Ten/Serpentine/White Widdow Review Birmingham Roadhouse 30-5-12
A
new venue for us this one in the wilds of Birmingham but with a quality 3 band
line up well worth a look.
The
250 capacity Roadhouse was very good. You wait in the outer room whilst the
bands were sound checking and also saw Gary Hughes talking to his fans although
that meant walking past some fans to people he had actually been interviewed by
earlier!!!!
First
up were White Widdow all the way from Australia who haven’t been bitten by the
AC/DC bug!! Playing a keyboard led melodic AOR style the band were building on
their appearance at last years’ Firefest and last years’ follow up cd
“Serenade”.
Dealing
with a poor sound especially vocalist Jules Millis who is a cross between
Steven Tyler and Danny Vaughn. To start with every time he sang yours ears
vibrated!! Ouch!!
Guitarist
Enzo Almanzi came across well on the slightly heavier songs and with the sound
improving their set went down well with the crowd.
Here’s
what they played:
Reckless
Nights
One
More Day
Strangers
In The Night
Cross
To Bare
Serenade
We
Got The Wings
Show
Your Cards
Do
You Remember
Broken
Hearts Won't Last Forever
Next
up were Serpentine who were again building on last years appearance as
Firefest’s opener.
With
Matt Black (vocalist) now established as Tony Mills successor live and on the
upcoming cd number 3 this is a band on the up.
Playing
a great mix from both of their cd’s their 50 minute set went past in a flash. Here’s
what they played.
Deep
Down (There's A Price For Love)
Lonely
Nights
Philadelphia
In
My Blood
Heartbreak
Town
A
Touch Of Heaven
Dreamer
Whatever
Heartache
Really
attacking the stage and with a better sound too there is a real confidence
here. Black’s vocals and stage presence and real sense of humour between songs
were excellent. His chemistry with Chris Gould on guitar only adds to it. With
a harder edge to earlier the songs sparkled. Great choruses and some fabulous
interplay between Black and Gould this is top quality.
With
great back up from Gareth Vanstone on bass, Roy Millward on drums and Gaz Noon
on keys hopefully cd 3 and maybe a great support slot could really push this
band to the top. Excellent.
I’ve
loved Ten from day 1 way back in the mid 90’s but due to their tour dates being
very Northern England or Japan I’ve never had the chance to see them live.
After
seeing at first hand Gary Hughes’s rock star behaviour and with a signed photo
available that was at least a decade and a half old I was a little concerned and
with the venue only half full too.
On
they all came some we knew,Gary’s faithfull help in John Halliwell on guitar
and Steve Mckenna on bass and some we didn’t.
With
the revolving door policy we had Max Yates on drums, Darrel
Treece-Birch on keys and Dan Mitchell on guitar.
Eventually
Gary came on in the tightest pair of trousers which left little to the
imagination in fact his first foot on the monitor moment nearly took my eye
out!!
Over
the course of 85 minutes we were treated to 5 songs from the recent rather good
“Stormwarning”cd and 6 golden oldies from their large back catalogue.
With
their epic sound struggling a little in the mix it was good to hear that Gary
still has an excellent voice although singing in a slightly lower register.
Here’s
what they played:
Endless
Symphony
Spellbound
Ten
Fathoms Deep
After
The Love Is Gone
The
Robe
The
Hourglass And The Landslide
Love
Song
Book
Of Secrets
Centre
Of My Universe
Red
The
Name Of The Rose
Favourites
for me were the AORtastic “Hourglass”and a song that I thought I would never
see in “Red” that was quite wonderful. It was difficult to pick a best as all
of it was top quality.
For
a band that don’t play very often they were tight and kick up a bit of a storm
with Dan Mitchell at the front. Maybe a little too much guitar widdling and I
know guitarists like to pull faces but I don’t need to see your tonsils and
tongue piercing at every opportunity!!
The
crowd lapped it up and as time wore on you realised this was a rather special
evening.
I
loved the fact we had an encore with a difference. As Hughes didn’t take them
off and just said that was a waste of time and went straight into the
monumental “Name Of The Rose” which was a great way to end.
With
a new cd due in October and an appearance with Tyketto at Firefest hopefully
this can see a rise in the Ten legacy that really should be a lot bigger than
it currently is!!
At
£12.50 what great value 3 excellent bands and let’s hope we can see more of
this sort of thing in the future.