Artists: Y&T
Venue: Holmfirth, Picturedome
Date: 27th October 2024
"The atmosphere was already electric by the time the intro tape ‘From The Moon’ started and the four protagonists hit the stage to a rapturous reception..."
Completing a run of three gigs in five days (they’re like buses), I ventured over to one of my favourite venues, the Holmfirth Picturedrome, situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, to see the immortal Y&T. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year; well, founding member, singer-guitarist Dave Meniketti is, as sadly the other three original members, drummer Leonard Haze, bassist Phil Kennemore and rhythm guitarist Joey Alves, have all sadly left this mortal coil.
The current incarnation features the irrepressible Meniketti on lead guitar and vocals, John Nymann on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Mike Vanderhule on drums and backing vocals, and newest member Aaron Leigh bass and backing vocals since 2016. Following cancellations of previous tours due to COVID and Meniketti’s ill-health, it was thought by many that we’d never see Y&T, one of the most underrated Rock bands in history, on these shores again. However, Meniketti is made of strong stuff, having survived decades of changes in the musical landscape, Y&T have continued to wow audiences for five decades.
When I arrived inside the venue, it was already packed to the rafters. I finally found a place to watch the show, stood up, right at the back of the balcony. I had found a position to the left-hand side, a bit further forward, still on the balcony, with a great view, until the people who had claimed the few seats, then decided to stand up, inconsiderate assholes! We were treated to an incredible two-and-a-quarter hour set, taking at least one song from each of their eleven main studio albums, impressive by anyone’s standards, but when you consider Meniketti as now a septuagenarian, also having recovered from prostate cancer in 2022 (thankfully the frontman is in complete remission), the performance is even more staggering. Indeed, I have seen Y&T multiple times over the last forty-two years, and this evening was the best, the main man never sounding better.
The atmosphere was already electric by the time the intro tape ‘From The Moon’ started and the four protagonists hit the stage to a rapturous reception, that only increased in volume with set opener ‘Hurricane’. ‘Rock & Roll’s Gonna Save The World’ was the first indication of the brilliant backing vocals provided by Vanderhule, Leigh and Nymann. Meniketti joked about the buzzing on his guitar, saying it could be his heart. The lighting by Lee Foster was first class as usual (always great to able to see the band clearly onstage), and extra special mention to Felix Piccu, German audio engineer, as the sound was phenomenal throughout the whole set, other than Dave’s guitar humming (or was it his heart) between songs.
‘25 Hours A Day’ and ‘Struck Down Hard’ harkened back to Y&T’s Hard Rock beginnings, whilst the far more commercial ‘Don’t Stop Runnin’’ was the first real test for Meniketti’s vocals, which he passed with aplomb and continued to do so all evening. Interspersing the lesser known/played songs like the straightforward Rock of ‘How Long’ (from ‘Facemelter’) and ‘Long Way Down’ (from nineties album ‘Musically Incorrect’, which came out and faded very quickly quipped Meniketti) with their many classics meant the momentum was never lost. The aforementioned classics like ‘Mean Streak’ and ‘Midnight In Tokyo’ went down a storm. The latter had the crowd singing along loudly, not only with the lyrics but also the guitar parts. This was another air guitar favourite from my youth. Meniketti was suitably impressed by the clapping on the second verse.
It’s a long time since I’ve been to a gig where the audience was into every song played as the “whoa, whoa, whoas” continued in ‘Contagious’, the title track from the 1987 album. ‘I Believe In You’ was strangely dropped from a few of the shows earlier in the tour, which is mind-boggling after seeing it performed this evening. Fireworks Deputy Editor, Dave Cockett, texted me immediately after the song, “How good was that?” to which I replied, “Off the scale…took me right back to 1982.” The latter was my first introduction to live music when I first saw Meniketti play this classic. That was twenty-five miles up the road, in Leeds, when they supported AC/DC on the ‘For Those About To Rock’ tour. Incredibly, this marked only the halfway spot through their mammoth set. What some bands would give to have for a song like this in their repertoire. The ovation at the end of it was huge and normally one reserved for the final encore.
‘Gimme the Beat’ from 1997’s ‘Endangered Species’ preceded ‘Summertime Girls’, the band’s most successful and commercial song in their back catalogue, and one that Meniketti joked that some might hate; however, going by the crowd reaction there weren’t too many haters in attendance tonight. The crowd were “whoa, whoaing” again during ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’ from the much underrated ‘Ten’ opus, before the noise levels amplified further with the menacing open riff of fan favourite, and title track of the 1982 opus ‘Black Tiger’. The band were on a roll as they closed in on the final run of the main set with ‘Dirty Girl’ and ‘I’m Coming Home’; hard to believe that their last studio album ‘Facemelter’ was released over fourteen years ago. The album cover was adorning the bass drum this evening. The other epic from ‘Earthshaker’ opus ‘Rescue Me’ brought the main set to a fitting climax.
As the band left the stage a chorus of “Y&T, Y&T…” struck up, getting louder and louder until the band finally returned. They brought a cake on stage to present to John Nyman to celebrate his one thousandth show with them band, quite an achievement. ‘Open Fire’ started the three-song encore, followed by ‘Don’t Wanna Lose’, which is not an easy song to sing after being on stage over two hours. It was obviously a popular choice judging, once again, by the enormous crowd reaction. That just left time for one more much-loved favourites, ‘Forever’; not only my favourite Y&T song, but also one of my all-time favourite Rock songs, and this evening it was an apt finale to a truly stunning gig.
Y&T are a band that started in 1974, the same year as Aerosmith, KISS and Rush and they’re still going strong. On the evidence of this evening, they show no sign of retiring any time soon. Just a backdrop with the Y&T logo, no gimmicks, just straight-ahead Hard Rock played with passion and fire.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
Review: Mark Donnelly
Location:
Great review, made me wish I was there.