The promoter who put this tour together deserves a medal. Not one but two hot prospects opening for quite possibly the most in-demand frontman in Rock today made this one of the most sought-after tickets in Newcastle this year.
First on, at the unearthly hour of 7:00 pm, were The Molotovs, a sibling duo featuring Mathew and a livewire, Issey Cartlidge, whose debut album crashed into Number 3 on the UK album charts at the start of the year. Quite a coup catching these on their jet-propelled upward trajectory to open the show.
In their short but savagely sweet 30-minute set, they certainly grabbed their opportunity by the horns with their yet-to-be-recorded traditional set opener “Urbia” before “Come On Now” and “Newsflash” pushed them into overdrive, coming across as a sort of Sex Pistols, The Jam hybrid with a touch of The Kinks for good measure.
An explosive cover of Bowie’s “Suffragette City” certainly did it justice before the title track to their “Wasted On Youth” album hammered home their credentials. When Mathew and Issey jumped into the photo pit to share selfies with fans, they had just won themselves a whole new legion of fans.
Siblings seem to be something of a feature on this tour and main support The Warning feature three sisters, all of whom sing, from Monterrey in Mexico. After being spotted a few years ago as young teenagers by none other than Kirk Hammett of Metallica, their cover of “Enter Sandman” went viral and brought them to worldwide attention.
Far from being a flash in the pan, The Warning are a rather formidable live band with a very strong catalogue of songs across their four albums, the latest, “Keep Me Fed” cracking both the UK and US charts so it was no surprise that the bulk of their set was culled from this album with opener “More” packing one hefty, attention grabbing punch with it’s easy groove but colossal kick come the chorus. The up-tempo “Sick” with its bombastic riff contrasted nicely with the melody drenched “Escapism”. Rounding off with the hypnotic riffing of ‘Automatic Sun’ had people flocking to the merchandise stall to pick up a copy of their album.
It’s been quite a 12 month period for Yungblud. A show-stealing performance at the Ozzy Osborne Back To The Beginning final show at Villa Park in July and recording with Aerosmith has seen his star shoot higher than he could ever have dreamt growing up in Doncaster.
With three Number One albums to his name, the current tour represents his biggest and most ambitious one yet so it came as no surprise to see the Utilita Arena at bursting point.
Following the intro tape featuring the apocalyptic “War Pigs” in tribute to his dear friend Ozzy, setting the tone, Yungblud entered the stage for the multifaceted epic “Hello Heaven, Hello” an ambitious, cinematic opening that really fired the crowd up from the very start. With “Funeral” from his 2022 self-titled release picking up the tempo with its huge, sing-along chorus it was all systems go.
With the stage surrounded by an imposing Roman-esq flat arch structure with a huge video screen covering the whole of the rear stage and a lighting rig that’d do NASA proud, this was one impressive spectacle.
Yungblud is cut from the same cloth as the old school frontmen, Freddie Mercury, Diamond David Lee Roth and Steven Tyler, oozing charisma with the ability to incite a mini riot and a cacophony of screams at the twitch of a little finger and he was absolutely loving it, as were the capacity crowd.
Pulling Steve from Prudhoe up onto the stage to play guitar to “Fleabag” on his 40th took audience participation to a new level and just cemented Yungblud’s close bond with his fans.
His stunning cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” complete with a four-piece string section, was the highlight of the Ozzy show last year and tonight it took on a whole new dimension as the crowd sang every, single word. It was stunning, leaving a breathless, emotional Yungblud in tears at the end as the hall echoed with chants of “Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy”
With a potent mix of Pop, Punk and Hard Rock, Yungblud has the means to cross the divide of tastes and this was evident by the wide mix of people in the audience ranging from teenagers to pensioners. Every musical base was covered from the flaming bombast of “Fire”, the huge hook to “Loner” to the commercial Rock of “My Only Angel”, the song he recorded with Aerosmith.
The stadium filling “Ghosts” had an already lively crowd bouncing while the beautiful “Zombie” brought the tempo down while pushing the emotion levels off the scale with a show stopping vocal performance from Yungblud.
Be the first to comment