Words and Pictures: Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media Following on from Part I – our review can be found here: Rockin’ The Bowl – Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield – Review Pt 1 , Saturday September 11 2021 And so to Sunday, where The Dukes of Bordello got the day off to a moonshine fuelled start. […]
Having grinned my way through Shanghai Treason and thoroughly enjoyed the ever-reliable Gin Annie and Bad Touch, all that remained was for the Queen of Metal, Doro Pesch to arrive and preside over the strong audience of rockers.
As the classic Holy Water had finished ringing in our ears, the band played a couple more numbers including I Don’t Need Your Loving, and then Tim Prottey-Jones returned to the stage to help perform on Eye Of The Storm
Combining multiple genres without it sounding a mess and delivering a sound that in itself is unique is always going to be a challenge but, as our album review above has clearly demonstrated, Rich Ragany and The Digressions have managed it.
Those 10 unique tracks, 21st Century Love Songs if you will, are there to reengage us, get us out once more into dark, dimly lit venues, to experience the joy of live music and remind us just what we’d been missing for the last 18 months.
A Sisters show is heavy on the darkness and embraces the mood and vibe of the ominous music that has been a firm favourite of the army of fans they have commanded for the last 4 decades
Whilst Wilson’s stint on ‘The Voice’ will have done his and the band’s publicity machine no harm whatsoever, the proof in the pudding is the strength of the songs and on latest album ‘Duck’, they have the in spades.
No Styx show would be complete with Tommy taking center stage to perform “Renegade” with its lush vocal harmonies and the powerful new ballad “Sound the Alarm,” which was written pre-pandemic and foretells what we all were all going to face in 2020. Todd Sucherman told me in a previous interview that when he first heard the song, “I damn near burst into tears because the lyrics were so in tune with what is happening now.” It was quite an emotional moment to hear Tommy sing it live.
If music is art and art is designed to trigger discussion then they win hands down as myself and my esteemed ‘gig-wife’ Krishan remained enthralled, bemused, intrigued and more throughout their frenetic set. Full marks for impact as I definitely want another go!