PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Tonight was my first time at Shepherds Bush Empire since it recently reopened following its year-long closure for major repairs. The occasion was Black Stone Cherry doing a special tour. Rather than having a support act they chose to play two sets, one acoustic and one electric, which sounded like an interesting idea.
First up was the acoustic set with of the band seated on stools as they play. Rugs on the stage and fairy lights in jars gave a nice setting for their show, but the bit people were waiting to find out was how their songs would sound performed acoustically. The answer (unsurprisingly) was that they sound great, and they revealed to the crowd that some of the songs had been written acoustically before having guitar solos added for the versions they recorded for the albums. They joked that they hadnt really thought things through and would struggle to do the guitar solos on acoustic guitars, but everything sounded great. Often when a band does an acoustic set the crowd response is a bit flat but Black Stone Cherry don’t suffer that problem and inject enough energy into the music that the crowd is soon singing along. It’s a great set, but all too soon it was over and time for a break while the stage setup was changed.
Acoustic setlist:
In our dreams
Hell and high water
Like I Roll
Rambler
TMFS
Stay
Big city lights
All I’m dreaming of
After the interval during which the fans (and probably the band) had time to grab a beer, things kicked off with the electric set. Wow – the acoustic set had been good, but right from the start of the elctric set, Black Stone Cherry were giving us a high energy set as Ben Wells bounded on stage and leaped around as he played, and the others weren’t taking it easy either. They’ve got a really strong catalogue of songs and are able to pack the set out with the sort of anthems that get the crowd bouncing with excitement and singing along. They did throw in a few covers though including early on, George Thorogood’s “Bad to the bone” which went down really well, and fitted their style perfectly. The other covers were from Willie Dixon (Built for comfort) and Led Zeppelin (Whole lotta love) plus the song they closed the night with – Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (slight return)”.
The band are in great form and put in a flawless performance, and this coupled with their great songs means the fans were treated to a fantastic night of music.
I’ve seen Black Stone Cherry a dozen time over the last eight years, and tonight’s show has to be one of the best performances I’ve seen from them. This is a band that I fully expect to see headlining Download festival in the next few years – one of very few bands around I can see that are able to step up to that level.
Electric setlist:
Devils Queen
Soul machine
Bad to the bone
Soul creek
Please come in
Darkest secret
Killing Floor
White trash
Whole lotts love intro london
Cheaper to drink
Me and Mary Jane
Built for comfort
In my blood
Blind man
Shakin my cage
Blame it on the boom boom
Lonely train
Voodoo chile
