It`s always somewhat gratifying to see a band that you first saw in their very early days opening on a three band bill growing over the intervening years, producing impressive studio albums and becoming established headliners in their own right.
Rival Sons from California, first came to prominence in the UK opening for Judas Priest and Queensryche, where at their Newcastle show, Scott Holiday`s guitar famously conked out just before the big climax leading the band to continue singing the guitar solo before the power kicked back in. You just knew then, that this was a band who could handle an onstage disaster and go on to bigger and greater things.
Now with eight studio albums behind them, the latest being 2023`s ‘Lightbringer’, Rival Sons have grown and developed into one of the finest bands of their generation so it`s no surprise to see The Globe, a beautiful, recently renovated, Art Deco theatre in Stockton pretty much full.
Rival Sons are currently over in the UK to perform at Black Sabbath`s ‘Back To The Beginning’ farewell show and popped a few headlining shows around this with The Globe being one of the few lucky dates on this whistle stop tour.
‘End of Forever’ and a chest thumping, swaggering ‘Electric Man’ soon set the temperature to “Hot” with Jay Buchanan`s imposing voice and Scott Holiday`s titanic riffs immediately making their mark.
Drummer Mike Miley`s colossal Bonham-esq groove locked in tightly with Dave Beste`s driving bass in ‘Open My Eyes’. This was intoxicating stuff and exactly what makes Rival Sons one of the very best bands around at the moment. Each member makes their mark without dominating over anyone else. That of course would count for nothing without songs and Rival Sons have an abundance of these across their ever growing catalogue.
‘Sleepwalker`s’ rasping harmonica raised the roof before gold plated classics ‘Pressure and Time’ and ‘Get What`s Coming’ really ramped it up.
Scott Holiday`s cool urban chic look and wonderful array of guitars along with Buchanan`s bohemian Jim Morrison appearance gave a striking focal point to the show as Miley and Beste held it all together.
Buchanan alone on stage with just a acoustic guitar for ‘Shooting Stars’ was a major highlight and showed a more sensitive side to the band before hitting back with an extended ‘Feral Roots’ where Holiday went off in a mazy ride of improvisation before ‘Keep On Swinging’ and a simply crushing ‘Secret’ took the show to a searing climax.
As Black Sabbath finally call it a day and many of our long cherished bands have either retired or are coming to an end in the very near future, it`s good to know that bands of the class of Rival Sons are there flying the flag into the future.
I was lucky to see Rival Sons live twice these past two years and they ALWAYS bring their A-game!!! Freaking awesome rock ‘n’ roll band!