In a week where the use of AI in music was back in the headlines, thanks to Sir Elton John branding the UK government as “absolute losers” over their plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws, a Finnish 60-something, along with his band of seasoned gunslingers, and a 57-year-old English punk fronting a bunch of noisy bastards, proved that although AI can replicate/steal on the recording front, it will never replace the insane, raw energy of a packed, sweaty, full-throttle rock n’ roll gig performed by players at the top of their game.

Who knows whether it’s the James Gunn/Peacemaker Hanoi Rocks connection, the headliner’s fashion angle, or even if they just stumbled across Michael Monroe on a random playlist; but the average age of tonight’s audience has been lowered by the presence of a dozen or so teenagers crowded around the venue’s entrance, waiting for the doors to open and to capture that all-important place on the barrier once ID has been checked. Honestly, this reviewer cannot remember catching a Michael Monroe show where so many younger fans were in attendance, something that Monroe himself enthuses about from the stage later on. New lifeblood is essential, and it’s fantastic to see teenagers singing along so loudly alongside grizzled gig-wankers.

Of course, they might have been there for the charm of the special guest: the punktastic CJ Wildheart.

Punk rocker, singer-songwriter, musician, artist (do check out his art prints at the merch desk after the show), hot-sauce entrepreneur, CJ Wildheart is a one-man cottage industry faced with an almighty dilemma: how the hell does he cram several decades of music into a 45-minute set? With great difficulty, obviously, but with the recently released album ‘Slots’ being arguably his finest solo album (thus far), he has a balancing act on his hands. And armed with his beloved guitar, Lucy, CJ sets out to give the audience something to smile about.

Admittedly, monitor issues plague both CJ’s and Michael Monroe’s sets, and cause some tension (as does the lack of dressing room essentials for CJ and his band, although that was maybe more tongue-in-cheek banter from CJ rather than genuine ire), but the joy to be had watching musicians play like it is their last night on earth can never be diminished by sound issues. Lining up alongside CJ and dressed in regulation black leather jackets: bassist Lee Potter, guitarist Deano McCreadie, and the noisy bastard at the side (sans leather jacket), hard-hitting drummer Craig Mackay.

The quartet power through a set that mixes new material from ‘Slots’, such as the killer opening trio of ‘Beg’, ‘Another Big Mistake’, and ‘The Baddest Girl In The World’ (followed later on by ‘Coma’ and the show-stealing ‘You Got The Best Part of Me’), and nuggets from CJ’s past that includes ventures into material from The Jelly’s (‘Lemonade Girl’), from Honeycrack (‘Go Away’ and ‘Sitting At Home’), as well as a throaty rendition of The Wildhearts’ ‘O.C.D.’ 45 minutes of punk n’ roll par excellence from a performer who has perhaps never really gotten the credit that he deserves. Check out ‘Slots’, it slaps. And once you pick yourself up from the floor, buy a copy from the man himself; he’ll even sign it for you.

Michael Monroe and his amazing band epitomise rock n roll. Captain America gets defrosted, and after discovering PornHub, he Googles “What is Rock N’ Roll”, and the answer simply says “See Michael Monroe and his band”. Put these guys on any bill and they will give any band a run for their money. Every other band performing next week at Call of The Wild Festival must have breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered they wouldn’t need to follow Monroe as he was headlining. Anyone who still insists on calling The Stones the greatest rock n roll band in the world needs to be strapped down like Alex DeLarge in Clockwork Orange and forced to watch footage of these guys in action 24-7. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Monroe.

With no new album to push, it’s an all-killer setlist that purrs like a finely tuned Rolls-Royce engine and, in essence, is a lesson in how to build the perfect setlist. 21 songs, and although ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ was on the printed setlist, it had to be cut due to those aforementioned sound issues, and the dreaded curfew.

Once the band (Steve Conte – guitar, vocals, Rich Jones – guitar, vocals, Karl Rockfist – drums, Sami Yaffa – bass, vocals) are settled into position, and the gunslinger intro music, and fistbumps are complete, the stage explodes to life in a burst of colour and sound, and the greatest frontman currently treading the boards bounces onto the stage, primed and ready to go. It soon becomes obvious that there are issues with the monitors onstage, and both Monroe and Steve Conte (looking cooler than ice cold in his ‘Warriors T-shirt’) are gesturing to the sound desk to turn them up. Arms are waved, voices are raised, and Sami Yaffa is joining in, wildly pointing out that nothing is working. Yes, it is a chaotic intro, but once things start to settle down(ish), the band are tearing through ‘Dead, Jail or Rock ‘n’ Roll’, and Monroe has gone down to the barrier, and is performing from the front row. Goddam it, live music is the fucking best. Take that one, AI bastards.

The sound issues continue for a while with Monroe screaming “I can’t hear a fucking thing up here!”. Whereas other artists might pull the diva routine and storm offstage until it is resolved, Monroe and company are professionals and soldier on, and if anything, it spurs them on even more as they are playing like their lives depend on it. A speedy version of ‘I Live Too Fast to Die Young’ gives way to ‘TNT Diet’, which is aptly named considering that it is fuelled by the ever-reliable Kark Rockfist on drums, and it would seem that he has been raised on a diet of raw meat and TNT. With Sami Yaffa alongside him in the engine room, this is a rhythm section to be revered. For further evidence of this, check out Yaffa on the blistering live version of the Hanoi Rocks classic ‘Motorvatin”.

A Michael Monroe show requires a lot of singing from the audience, as not many artists have as many huge sing-along anthems as the Finn, and tonight features all the big hitters tailor-made for screaming out back at the band: ‘Last Train to Tokyo’, ‘Old King’s Road’, ’78’, and arguably the greatest song of the last two decades; ‘Ballad of the Lower East Side’. Throats would have no doubt been hoarse the morning after. Dotted around these Monroe staples are deeper cuts such as ‘Eighteen Angels’, ‘Young Drunks & Old Alcoholics’, ‘Man with No Eyes’, ‘Stained Glass Heart’, and the likes of ‘Trick of the Wrist’, which still hits as hard now as it did back in 2011 on the ‘Sensory Overdrive’ album.

The homestraight features Monroe and Yaffa paying homage to their enviable legacy with tips of the hat to not only Hanoi Rocks, but also the legendary short-lived Demolition 23 band that they both featured in back in the 90s. And from the only album from Demolition 23, ‘Nothin’s Alright’ immediately followed by ‘Hammersmith Palais’ takes some beating. But then they follow these up with ‘Malibu Beach Nightmare’, ‘Up Around The Bend’, ‘Taxi Driver’, and a riotous set closer of The Stooges’ ‘I Feel Alright’ meshed with Golden Earring’s ‘Radar Love’.

One of those nights where it could have gone so very wrong and been disastrous, instead, it ended up being the gig of the year so far. And that is a testament to every performer onstage…and the world-famous Toshi, Monroe’s stage hand, who had the unenviable job of feeding the mic cord over the heads of the band and punters, whenever Michael decided to go walkabout and perform from atop the bars at either side of the venue…or swing from the air-con units, or walk the length of the top of the barrier using the crowd for assistance. You had to be there, mate.

Remaining tour dates can be found HERE.

Steve Conte’s UK acoustic dates can be found HERE.

Review – Dave

All images – Dave Jamieson