Words by: Robert Sutton
Images by: Robert Sutton Photography
Nazareth are a Scottish hard rock band who were formed back in 1968…and even I don’t go back that far!!…Up until a few years back they had been performing and touring with two of the original members of the band in the line-up, this being Dan McCafferty and Pete Agnew. Sadly however Dan was forced to retire from the band after he had been with them for a staggering 45 years, due to ill health. So a replacement singer and new front man had to be sourced. A new singer was found in 2014 but again unfortunately after just one tour the singer decided to leave and so it was back to square one for them to try to find another person to front the group.
Fortunately for us (and them..) they did find another singer and his name is Carl Sentance. Tonight was the first live performance for Carl with the band which now comprises of Pete Agnew (bass), Jimmy Murrison (guitar) and Lee Agnew –Pete’s son (drums).
Support for the night was from The Darker My Horizon.
The Darker My Horizon are a ‘new’ band who formed at the end of 2014, however they do comprise of some well experienced musicians. The band line-up is Paul Stead (lead vocals and guitar), Mark Stephenson and Alan Kirkham (guitars), Max Notaro (bass) and Gavin Tester( drums). They say they are ‘influenced by classic hard hitters such as Jovi, Europe and Whitesnake through to modern arena giants Nickelback, Hinder and Kid Rock – they combine catchy melodic hard rock songs with fun pop inspired anthems and put on a hell of a show.’ And yes they seemed to tick all of their boxes with their performance on the night and gave a super opening set for the evening’s entertainment. They have a new debut album titled “Acquiesce” and this is available to buy now.
I was looking forward to Nazareth’s performance tonight although I was a little apprehensive as to how Carl would fit into the group after all I had been used to seeing Dan front the band for so many years. However after a little bit of a wobble at the very start of the performance with an issue with one of the guitars the evening got under way with ‘Silver Dollar Forger’ from their 1974 album Rampant and ‘Miss Misery’ swiftly followed on. It must be difficult to choose a setlist to play when you have produced twenty–three records however they did play a fair few songs from, I guess one of their most popular album s, ‘Hair of the Dog’ which was released in 1975..
Carl gave a great performance and came across as if he had been fronting the band for the last ten or so years. The rest of the band were also on great form and the whole combination gelled together to give one great evening of entertainment.
The band ended the night off with an encore comprising of ‘Morning Dew’, ‘Love Hurts’ and the very popular ‘Broken Down Angel’ (which reached the number 9 spot in the singles charts way back in 1973…).
The band are now currently continuing the tour with events around Europe, but are back in the UK with a few dates at the end of the year.
Setlist:-
1: Silver Dollar Forger
2: Miss Misery
3: Razamanaz
4: This Flight Tonight (Joni Mitchell cover)
5: One Set of Bones
6: Dream On
7: Holiday
8: Turn On Your Reciever
9: Bad Bad Boy
10: Beggars Day (Crazy Horse cover)
11: Changin’ Times
12: Hair of The Dog
13: Expect No Mercy
Encore:
14: Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson cover)
15: Love Hurts (The Everly Brothers cover)
16: Broken Down Angel
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