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MSG/HURRICANE PARTY
Electric Ballroom, Camden,London 10 March 2004
A decent sized crowd, some 500 plus, considering it was a midweek gig.
First up were Hurricane Party, who I’d seen early last year but in a very
different style. They now have a new vocalist and more hair than a
hairdresser’s convention! I was taken back in time to the 80’s when Warrant,
Dokken, Poison et al ruled the roost. They have a very confident singer and
some good tunes including soon-to-be single ‘Crown of Thorns’ - a catchy
little number. ‘Liar’ had a guitar riff lifted straight of the Sweet’s
‘Teenage Rampage’ and another number was very AC/DC in sound. Many of the
crowd seemed to enjoy them and who knows after the runaway success of the
Darkness this band maybe next for lift-off.
So to the main event - Firstly I must admit to not having heard much MSG
bar the last album, which is very good and a couple of early albums, shame
on me. The band kicked off with all guns blazing and Rev the bassist was a
whirlwind on stage, twirling his two long ponytails all night. Plenty to put
a smile on UFO fans faces including ‘Mother Mary’, a storming ‘Too Hot To
Handle’ and ‘Only You Can Rock Me’. Vocalist Chris Logan has a tough job as
he has to sing so many tunes originally done by other vocalists but he pulls
it off in style. Plenty of MSG delights as well including ‘Attack of the Mad
Axeman’, ‘Assault Attack’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Believer’ and the superb title
track of the new album ‘Arachnophobiac’. Schenker of course did some soloing
ably assisted by drummer Barry Holmes, the mad bassist, and Wayne Findley on
guitar/keys. The audience were loving it and with classics like these being
aired you’d have to be dead not too!
Encore time saw Schenker’s sons join him on guitar for ‘Doctor Doctor’
and the show ended with ‘Rock Bottom’. An excellent performance and
hopefully this will convince Michael Schenker that he does still have fans
desperate to see him perform live (especially in the US!), as well as boost
his confidence.
PS Loved the backline created by Batttttty & her SITN fellows - a modern
masterpiece that advertised the main man’s website.
Review: Jason Ritchie
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