Black Stone Cherry / Rival Sons

Support band, Rival Sons, strolled on stage at 19:45pm and for thirty minutes gave us their best impression of Led Zeppelin. The lead singers voice sounded eerily like Robert Plants, and at times during the set the drummer appeared to be channelling the spirit of John Bonham. The band from Los Angeles, California, soon had the crowd in awe of their Zeppelin inspired classic rock. This is seemingly a band very worth checking out, and as they left the stage they received a huge ovation, having clearly won over some new fans.

Black Stone Cherry have been around for some time now, having formed in Edmonton, Kentucky, USA, back in 2001. During these years the band have toured relentlessly to gain a loyal following. In fact, this tour marks their third visit to these shores in the past nine months. In June, they played a small run of intimate dates, leading to their third main stage appearance at the legendary Download Festival. They followed this up with a very special guest slot on the Autumn, Alter Bridge arena tour.

Tonight was the first night of a fourteen date headline tour of the UK, a tour that’s completely sold out. They are touring in support of their latest studio effort 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea'. This is their third album following 2006's 'Black Stone Cherry' and 2008's 'Folklore And Superstition', and in my opinion, could be the album that will finally see them headlining arenas in their own right.

'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea' has so far spawned three singles, 'White Trash Millionaire', 'Blame It On The Boom Boom' and 'In My Blood'. These singles are examples of the more radio friendly direction the band has been heading in since their self-titled debut album. They perhaps just need that one big hit, to send them to the big leagues.

They certainly have the pedigree to live up to their potential in the live arena, as evidenced tonight. Opening with the brilliant trio of 'Change', 'Maybe Someday' and 'Blind Man', the band set the pace early on. Black Stone Cherry showed tonight, what a well oiled machine they are live and pushed on with the likes of the powerful 'Such A Shame', latest single 'In My Blood' (which recently reached a career best number ten in the US Mainstream Rock Charts), and a classic from their debut album, 'Rain Wizard' coming early in their set.

Doubts had been cast on tonight's show going ahead, following the band having to cancel their two previous shows in Germany within the past week. This had been due to singer Chris Robertson losing his voice, but it was back tonight, and showed no signs of failing. Robertson kept the talking to a minimum tonight, but he did thank the fans for making the entire tour a sell out, referencing their previous trips over here. He then put his voice to the test once more, for 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea' single 'White Trash Millionaire'.

Black Stone Cherry are completed by guitarist Ben Wells, bassist Jon Lawhon and drummer John Fred Young, and it was then time for Young's usual drum solo, which filled a few minutes. When he was rejoined by his band mates, they donned acoustic guitars and slowed things down for 'Stay' and the beautiful 'Things My Father Said', even throwing in a snippet from Oasis classic 'Champagne Supernova' for good measure.

New album 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea' is featured heavily tonight and it's from this album we get main set closer 'Blame It On The Boom Boom'. The band then sent the crowd home happy with an encore of 'Peace Is Free' and the hard hitting 'Lonely Train'. Tonight only went to further prove that Black Stone Cherry are on the brink of something very special.

FUTURE GIGS