Y&T The Brook Southampton 26-09-13


First up was upcoming UK 5 piece Night By Night who's 30 minute set flew past.
Riffs, pounding drums ,great vocal melodies and huge backing vocals were all highlights.

Led by Henry Rundell ex of Voodoo Six on vocals and guitarist Ben Christo of Sisters Of Mercy who also toured recently with Vega, remind you of the 80's when melodic rock ruled the airwaves and with songs as excellent  as single "The Moment" and the positively huge "Never Die Again" superstardom beckons.

With a debut cd just about to drop one to watch out for.

Y&T since they reformed in 2003 have made their annual UK tour a highlight of the year for many of us.

We have only missed one of those dates but still bought tickets that a heart procedure soon brought a stop too.

For the last few tours they have had a 30 year anniversary to celebrate. So after Earthshaker, Black Tiger this year was the turn of Meanstreak.

So a surprise to see "Barroom Boogie" as the first song but after romping through it Dave Meniketti confirmed that a cake had been left for them backstage if they would start with that song. So if anyone had a favourite they now knew what to do.

For 2 hours and 15 minutes we were treated to songs from throughout their career and that showed again that they are one of the greatest bands ever to grace a stage.

Here is what they played

Barroom Boogie
Meanstreak
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Hard Times
Don't Stop Runnin'
Black Tiger
Dirty Girl
Midnight In Tokyo
How Long
Lipstick And Leather
Hurricane
Winds Of Change
Contagious
I Want Your Money
Rescue Me
I'll Cry For You
Squeeze
Summertime Girls
I Believe In You
I'm Coming Home

Encores of
Eyes Of A Stranger
Forever

Great to see "Don't Stop Runnin'" , "Contagious" ,"Hard Times" and "Dark" off the Ten Cd in the set and also 2 songs from Facemelter that we haven't seen before. "How Long" and " I Want Your Money" being those.

Brad Lang on bass has given them a right kick up the ass and with Mike Vanderhule on drums form a rhythm section beyond compare and both of them are so into the music and again having fun and living each tune.

John Nymann has been Dave's guitar back up since the reformation and is a star. He allows Dave to knock out some killer solo's but when allowed to shine on "Dirty Girl" he shows us a mean set of strings. He also bashes out "Squeeze" on vocals in fine style whilst remembering sadly departed bass player Phil Kennemore.

Since 1982 when I saw Y&T supporting AC/DC I have loved Dave Meniketti. Through a succession of cd's(mentioned above)this was the soundtrack to my youth and now 30 years on if anything he is better than ever. Even getting over his annual UK cold his bluesy soulful vocals and his quite incredible guitar playing rock my world. 

If the solo in "I Believe In You" doesn't have the hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention then check your pulse.

I could go on as I do every year. 

We will be back at the front next year for the 30 year anniversary of "In Rock We Trust" you should be too.

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