Tyketto / Little Caesar / Dan Byrne – Birdwell Venue Barnsley 15 September 2024
Is this the best three band tour in the UK in 2024?
It is the best I’ve seen, with all three bands delivering a knock out performance. In fact I left the venue trying to think of a better three band line up I seen in all my 40 plus gigging years.
I did miss the first song of the Dan Byrne set, but what I caught I really enjoyed. I have been aware of Dan’s music through his time with Revival Black and hearing his solo material on Planet Rock but had not seen him live. He has a great voice and fantastic charisma as a front man, with songs like ‘Death of Me’ and ‘Like Animals’ he surly has a great future.
Next up were Little Caesar from the USA. Now full confession time, I hadn’t heard of them before this tour even though they were performing from 1987 – 1992 and reformed in 2001, they are a band that totally missed my musical radar. There are three members from the original line up Ron Young (vocals), Tom Morris (drums) and Loren Molinare (guitar).
Tonight they produced a great sounding rock n roll show which had hints of punk, sleaze and glam all very slickly delivered. My research had uncovered that in 1990 they had their biggest hit with a cover of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Chain of Fools’ which when played brought a sleazy soul grove into the melting pot.
The band were joined on stage by Danny Vaughn on harmonica and backing vocals for ‘Cajun Panther’ before closing the set with ‘Real Rock Drive’, ‘Down to the Wire’, ‘Mama Tried’ (a Merle Haggard cover) and ‘Drive it Home’. By the end of the set I had become a fan.
Tyketto opened up with ‘Nothing but Love’. The first two bands had been good, but this raised everything up to another level – racing into ‘Reach’ and ‘Wings’ the band and the audience were in great form. Danny’s vocals and stage presence were awesome (as always).
There were some minor sound issues during ‘The Run’ but these were overcome before the band had a bit of fun with a cover of the UFO classic ‘Only You Can Rock Me’. Before too long it was time for the final song which of course was a rousing rendition of ‘Forever Young’.
I must quickly mention The Birdwell Venue. I have been lucky enough to attend a few gigs here now. The staff are always friendly, the sound is great and stage allows a good view of the band. Also plenty of free parking, what’s not to like.
The Show of Strength tour now rolls onto the following towns and venues.
19 September – The Garage, Glasgow
20 September – Academy 2, Manchester
21 September – KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton
22 September – The 1865 – Southampton
Please check it out.
