PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Tonight’s gig was at the Thousand Island venue. If you’re wondering where that is, the old name is far easier – “Upstairs at the garage”. Yes it’s the small room at the garage, that’s been done up with dozens of glitter balls hanging from the ceiling. Sadly they seem to have run out of money before getting round to installing lighting, thus making bands look rubbish on stage and missing the fact that glitter balls work best with lots of light bouncing off them.
Opening tonight was Robert J Hunter doing a solo acoustic set rather than playing with his band. Sadly that’s a shame as solo acoustic sets rarely excite, and tonight was no different. Yes he’s got a good voice and plays well, but after a couple of songs I simply lost interest – there’s a real tendancy for all the songs in a solo acoustic set to sound far too similar and that makes it hard to enjoy. I’d certainly consider going to watch a full band performance though as he’s clearly got talent.
Next up was former MMA fighter, Kris Barras with his band. Tonight was the album launch show for his new album, The divine and dirty. It’s a great album and it wasn’t a surprise to see that he can deliver the goods just as well live as he can in the studio.
He’s got a good band, so while he plays guitar and sings, he’s backed by Josiah J Manning (Keyboards), Elliott Blackler (Bass) and Will Beavis (Drums).
He kicked off with ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’, ‘Can’t Help You Now’ and ‘I Got Time’ before moving on to ‘Propane’, the first single from the album. It’s a fantastic song, as in fact is the whole album, and tonight’s show really is impressive – it’s always great to hear songs played live and to see the artists enjoying themselves as they play the music they love.
If you haven’t heard Kris Barras yet, I’d strongly recommend that you check out the videos for “Propane” and “Hail mary”, both the singles from the album – they’re great songs and will let you hear just how good Kris Barras really is.
Kris Barras is on tour for the next few weeks, first doing some headline shows before he joins Beth Hart as the support act for her tour, and I’m certain he’s going to make a lot of new fans on that leg of the tour.
Setlist:
Wrong place, wrong time
Can’t help you now
I Got time
Stormy Monday
Propane
Hail Mary
I’m Gone
Heart On Your Sleeve
Kick me down
Stitch me up
Watching over me
Lovers or losers
All along the watchtower
Rock n Roll running through my veins
Further on up the road
