Mr Big Shepherds Bush Empire 19-11-17

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First up were Faster Pussycat who were frankly terrible.Everything I hated about them back in the day was evident and their lyrics that were awful back in the day now make them seem like dirty old men.Total wrong bill.

Next up were The Answer and after last year's delve into Solas this was a greatest hit's type set with the following set played.

Solas
On And On
Preachin'
Faith Gone Down
Spectacular
Strange Kinda' Nothing 
If You Want Blood ( AC/DC cover)
Come Follow Me

Preachin' was a welcome addition with Cormac Neeson on full on bounce mode and in superb voice.Our position stage left had Micky Waters on bass in front of us and he was superb with Paul Mahon on guitar hitting us hard with short fiery guitar solo's.
After touring with AC/DC on the Black Ice World Tour you could see their pain in Malcolm Young's passing and playing If You Want Blood was a great touch.
Ending the set with a romp through Come Follow Me left us wanting more as all good support set's should.







Mr Big were touring in support of the recently released Defying Gravity cd and live they never disappoint.Playing a 2 hour set of classics with 6 new songs this was as good as it gets.With a superb sound and the band on fire from the word go as Daddy Lover Little Boy was sang back at them by the crowd this was a superb performance.As Billy Sheehan on bass and Paul Gilbert on guitar were handed their drills for the mid song solo by Eric Martin on vocals the grin on my youngest son's face was a joy to see.

Hit after hit followed with Green Tinted Sixties Mind having the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention.God I love that chorus with Eric showing his vocal range is still top notch both in tone and melody.

Matt Starr on drums has settled into Pat Torpey's place amazingly well.On the last tour Pat was on drums for a couple of songs and percussion and you can see 3 years later that his condition with Parkinson's Disease is getting worse.The cheer when his name was announced took the roof off but I have to say the set flowed better this time with fewer ballads although Pat took to the drums for Take My Heart.

All of the 6 new songs played thankfully had none of the terrible studio mix that the album suffered and all fitted in wonderfully well Defying Gravity the set closer superb.

Paul Gilbert's solo started with riffs of AC/DC's Back In Black and For Those About To Rock as a tribute to Malcolm Young and watching the speed and dexterity of the man close up was life affirming.

Billy Sheehan's bass solo again was mind blowing with noises coming out of a bass I have never heard and the interplay all night between Paul and billy but especially the intro of Addicted To That Rush was an incredible experience.

An unexpected added extra encore of 30 Days In A Hole with Cormac Neeson sealed the deal.

Mr Big are one of the world's finest live act's and it was a pleasure to spend 2 hours in their company and I look forward to the live show recording from Milan due out next year.
























































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