so at today’s venue. The sound engineers did a fantastic job on the sound for all three bands, and it often goes unrecognized, so well done everyone!
However, the propensity of the lead musicians from all the bands to stand on the sound bins at front of the stage left many of them in the dark at times particularly later in the evening. I’m sure this could easily be addressed with the lighting set up that was already available. Anyhow, the rest of the stage was very well lit and could easily be seen from the back of the castle keep.
From the moment Danny Vaughan started singing ‘Remember My Name’ right the way through the rest of the set, everyone who occasionally listens to or even likes AOR music knew they were in the presence of someone with sublime vocal talent and range. Not only that, his stage presence was incredible. I don’t know how he kept it up for the hour but there was not a moments struggle in all the songs he sang.
I have to say that I feel he was a bit ambitious asking a crowd to join in on the hook for ‘Lay Your Body Down’, but they really did have a good go! By the time the opening chord for ‘Forever Young’ rang around the ramparts, he knew he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hands. An absolute AOR vocal and performance masterclass. As when I saw them last year Chris Childs (Thunder) is on bass and Harry Scott Elliot is outstanding on lead guitar, but the whole band are very good musicians.
- Tyketto are on tour with Little Caesar and Dan Byrne later this year.
Swedish rockers H.E.A.T were last up, as I said previously, since Kenny Leckremo has r’ejoined the band as lead singer they are having a rock renaissance. The entry track had to be ‘The Heat Is On’, before ‘Back To The Rhythm’ blasted the crowd into a frenzy, as if Kenny needed any encouragement, prancing around the stage from Dave Dalone to Jimmy Jay and Don Crash like a tiger. All that was missing was the fireworks from the video.
‘Rock Your Body’ carried on in the same vein with Jimmy and Don frequently swapping sides whilst carrying the track to the breakdown. Kenny’s smile was as broad as the River Wye valley throughout. The pounding drums and guitar opening to ‘Hollywood’ with the hook instantly grabbing the audience. Blistering opening trio from the guys.
‘Downtown’ gave the band and audience a slight respite from the high voltage energy delivered to this point. It also gave Kenny an opportunity to add to the vocal excellence on show on the night. Dave got to show his guitar expertise at the breakdown, making a very subtle change in style.
However, this didn’t last long with return to high energy intros and vocal performance during ‘One By One’ and ‘Beg Beg Beg’ carried across the castle keep. Another change in tempo with ‘Cry’ gave everyone a bit more of a melodic performance which continued into the opening of ‘Point Of No Return’ before the powerful vocals of Kenny once again lifted the crowd to a near frenzy.
The keyboard opening to ‘Living On The Run’ gave rise to the melodic AOR track before Kenny ripped through ‘1000 Miles’, getting joined by the crowd at the hook – and they were hooked, line and sinker! ‘Dangerous Ground’ and ‘A Shot At Redemption’ added to the event’s finale in a similar way to the rest of the evening.
This was another fantastic performance from a band on the ascendancy. I would happily see this bill at any point should it happen again. AOR and vocal performances of the highest order from all three bands!