Jukebox:Metal

Velvet Revolver - Brixton Academy 2008

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It was amidst rumours and speculation of the break-up of the band that Velvet Revolver played Brixton Academy tonight, having played the night before as well. The previous week front-man Scott Weiland had stated this would be the last VR tour on stage in Glasgow, something that was subsequently denied by Slash in an interview, but which also sparked an exchange of opinions via internet blogs from Weiland and drummer Matt Sorum.

Slash’s statement, “put it this way, this is not the last Velvet Revolver tour,” suggested just one thing to me; that Scott Weiland would be fired from the band at the end of the tour. But they were finishing the tour anyway, with Stone Gods in support and a variety of different opening bands in different cities. For London Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday with her band Pearl had the honour.

Pearl and her band were outstanding. All of her original material stood up well live, highlighted by excellent first single Nobody, and a suitably rocked-up cover of Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits capped off a surprisingly heavy set (although with Anthrax’s Scott Ian in the band perhaps ‘heavy’ shouldn’t have been a surprise). Pearl’s crowd interaction needs a bit of work, but she’s not exactly been learning from the best all these years as backing singer for her father. Otherwise she’s an excellent rock ‘n’ roll front-woman with a good collection of hard rocking songs.

Stone Gods, on the other hand, let themselves down. Famous before anyone heard a note of their new music for being comprised of three ex-members of The Darkness they didn’t have to put much effort into completely selling out all CD copies of their debut EP Burn The Witch. While they’re nowhere close to being as ridiculous as The Darkness, and in fact have an arsenal of far superior songs, they excel when playing heavy numbers, and just don’t have enough of them. Two, to be precise. The title track of the EP is superb, and new song The Living Dead is likewise a brilliantly heavy rocker with excellent guitar-work. The rest of their stuff, both on the EP and live is just two light-weight - like they’ve made the heavy tracks to placate the rock crowd, and made the rest for everyone else. What gives away their position is their attitude - it’s pure hard rock. They’ve got too much hype so far for rising from the ashes of The Darkness and for my money still need to prove themselves beyond their two great songs.

Velvet Revolver, in all honesty, had the same fortune as Stone Gods have now. They had immediate fame before anyone heard their songs for having three ex-Guns N’ Roses members. Then they released Slither and everyone really took notice. Reactions were mixed when the full debut album finally arrived, and were certainly mixed following their first live shows, but people seem to be more aligned with regards to album number two, Libertad. It just isn’t as good.

But, their live shows have gotten considerably better. Back in 2004 Scott Weiland was the only focal point when watching this band. Slash, bassist Duff McKagen and rhythm guitarist Dave Kuschner stood stock still for almost their entire show. Now they’re getting more involved and Slash runs up and down the stage like he used to in the GN’R hey day. With the visual entertainment value of the band doubled compared to before it was down to the songs to define the show.

Some of the songs on Libertad are every bit as good as most of Contraband, in particular The Last Fight and She Builds Quick Machines, but conversely songs like She Mine, American Man and in particular Get Out The Door are a real step down. Especially when they’re in the set at the expense of songs like Headspace, which was one of the highlights of Contraband.

Another good point about their set was they’ve finally started playing some different GN’R and Stone Temple Pilots songs. Previously they would play Mr Brownstone, It’s So Easy, Used To Love Her, Sex Type Thing and Crackerman. Now they’ve started playing Interstate Love Song, Vasoline and (biggest cheer of the night) Patience to vary the set a bit, and it worked perfectly. Vasoline in particular sounded excellent.

In the end Scott Weiland and the band did part ways on the last day of the tour, with Weiland already set to reform his pre-VR band STP, and complete his long-in-progress second solo album. It’s a shame it had to end after the band had finally found their live rhythm, but it clearly had to be and they are due credit for finishing the tour with such high standard shows knowing the end of this lineup was coming.

“ considerably better ”

Pearl Setlist: Rock Child / Check Out Charlie / Lovepire / Whore / Nobody / Nutbush City Limits

Stone Gods Setlist: Burn The Witch / You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight / Making It Hard / Knight of The Living Dead / Start of Something / I’m With The Band / Defend Or Die

Velvet Revolver Setlist: Let It Roll / She Mine / Sucker Train Blues / Do It For The Kids / Superhuman / Big Machine / American Man > Vasoline / The Last Fight / Interstate Love Song / Patience / She Builds Quick Machines / Get Out The Door / Fall To Pieces / It’s So Easy > Slash guitar solo > Set Me Free // Wish You Were Here / Mr. Brownstone / Sex Type Thing / Slither

Written by Andy Lye - April 2008
More: Gigs, Heavy Rock, Pearl, Stone Gods, Velvet Revolver