Y&T The Brook Southampton 02-11-14

First up was Bournemouth 6 piece Voodoo Vegas who's 40 minute set focused on material from their 2013 release The Rise Of Jimmy Silver.
Led by the gritty vocals of Lawrence Case and the duelling guitars of Meryl Hamilton and Nick Brown their brand of heavy blues rock with plenty of attitude and melody had the crowd on their side from the start.
A bit AC DC a bit Guns N Roses with big riffs and all played with the conviction of a band that had recently played in Belgium and Holland with  Y &T and have  plenty of gigs under their belt .

Stand out track " King Without A Crown " is a guitar led rocker with balls and the band left the stage to huge applause and another UK band to keep an eye out for in 2015.


Y&T are now in their 40th year and are one of the hardest working bands on the planet .This annual tour has been happening since 2005 and every single year they manage to top the year before with a display of hard rocking bluesy emotion with a band that continues to grow .
For 2 and a quarter hours we were treated to track after track of tight musicianship that few can match.

Here is what they played.

Hurricane
Black Tiger
LA Rocks
Lucy
Lipstick & Leather
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Meanstreak
Dirty Girl
All American Boy
Midnight In Tokyo
Cold Day In Hell
Winds Of Change
I'm Coming Home
I'll Cry For You
Surrender
Rescue Me
Contagious
I Want Your Money
Summertime Girls
I Believe In You

Encores of Hang Em High
Forever

This years nuggets from the past included LA Rocks from Contagious, Lucy from Ten, All American Boy from Down For The Count  and Cold Day In Hell from Musically Incorrect.

All played like they had been in the set for years and all greeted like long lost friends.

Each year I go on and on about the how good a live band Y&T are . Each year they top it with a tighter than tight band bond that years of friendship and belief in the music that they are playing.

The rhythm team of Brad Lang in bass and Mike Vanderhule on drums lay down the foundations that rock is built . Lang is an ever moving ever smiling player who has been the perfect replacement for the missed Phil Kennemore . Vanderhule is a powerhouse rock of a drummer who you can watch forever and seeing the added fills that bring a smile to his face.

John Nymann is the perfect foil for Dave Meniketti. Always riffing and he  plays a mean solo on Dirty Girl again his ever smiling persona shows a joy playing the music . I always enjoy his banter and eye contact with the crowd too.

Dave Meniketti is a legend . It has to be said. For 40 years he has played and sang with a level of emotion and technique that he manages to maintain and even exceed at every gig . There are few that can say that . He never goes through the motions and manages to wring every last bead out of his instrument whether voice or guitar. Again like John plenty of banter with the crowd and a sheer joy at playing to like minded people.

It is difficult to pick any highlights when all 135 minutes were . The instrumental of  " I'll Cry For You "  had a solo from heaven that even had Dave breathing heavy by the end and then a top 5 song of all time for me and a bonafide classic .
" I Believe In You " has had me spellbound since it's release in 1981 and this years version with a heavy rhythm and played with a little extra pace was simply amazing .The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention for 10 minutes afterwards.

All being well they will be back next year as I don't think my life could cope with no Firefest or a Y&T gig in the Autumn.

Simply the best.