King King Leamington Academy 18-5-17

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Fresh from their stint on the Planet Roadstars tour with Broken Witt Rebels,Bad Touch continue to support their excellent second album Truth Be Told with a 40 minute set packed with tracks from that album.


With a few weeks more gigs under their belts with new boy Harry Slater on lead guitar they oozed class from the moment the set began with the groove and big chorus of Heartbreaker Soulshaker with Stevie Westwood on vocals hat less for a change on fine form and his vocal range full of melody and superb tone.

Here is what they played

Heartbreaker Soulbreaker
Under My Skin
Wise Water
Outlaw
My Mother Told Me/Cover of The Black Crowes Hard To Handle
Take Your Time
99%
The Mountain

Harry Slater is a real find for the band with a stunning blend of technique and youthful passion and as he leans back and solo's he for me looks like a young Joe Bonamassa and that's a pretty fantastic place to start.Highlight of the set is Outlaw and as Stevie says we all like cowboys and with it's great chorus but it's the second half of the song where magic happens.After a mid song guitar solo Harry moves stage right and then continues to solo under over and around Stevie's chorus and the huge cheer from the crowd as it ended was so rightfully deserved.Superb.

My Mother Told Me segued effortlessly into The Black Crowes Hard To Handle without a pause with drummer George Drewry laying down a superb rock solid base.

First single off the new album 99% is a summer smash with it's infectious hook and great chorus with Stevie bringing out the tambourine for extra rhythm.

The Mountain after mellow beginnings develops into a monster track full of groove and the band interplay was superb and they left the stage with a lot of new fans and to huge applause.

Big news coming next week it says on their website too.























































































King King are it seems forever on the road with Reaching For The Light now 2 years old and with last year's superb King King Live cd/dvd set the perfect stop gap and introduction to a band who's status continues to grow with Best Band and Live Act a yearly award given to them and understandably so.

Their 95 minute set was a veritable delight of a career that continues to soar and with the size of a Thursday night crowd very impressive.

More Than I Can Take starts the set and Alan Nimmo's stunning voice and guitar playing are rightly centre stage with the quality Hammond playing of Bob Fridzema stage left and a rock solid rhythm team of Lindsay Coulson on bass and Wayne Proctor on drums.

Alan has had some throat issues with a recent surgery and cancelled shows too but as a lady called out How Are You? Alan said good thank you and his voice was superb with it's velvet feel and breathless quality and no signs of problems which was fantastic.

His guitar playing is also of the highest quality with solo after solo always melodic always telling a story and never just about how many notes played and how fast.

Bob on Hammond too is superb with some lengthy passages and on A Long History Of Love he leaves the audience spellbound with a display rarely seen on stages world wide.

Rush Hour is wonderful and an audience participation bit borrowed from the Live cd leaves Alan with a huge smile and of course us too.

You Stopped The Rain is dedicated to Alan's brother but also to Chris Cornell who sadly passed on this day and the version they played had added emotion and passion in it's every note with Alan's vocal and guitar playing stunning.

As Alan's biggest influence is Paul Rodgers and the music of Free and with Paul currently on tour in the UK or as someone shouted out at that price definitely not Free! the band played Heavy Load as a tribute and you can see where Alan takes his influences from.

The band have also been in the studio with a new album due shortly and first single that I think was called She Doesn't Give Me No Loving was a superb taster with it's driving drum rhythm and AC/DC inspired riff and shows the band's appeal will continue to grow.

Stranger To Love ended the set with the word epic rightfully used with Alan's mid song guitar solo taking it down to a whisper and the band then build it all back up again with Bob's Hammond at the fore front.

After an encore of Let Love In the band took a well deserved bow on an excellent night with a couple of dates left get yourself along you won't be disappointed.
















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