BUCKCHERRY (Live)

At The Riverside, Newcastle, U.K., June 15, 2018

BUCKCHERRY (Live at The Riverside, Newcastle, U.K., June 15, 2018)
Photo: Mick Burgess

Towards the end of the ’80s Metal had reached something of a nadir. With an excess of ozone busting backcombed hair, six inches of lipstick and spray on spandex, and that’s just the men, it had become a sad parody of itself so when Nirvana and their grunge revolution showed up, Metal as we knew it was kicked to the back of the class.

However, after a few years of plaid shirts, baggy trousers and rigger boots along with songs of misery and despair and a complete lack of Rock star personalities it all got rather dull. You can only be miserable and serious some of the time, right?

Towards the end of the ’90s there was a beacon in the distance, an oasis in the sea of down tuned guitars and monotone grunts with the release of Buckcherry’s debut album chock full of LA fuelled sleazed up Rock’n’ Roll. It was big, brash and a heap of fun. Thank goodness, Rock ‘n’ Roll was cool again.

It’s hard to think that that was almost two decades ago and Buckcherry were back in Newcastle for the first time in 5 years, albeit with only vocalist Josh Todd the sole survivor from the original line up.

Ridin’ lit the touch paper and Whiskey In The Morning fanned the flames as Todd turned up the heat. It was raw, dirty, loud and proud as Todd strutted around like a peacock in full flow.

Guitarists Stevie D and Kevin Roentgen cranked the riffs to eleven as their breakthrough song Lit Up threatened to start a mini riot. This was real, edge of the seat stuff.

Sorry gave a slight respite in the energy levels while giving the crowd a chance to sing along followed by The Vacuum, which provided an insight into their forthcoming album and its thumping riff showed Buckcherry aren’t about to forgo their roots before Gluttony was welcomed with Todd proclaiming that moderation is for cowards.

Big hit, Crazy Bitch, ramped up the temperature to boiling point while not winning many marks for political correctness but hey, this is Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Everything and a rather supercharged take on Roadhouse Blues brought the show to an exhausting, sweat soaked end as Buckcherry continued flying the bandana for good time, attitude fired Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Review and Photos By Mick Burgess

Author

  • Mick Burgess

    Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell!   Over the ensuing years, he's enjoyed the Classic Rock music of Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Deep Purple; the AOR of Journey and Foreigner; the Pomp of Styx and Kansas; the Progressive Metal of Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Symphony X; the Goth Metal of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica, and a whole host of other great bands that are too numerous to mention. When he's not listening to music, he watches Sunderland lose more football (soccer) matches than they win, and occasionally, if he has to, he goes to work as a property lawyer.

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