Slade
Tonight, I am at the Waterfront with a sense of trepidation. After nigh on fifty years of feeling the noise and down to two original members - with no Noddy - can Slade still deliver? Well, more of that below.
Right, with a few exceptions, I don't get tribute acts and covers bands. I suppose they serve a purpose on the wedding and bar mitzvah circuit but I can't help but feel that they are, in some way, stealing attention from struggling artists writing their own material. Sometimes, I really do need to get over myself....
The Glamtastics are plain, simple, crowd pleasing FUN. They bill themselves as the UK's leading glam tribute. I dunno about that and think that similar acts like Glam45 might have something to say but they make a tidy fist of it.
With covers of the likes of Bolan, Queen, Bay City Rollers, The Sweet, Suzi Quatro and Jeff Beck, this is a reminder of a time when - sometime manufactured - so-called teenybopper pop groups like The Rollers and Sweet weren't that far away from the serious and credible likes of Queen and could rock like bastards live. The tunes are spot on, as is the choreography, the only real concern is the disconcerting wigs - please, please tell me they are wigs - which make 'em look disturbingly like Spinal Tap or Bad News.
Back to Slade and the trepidation grows. Can they still do it? Coming on to the Thunderbirds theme tune, they blast through Gudbye T'Jane and prove that oh yes indeedy, they certainly can. In spades. And then some.
This is a set that takes in almost all of the classics. How can anyone not love Take Me Back 'Ome, Look What You Dun, the power ballad Everyday, How Does It Feel, My Friend Stan or Cuz I Luv You? I'll be honest, on record I just don't get the Beastie-Boys-doing-Terry-Wogan's-Floral-Dance that is Run Runaway but it makes perfect sense here. Then the band powers their way through Far Far Away, My Baby Left Me, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Get Down and Get With It, Tutti Frutti and I Believe In Woman before climaxing with Cum On Feel The Noize and - what else? - Merry Xmas Everybody.
Drummer Don Powell and guitarist Dave Hill have been working together for fifty three years and show no signs of stopping. They have been through bad times, good times, tragedy and great times together and deserve the adulation they get from tonight's audience. Joining the core duo are John Berry on bass, acoustic and violin and Malcolm McNulty on guitar and bass. Both do lead vox and have enough of Noddy about them to fill his giant (stack heeled) boots with aplomb, whilst McNulty adds welcome hints of AC/DC's Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.
With Dave and John seeming to spend more time grooving away on the monitors than on the stage, Slade put more heart, soul and energy in to this than many a young band a third of their age. There's no politics, angst or catharsis, just a set of crowd-pleasing, stompalong, clapalong and shoutalong RAWK. And sometimes that is just what is needed. All in all, a terrific way to start the weekend.
