This is a well matched double headline tour of two bands I've seen more times than I can remember thankfully on the day the billing is the right way round as for me Michael Monroe will always be the headline act of these two bands.
Still as I said when I saw Hardcore Superstar back in March at the start of the bands touring for the current album Touch the Sky that I expected them to be much tighter later in the tour and well they have come back to prove me right. As they are now a well-oiled and tight as can be force right from the opening intro to Sadistic Girls that are ready to blow the roof off of the Electric Ballroom like they did the last time I saw them here in 2011 when they opened for The 69 Eyes.
They went almost straight into Guest list with Jocke doing his best to get the place going and it certainly had plenty of us singing along to the chorus. Vic's guitar blistered through Touch The Sky while Martin seemed happier than normal maybe he's happy with the song now.
Medicate Me saw Jocke storming round the stage like normal and trying to get us to act like we are properly medicated not too sure how well it worked but it sounded good. Jocke claimed before they played Bully that they hardly play it and dedicated it to someone he's spoken to earlier I didn't catch who, but still a fine song about getting over being bullied although putting a bullet in the bully probably isn't the best solution.
Is there song Wild Boys better than the Duran Duran one of the same name, well it certainly rocks harder and has fewer implications of seriously wild and kinky behavior as this one isn't about Burroughs book of the same name. Dreaming In A Casket got one of the biggest cheers of the bands set and had loads of us singing along to it.
Into Debauchery sounded fine if a little bit frantic in places as if they had all just snorted lines of speed to feel properly debauched. They then did something a bit unexpected in that Vic switched to an acoustic guitar to accompany Jocke without the rest of the band for Here Comes That Sick Bitch it worked pretty well even if Jocke's vocals really aren't suited to acoustic balladry he's a touch too full throated for that.
The rest of the band came back on for the closing Don't Mean Shit that they played too the max with them all doing their best to make sure we were all screaming for an encore by the time they left the stage. Well not quite but we did clap enough for them to come back for another song or two at a push.
So the encore opened with a cool version of Hateful with some band intros and then a rousing singalong through Moonshine that worked just fine had it been the closing number of the set but they weren't done yet and after some sort of comedy routine they did Last Call For Alcohol that really should have ended the set but they just couldn't help themselves and instead we got a rather raggedy version of Above The Law to finish with that just like at the Garage earlier in the year featured the roadies coming on to dismantle Adde's drums while they played, which looked cool first time I saw them do it now it looked a bit cliched and well for me they had played a song or two too many as the audience's reaction didn't justify a four song encore.
It wasn't long before Michael Monroe burst onto the stage like the most hyperactive kid you've ever met they band ripped through 78 with Steve Conte playing his guitar almost in a blur that went straight into This Ain't No Love Song which is the lead track on his new album Blackout States that was just as fast and furious with Michael running all over the stage as Sammi Yaffa seemed to pulverize his bass. That was followed as it is on the album by The Old Kings Road a lament for how things used to be back when London was a cool place to be if you didn't have a fortune to spend.
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Trick Of The Wrist saw Rich Jones and Steve Conte trading riffs at a blistering pace as if they needed to make this song faster and harder and Michael Monroe was certainly up for it. Michael then asked us if we wanted to hear some Hanoi Rocks of course we did and they blasted through Oriental Beat complete with a mesmeric sax solo it was tiring watching them play at this hyper pace that certainly didn't let up on The Ballad Of The Lower East Side a recent hit that got everyone singing to the chorus and wondering what has happened to the sleazy inner cities we all love to hang out in.
Man With No Eyes sounded great sped up like this before they went back to the new album for R.L.F. that was stormed through as was a very urgent version of the Demolition 23 classic Hammersmith Palais a great paean to what is now a lost demolished venue but was still in use when the song was originally released. Michael asked us all after it if we were having fun and well of course we all were.
Keeping with the theme of things changing for the worse next up was Going Down With The Ship which as our cities are ruined by vulture capitalism it really seems that there is more debate about what is being lost in rock songs than comes for the mouths of politricians if only Karl Rockfist could pummel the politicians heads like he does his drums. I think the next song was Got Blood? But am not sure having only heard the new album a couple of times since getting it at the gig as Michael asked us too.
Still it was back to Hanoi for a great romp through Tragedy that was followed by a great version of Malibu Beach Nightmare and Michael then had enough front to introduce Up Around The Bend as another Hanoi Rocks tune as none of us would know that Creedence Clearwater Revival did it first, still over the years they have made it their own. This fast hypermobile of a set closed with Dead Jail Or Rock & Roll one of Michaels first solo hits and a song guaranteed to get everyone begging for more afterwards.
Soon enough they were back for the encore that again went back to Demolition 23 for the classic Nothing's Alright which is of course another song about the changing times and saw Michael climbing the speakers once more in the instrumental bit before they closed with a great version of the Heartbreakers classic I Wanna Be Loved which left us all wanting more as a good encore should.
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