Having bought the ticket for this a few months ago when it was announced, it passed me by that it was the same night as Wales v France in the Principality Stadium. It didn’t on the way to the gig! Traffic, no parking and a good few thousand in red and white scarfs reminded me. Anyway, the ticket was a lot cheaper and I thought it was going to be warmer, drier and more entertaining.
With Kris Barras offering opening slots to local bands on the tour it was the turn of Tribeless (who I only saw at the beginning of the month at the rescheduled Steelhouse Away Day) and Scarlet Rebels to open up.
Lydia McDonald is a very energetic young lady on stage. Trying to get a decent image can be a bit challenging! The music is definitely alt-rock, similar to Paramore and the songwriting is good too. There were some good solos from the new (ish) guitarist Mathew Allesandro and Morgan Price on bass gives a solid low-end support to Max Rhead on drums. They are appearing on many different bills around the country and are supporting Led by Lanterns throughout April. If you get a chance to see them make the effort to get there early-you won’t be disappointed.
I was really pleased to find out that the Llanelli boys from Scarlet Rebels were also on the bill. With their latest album ‘See Through Blue’ getting to number seven in the ÜK album chart the guys are building a huge fanbase. I first saw them as VOiD a good few years ago before they changed their name. Unfortunately for Wayne Doyle he had a dose of laryngitis, so the first three songs were ably carried vocally by Josh Townshend (I’m alive) and Wayne Edmonds aka “Pablo Bass” (‘Storm’ and ‘I Can’t Say’). Well done guys!
It didn’t detract from the set. If anything, it probably proved to the other band members that they could take on lead vocals, albeit a slightly different tone to usual. At one point, Wayne quipped “I may have signed my own P45!” Well just for one night anyway! However, it was easy to see that Wayne was itching to sing, as every time he approached a microphone, he was trying hard not to sing the words! Eventually he gave in and sang the rest of the set with a bit more grit than normal and obviously a little more effort than usual. It helped that the first two were the less raucous songs from the boys (‘Let Me In’ and ‘I Can Sleep Now’). They finished with ‘Take You Home’ and ‘These Days’.
With the majority of the set coming from the new album and Wayne saying a few times that they had been joined by another rock album in the charts – appropriately enough ‘Death Valley Paradise’ by the Kris Barras Band (currently at number 27) – this was rock and roll ain’t dead! Irrespective of laryngitis, the boys still blistered the set. They are playing in Germany next week at the Rockpalast: watch out for the video when it comes out. Then they are on tour throughout 2022.
After a very solid start from the two support acts the warmup track for Kris Barras was guaranteed to get the crowd going. ‘Thunderstruck’ is generally guaranteed to do… it after all Danny and the Thunder boys have been doing it for years! I wonder who will get to use it when they are both on the same bill at the O2 later in the year!
Then Kelpie McKenzie (bass), Billy Hammett (drums) and Josiah J. Manning came on and fired up the instruments around the drum riser waiting for the main man to come on. Accompanied by coloured smoke effects and enthusiastic cheering by the slightly smaller than expected crowd (the reason being obvious) they kicked off with one of my favourites, ‘Hail Mary’ with the crowd joining in at every opportunity with the tag line. Bang bang bang… ‘Dead Horses’ was next up before ‘Rock n Roll Runnin’ Through My Veins’ from ‘Lucky 13’. ‘These Voices’ and ‘Light It Up’ were followed by ‘Devil You Know’. There were plenty of opportunities for Kris to show his guitar skill during these tracks. However, one of the most impressive things was the amount of energy burnt up by Kelpie McKenzie – he was like Tigger on speed! He definitely didn’t learn his stage presence from John Entwistle, who barely moved on stage.
A commentary on the current situation in Eastern Europe was followed very poignantly by ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ and ‘What You See Is What You Get’. The first half of the set barely gave the crowd time to draw breath! I was kind of glad there wasn’t an extended play of the new album as some of the older stuff deserves to be on the current set list.
The set in Exeter had an enforced acoustic set by Kris and Josiah J. Manning due to illness of one of the guys from Florence Black. This was obviously well received as two of the songs which may not have made it to the set came in acoustic format – another of my favourites, ‘Propane’, and a superb cover of the Lynryd Skynyrd classic ‘Simple Man’ that also gets a showing by Black Stone Cherry and Shinedown from time to time. With JJ Manning accompanying Kris on foot powered kick drum and bass pedals as well as acoustic guitar and vocals it was a bit of a virtuoso performance by both of them (and the crowd joined in too!)
As he has said on other occasions, Kris paid respect to his late father who started him playing guitar from an early age but unfortunately lost his battle to cancer almost ten years ago before Kris started taking his musical career as an option. ‘Watching Over Me’ always brings a lump to my throat and the sight of hundreds of lit up mobiles added to the moment. I’m old enough to be your father Kris, and if you were my son I’d be proud of you, as I’m sure your dad would have been had he had the opportunity to see you where you are now.
Another ramp up in speed to ‘Not Fading’ from ‘Light It Up’ took the emotion up to more of a rock gig before ‘Who Needs Enemies’ and ‘My Parade’ from ‘Death Valley Paradise’, which preceded the encore of ‘Lovers Or Losers’. Yet another great set from Kris and the guys. You really need to find the tickets for the rest of the tour, especially for the dates with Florence Black. It will be 20 quid really well spent for an evening of class rock n roll.