Artists: Tyketto, Little Caesar, Dan Byrne
Venue: Nottingham, Rock City
Date: 15th September 2024
"It’s an upbeat and positive show song-wise pretty much from start to finish, evoking the feeling of positivity and togetherness amongst the hardcore fans that Tyketto shows always do – the Tyketto faithful really are one big family."
6pm is an early time for doors opening at a well-established Rock Club on a Saturday night: the reasoning is that following the band’s 10pm curfew there is a “Club Night” so “thirty people can take Ecstasy and listen to Rave”, as Danny Vaughn alludes to during Tyketto’s set. Subsequently, it means I miss most of opener Dan Byrne’s set, only catching his final two songs, the planet Rock-playlisted ‘Like Animals’ and ‘Death Of Me’; I feel they would have been better switched around, but nevertheless Byrne’s got a great voice and decent stage presence and earned a very warm reception from the crowd.
I’ve never seen Little Caesar live before, and while I wasn’t exactly disappointed, I wasn’t blown away as I hoped I would be. Let’s be honest, their debut album was a monumental effort that they’ve never quite come close to replicating with subsequent records, and though the set arguably contained some of the later album’s better songs, there was a spark missing somewhere. I’ve always felt the big backing vocals were a huge part of the debut’s appeal, but live they’re not replicated well enough; though bassist Pharoah Barrett spent a lot of time backing up Ron Young’s vocals (with the front-man sounding quite weak initially), when guitarists Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia joined in it seemed in a more half-assed way most of the time. It didn’t help that the sound in Rock City wasn’t great, patchy at best through the bulk of the set, while the constant chatting from certain members of the audience was a further source of frustration – more on that later.
‘Piece Of The Action’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll State Of Mind’, ‘American Dream’ and ’21 Again’ passed by in the blink of an eye, but the band and set only seemed to kick into gear with the debut’s one-two of ‘Hard Times’ and ‘Wrong Side Of The Tracks’. The following ‘Rum And Coke’ (described by Ron Young as a song written about “something I used to get from Peru and Columbia then realised I needed something to wash it down!”) really appeared to warm things up, with Young finally really seeming to gain his mojo in the vocal department, then it was back to the debut; ‘Chain Of Fools’ was admittedly excellent as the backing vocals really enhanced the delivery as they should, and this was followed by a medley of two ballads – ‘In Your Arms’ is my favourite LC song but frustratingly the backing vocals weren’t as powerful as they should have been, yet during ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ they were spot on again. ‘Cajun Panther’ maintained the momentum, which I feel was then lost with ‘Real Rock Drive’ and ‘Down To The Wire’, but the Merle Haggard cover ‘Mama Tried’ and closer ‘Drive It Home’ ensured a brilliant end to the set.
And so to Tyketto and their return to “their spiritual home” of Rock City… Entering the stage to the sound of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Are You Ready’, it was encouraging to see Ged Rylands at the front of the stage brandishing a guitar rather than standing behind his keyboards, a facet used through around half of the set which certainly assisted in beefing up the sound – though both Rylands and Harry Scott Elliott’s guitars were way down in the mix as they launched into opener ‘Nothing But Love’ and it took Mr Soundman about half of the song to rectify it. One thing that wasn’t exactly inaudible, however, was the vocals of Danny Vaughn, which absolutely soared around Rock City, and could probably even be heard in the Royal Theatre just down the road! I’ve said it many times, but he just seems to get better and better and more powerful with each passing year – just incredible! The always-impressive ‘Reach’ follows the opener, before we get to the first real sing-along of the show in ‘Wings’, during which the willing crowd test just how well Rock City’s roof is attached! The audience participation is an integral part of any Tyketto show, and if you don’t join in then you just don’t get Tyketto properly.
Tyketto are blessed with an enormous wealth of absolute fan-favourites that fluctuate in and out of the set from tour to tour, and on this run we’re treated to the likes of ‘Rescue Me’, ‘Catch My Fall’, ‘Circle The Wagons’ and ‘Seasons’, so I can’t really complain that ‘Burning Down Inside’ is absent. However, there are numerous deeper selections included this evening that haven’t been played live in some time, namely ‘Dig In Deep’, ‘Kick Like A Mule’ and ‘The Run’, while ‘Tearin’ Down The Sky’ is being played during this tour for the first time ever – and was a very welcome addition. They even threw in a storming cover of UFO’s ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ which was amazing and perfectly delivered – though if I’m honest I’d have really preferred a Waysted song… And then there are the songs that can NEVER be left out of a Tyketto show, and what a three-song run-in to the big finish; the always monumental and emotional ‘Standing Alone’, the acoustic ‘The Last Sunset’ that sees drummer Johnny Dee front of stage tapping out the rhythm on his tambourine, and then of course ‘Forever Young’, the Rock anthem that stands head and shoulders above all other Rock anthems and the perfect sing-along to end the show. It’s an upbeat and positive show song-wise pretty much from start to finish, evoking the feeling of positivity and togetherness amongst the hardcore fans that Tyketto shows always do – the Tyketto faithful really are one big family.
And now it’s rant time… Tyketto were amazing, they always are, but the show was marred by the ignorant twats who insisted on constantly talking very loudly throughout the set, so much I couldn’t hear what Danny Vaughn was saying when introducing the songs – seriously, why do these people bother attending going to concerts when all they do is talk and not actually listen to the bands they’ve gone to see. One complete arsehole behind me was one such culprit, and when the guy immediately in front of him asked him to go outside if he wanted to talk he became very aggressive – I actually heard him say “he could do whatever he liked as he was here during Tyketto’s first ever Rock City show and absolutely loved Danny Vaughn…” if you love him that much then show the guy the respect he deserves and actually LISTEN to him instead of ruining it for everybody else! Two members of Little Caesar were also amongst those talking very loudly while the Tykes were performing, so they lost some respect from me for that.
That aside, it was once again an excellent show, I can’t say it often enough that Tyketto never fail to deliver, and I really feel that bassist Chris Childs always seems to enjoy himself on stage so much more than any of the other bands I’ve seen him with, including Thunder. This new line-up is bedding in very nicely now, and as it’s been eight long years since the last album ‘Reach’ was released, a new album is well overdue – over to you, Mr. Vaughn…
Review: Ant Heeks
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