Buckcherry

It wasn’t that long ago when Buckcherry last played at Rock City, to be exact it was September 9th 2006. To perform twice at the same venue in such a short time is a very brave thing to do, and very few bands are able to pull it off successfully. However Buckcherry are one of the few bands that are able to manage to do this without any problems.

The creation of their latest album ‘15’ is nothing short of a fairytale. It was certainly a labour of love. They had made the decision not to make their break-up permanent, and concentrated on developing something new in their approach to writing songs and the production. It definitely worked for this band. Atlantic Records put them on their label during the recording process.

‘15’ is arguably their most rawest, and most powerful album to date. This recording also spawned the single ‘Crazy Bitch’, which has been nominated for a Grammy.


Josh Todd (vocalist) and the rest of the band strolled onto the stage as if they were too cool for school. Their fans welcomed the band with a volcanic eruption of applause. The crowd ranged from the stereotypical rocker dude with the chain hanging from the pocket of the trousers to the hook on their jeans, right through to middle-aged females who had made the effort to wear a glam rock outfit. There were also numerous other types of people such as Goths, and old school rockers (easy to spot they have grey hair now).

As to be expected this show was geared towards heavily promoting ‘15’, and so from the very outset of the nights proceedings the onslaught began with Buckcherry opening with ‘So Far’ and kicking straight into ‘Broken Glass’ both of which are taken from the album ‘15’.

However the fans seem to unquestionably adore every song, which was demonstrated by the way they knew every single word, and they didn’t seem to mind that most of the tracks were taken from 15. I counted 8 tracks from the new album that were included in the setlist, these were ‘So Far’, ‘Broken Glass’, ‘Out Of Line’, ‘Sorry’, ‘Crazy Bitch’, ‘Next To You’, ‘Onset’ and ‘Everything’.



Now if you liked their new album then the setlist would have been appreciated, sadly I’m not a big fan of ‘15’, don’t get me wrong, it’s a good album I just prefer their older material and was hoping that they would play a lot more of it.

Admittedly ‘Sorry’ is still a superb heart-tugging ballad, which never fails to impress the audience.

Frontman Josh is an animated person whilst on stage and he constantly bounced around like a possessed billiard ball. For those of you who have never heard or seen Buckcherry live, Josh reminded me of a cross between Iggy Pop and Anthony Kiedis, and this works extremely well in keeping the attention of the audience. However at times throughout last nights show Josh would often sound like Mark Owen from Take That. That isn’t a bad thing, I think if Mark Owen was to form a rock band then this is pretty much what I’d expect him to sound like.

Buckcherry have been around since 1995, and to be honest it looked like their fashion sense and stage attire never progressed from that date. This is real rock music with the stereotypical long-haired guitarist who does all the cliché guitar poses included.


Todd engaged his audience with humorous and tawdry banter illustrated by suggestive gestures with his hips, hands, and the mic. This really was one of those gigs where the entire band live by that old saying of ‘sex, drugs and rock n roll’.

Clichés and fashion sense aside, musically Buckcherry are master craftsmen on their chosen instruments. Executing every note with such precision that NASA would be proud of them. Musically they are tighter than a ducks arse and are experienced enough to press all of the right buttons to work a crowd to its full effect.

Even when bottles of water were flying onto the stage the band held their ground and didn’t moan - in fact the guitarist batted one bottle away with his guitar without missing a single note - now that’s entertainment.

The band ploughed through the set list in no time at all, well it felt lightning quick, but then when you are enjoying yourself time does seem to fly by. This gig had a nostalgic feeling about it due to the way the band dress and pose, however their music is still able to stand up to the rock music that is currently being churned out.

The fans in Rock City left feeling as if they got their moneys worth. And again it will only be a few months before they can see them play live again as they will be playing at this years Download festival and provided they don’t clash with Motley Crue, Buckcherry will certainly be worth making the effort to see.

Someday all live acts will be able to deliver the goods to the same high standard as Buckcherry! A sublime performance.

Setlist:-

So Far
Broken Glass
Porno Star
Fall
Out Of Line
Sorry
Crazy Bitch
Next To You
Ridin’
Onset
Everything
Borderline
Slamming
Lit Up

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.