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Exeter Phoenix
Sunday October 11th
Review and photos – Rob Wilkins
The luxury of a local gig tonight, and following a reschedule from earlier in the year, it is off to the genteel, Edwardian Exeter Phoenix Theatre for the guitar virtuosity of John 5, along with support from the golden-voiced Dan Byrne.
Warming up the crowd tonight, Dan brings with him an ever-developing and growing set list that showcases his stunning vocal cords.
Opening with “Saviour” and quickly segueing into “Like Animals”, he starts to win over a crowd for whom is a new experience, this being his first ever appearance in Exeter. The reaction grows through “She’s The Devil” (really showcasing his range and power and featuring a delicious solo from Glenn Quinn) and “Pulling Me Under”.
Throughout the set, Dan’s easy manner with the crowd builds rapport, and there is a lovely moment when, announcing that this is his first year recording, a voice shouts out “You’re doing alright!”
The massive bass intro of one of those new songs, “Cherry and Leather”, shows that the direction is indeed encouraging, and ending the set with the superb “Hard To Breathe” and “Death Of Me” leaves the audience buzzing. Dan immediately heads out to the merch desk, having won over a new audience and hopefully will be back in the SW soon!
Rather than a generic playlist during the interval we are treated to a Peanuts cartoon on the big screen behind the stage and the changeover is pretty quick as Dan’s band gear is removed to reveal a simple one guitarist and one drummer stage!
As John 5 takes to the stage, that backdrop changed to the “Halloween” movie, and off we went for an hour and a half of simply sublime guitar playing.
It takes six songs until John 5 acknowledges the crowd with a simple ‘hello’, and in that time we have already journeyed from darkly heavy to country fingerpicking. Every song has a different sound; the changes in tone through the setlist fascinated me as someone recently relearning the guitar after many, many years of abstinence.
Despite only two musicians on stage, the sound is incredibly full, and my initial fears that watching a 90-minute solo would fail to hold my attention went out the window. Standouts include the huge riff of “Crank It” that followed a gloriously light-hearted version of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to get the crowd singing, the raunch of “How High”, and the changes of appearance via wigs and masks to add visuals.
His sheer skill is apparent when he leans over into the audience and takes a phone from someone at the front, films a while, then returns it, all whilst not missing a note! A total change of pace even introduces a jazz break, ironically introduced as incredibly heavy and with a plea for no stage diving, which for a moment energised the lone security guard bizarrely placed on stage in case anyone DID decide to behave in such a way at some point in the set (in Exeter???)
Drummer Joey got a shout-out that was well deserved for adding the background rhythm and keeping up with the frenetic pace, and then a moment of excitement, quickly dashed when, for the Mötley Crüe medley, John 5 introduced ‘On bass – Nikki Sixx’ – a pause before calling on the “bass tech” to join him for a Mötley Crüe medley that surged through a whole range of instrumental versions of the catalogue.
That should have been the end and a well-deserved bow, but there was a brief return in response to a request from the meet and greet to play “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) in a nod to another element of his illustrious history.
The set absolutely flew by and, far from feeling like one extended solo, contained a huge range of styles and skills that left me somewhat disillusioned about my own skills, but also deeply motivated to develop them!
Remaining John 5 tour dates:
Fri 16 Oct Newcastle, UK – Newcastle University
Sat 17 Oct Glasgow, UK – Slay
Sun 18 Oct Manchester, UK – Club Academy
Tickets, HERE
