With Aerosmith being on hiatus due (allegedly) to Steven Tyler having dramatically fallen off the wagon, Joe Perry has recorded an album ("Have Guitar Will Travel") and revived The Joe Perry Project. Perry is joined by (amongst others) original bassist David Hull and the very impressive German singer (who sounds to all the world like an American) Hagen Grohe.
On taking the stage the band immediately tear into the title track of their 1980 album "Let The Music Do The Talking", something that could very much be said to be Perry's modus operandi. The cover of "Walkin' The Dog" seems a little superfluous when Perry has so much great original music at his disposal, however a subsequent cover of Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man" shows that other people's music can be treated with a degree of imagination. The covers do seem to have been chosen imaginatively - who expected Jeremy Spencer's Fleetwood Mac song "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite" (also covered with distinction by The Rezillos) to get an airing? However, even a support act as respected as Joe Perry only gets barely an hour to play with, and after a romp through "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and "Walk This Way" Joe and the Project are heading backstage.
The phrase "follow that!" springs to mind, but Bad Company's first London gig with Paul Rodgers on vocals for (if my memory serves me correctly) around twenty-eight years is going to take some beating, and there can't really be many more emphatic opening numbers than "Can't Get Enough". Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke both look in fine fettle, but I can't get over how goddamn old Mick Ralphs looks! He looks like a portly retired English gentleman who has treated himself to a Gibson Les Paul on which to noodle away his twilight years. Nothing wrong with his playing though - if you close your eyes it could almost be the old days.
Paul Rodgers' voice remains the impressive instrument that it always has been, and the setlist is pretty much what any Bad Co. fan would have chosen. "Seagull" is sublime and "Feel Like Makin' Love" has all the raunch of yore. During "Shooting Star" pictures of Paul Kossoff and other dead rock stars are projected onto the backdrop, making for a particularly poignant moment. The only real negative criticism is Paul Rodgers' cheerleading through the whole set. The crowd were loving the gig and there wasn't really any need for further encouragement for people to get into it. Mr Rodgers at times was just trying too hard. However, that's a minor point. A great gig, and something that they'll hopefully repeat before they're too much older!
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