The Dead Daisies, Cathouse Glasgow Gig Review

Generally speaking, the more famous an artist or band is, the bigger the stage they play on and the further away from the audience they become as a result. The other night at Glasgow’s Cathouse, however, I was no more than three feet away from a Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist as he launched into one blistering guitar solo after another, I was a couple of inches away from being accidentally smacked in the face by a swinging mic stand belonging to the former lead singer of Motley Crue, and at one point Whitesnake’s former bass player had one foot on the stage in front of me, the other on the crowd barrier behind me and I was in the photopit underneath him. So my head was a couple of inches away from, well, do you want me to draw you a diagram??? This then, wasn’t your ordinary run of the mill concert.

The Dead Daisies have a rotating lineup consisting of some seriously impressive musicians. The lineup for this tour boasts Richard Fortus (Guns N’ Roses/The Psychedelic Furs) on guitar, Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses/Hookers and Blow) on keyboards, Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne/Billy Idol) on drums, David Lowy (Red Phoenix/Mink) on guitar, Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake) bass, and John Corabi (Motley Crue/RATT) on vocals. Let that sink in for a moment: Two current members of Guns ‘n’ Roses playing a 330 capacity venue in Glasgow… Like I said, not your ordinary run of the mill concert!

Before I go any further though, here’s a quick mention about the two support bands. First onstage was The Wild Lies, a hard rocking quintet from Maidenhead, who have been gaining attention in the music press of late. Despite having formed only 3 years ago, they have already supported the likes of GUN on their recent UK tour. New single ‘Asteroid Central’ was the pick of the songs from their set. Next up was Colour of Noise. And for Little Angels fans like myself, this was a bit of a treat because their former guitarist Bruce John Dickinson is in the lineup. Colour of Noise have a pretty cool old school feel to their music and Dickinson’s awesome guitar playing just added a level of polish to an already tight and impressive performance. You can connect with The Wild Lies Facebook page by clicking HERE and Colour of Noise Facebook page HERE.

There was a really good vibe about the Dead Daisies’ set. From the moment they rocked onstage it was clear they were there to have a good time – and they made sure the audience came along for the ride. This was a 16 song blast of properly good hard rock, featuring many tracks from their recently released and critically acclaimed album ‘Revolución’, some earlier Dead Daisies songs, plus a few of the band’s favourite covers thrown in for good measure.

Personal highlights of their set included a couple of the songs from Revolución, ‘Midnight Moses’ and ‘Mexico’. Both songs came early in the running order and ensured the atmosphere was cranked up to 11 right from the get-go. Pick of the covers were ‘Sick as a Dog’ and ‘Helter Skelter’. The former sounded like Steve Tyler somehow wrote the song with the Dead Daisies in mind, while the latter was as good a cover of a Beatles song as I’ve heard in a long time.

It goes without saying that musically, the Dead Daisies are top notch. But what made this performance extra special was the swagger and sheer rockstar attitude they brought to the stage. They were brash, they showed off, they eyed up the ladies in the crowd, they absolutely nailed it! It takes a lot for a music photographer to put their camera down when (like here) there was no three song limit to what you could shoot. But that’s exactly what I found myself doing. They were that good.

By the time you read this The band’s current UK tour will be all but over, however, there is every chance they’ll be back here soon. We’ll let you know of any future tours and album releases as and when they are announced. You gotta see these guys live!!!

Definitely one of the best gigs of the year.

You can reach the Dead Daisies Facebook page by clicking HERE.

Setlist

1  Midnight Moses
2  Evil
3  Mexico
4  Get Uo & Get Ready
5  Hush
6  Looking for the One
7  Sick as a Dog
8  Something I Said
9  Lock ‘n’ Load
10  All Right Now
11  With You and I
12  Angel
13  Devil Out of Time
14  Helter Skelter
15 Face I Love
16  Fortunate Sun

Dead Daisies Gallery

Colour of Noise Gallery

The Wild Lies Gallery