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Y&T
Who are Rock’s
most influential and respected guitarists? Hendrix? Roth?
Malmsteen? All of these and more for sure. None of them,
however, were gifted with what can be described as a truly great
voice, despite their efforts. A combination of both singing and
guitar-playing prowess is in fact a unique quality of Dave
Meniketti, mentor of Y & T. Well, one of many, probably.
Let’s go into the
specifics of the gig. ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You’ was wrought for all
its vigour. ‘Dirty Girls’ suggested that the 1980s aren’t over
yet. ‘Black Tiger’, from the album of the same name, was never
one of my favourite tracks from that release but it certainly
sounds great live. At one point Dave Meniketti confessed: “I’ve
always admitted that this song is my favourite Y & T song”,
after which the band proceed to play ‘Winds Of Change’. The
ecstatic response suggested it’s not only Dave’s fave. ‘Forever’
also got a particularly good reaction from the audience. As
expected, the title–track of the “Meanstreak” album was also in
tonight’s set-list, as were classics ‘Barroom Boogie’ and
‘Pretty Prison’.
Emotions ran high
when the audience started singing the lyrics to ‘Rescue Me’ but
the evening’s highlight was probably around half-way through the
set when a Jimi Hendrix-inspired riff gave way to the
instrumental "I'll Cry For You" from the "Contagious"
album. So much emotion came out of Dave’s guitar that he
himself seemed visibly shaken at the end of this song.
I was also
impressed with how the band’s 2 guitarists, Dave Meniketti and
John Nyman, managed to have such a dynamic stage presence,
maintain a razor-sharp tightness between them but not sacrifice
any of the set-list’s melody and feel. One prime example was
with ‘Keep On Believing’. Phil Kennemore, on bass, was restless
and proved to be a great showman. Drummer Mike Vanderhule, whose
CV includes names such as Neal Schon (Journey), Tracy Chapman,
Steve Lukather (Toto), Steve Smith and Michael Lee Firkins, gave
an amazing solo performance that also exposed his musical roots.
This gig was far from a Dave Meniketti ego trip as all Y & T
band members were given opportunities to shine.
At this point of
the review it’s clear that Y & T didn’t disappoint. Judging by
the reaction of the audience “Black Tiger” seems to be Y & T’s
most highly regarded album by UK fans….and also by me. So there
were many happy faces as the band played most of this album.
Here’s to several more Rock-drenched years, guys!
Y & T official
website:
www.meniketti.com.
Rating: 100/100 |
