Rival Sons

08.12.2014

Rivals Sons may have announced their UK tour 6 months ago but it was very much worth the wait to see them on the first date of their sold out UK tour that wraps up an extensive set of dates that has seen the band perform in Europe, US and Canada throughout the latter part of the year.

Supporting them on this second tour of the UK this year was Blues Pills who have been making a big impression on UK rock fans, having just completed a headline tour of their own. With such a powerful voice, singer Elin Larsson put on an impressive vocal performance as the band treated the crowd to songs such as ‘High Class Woman’, No Hope Left For Me’ and ‘Devil Man’. Although the set seemed way to short, the blues-rock sound the band have made them a great support and finishing the set with ‘Black Smoke’ and ‘Little Sun’, even for those people there who hadn’t heard of them before tonight, Blues Pills definitely were a favourite with the crowd.

With an extensive back catalogue to choose from, Rival Sons gave the crowd plenty of choice with the set list tonight and it wasn’t just about the latest album which very much delighted the crowd. Launching straight into ‘You Want To’, ‘Pressure and Time’, ‘Electric Man’ and ‘Good Luck’ the band were on excellent form and you wouldn’t have known that they had been touring for a number of months, with the outstanding vocals of Jay Buchanan soaring melodically over the rest of the band, which was truly mesmerising to watch.

With ‘Secret’ the band were only a few songs in and already the crowd were singing along and loving every minute. It was a fast paced set with Rival Sons barely pausing for breath as they continued with ‘Good Things’ and treated the crowd to an extended solo of just Scott Holliday, Dave Beste and Mike Miley in the middle of ‘Manifest Destiny’ which reflected just how talented the musical side of the band are as well, before ‘Torture’, ‘Rich And The Poor’ and ‘Where I’ve Been’ continued the set packed with their best songs. From the more rock sounding songs, to the haunting slower songs, this was just amazing to watch. Finishing the set with ‘Tell Me Something’ and ‘Get What’s Coming’ Rivals Sons showed a sold out venue why they are one of the best bands to see live. When Jay mentioned to the crowd ‘it gets better each time’ the entire room was in agreement with him.

A four song encore opened with the hugely popular ‘Open Your Eyes’ with an epic drum solo at the end, before just Jay and Scott remained on the stage for the opening of ‘Sacred Tongue’ that had the crowd silent in wonder at just the vocals and the delicate guitar before the rest of the band joined in, ending an awesome set with ‘Jordan’ and the final song of the night ‘Keep On Swinging’.

As the band said their final goodbyes to the crowd in what had been one of the best live shows of this year, and as the moon shone through the glass topped pyramid, you were left feeling that you had seen something tonight that was almost magical and you couldn’t wish for a better night of rock that Rival Sons certainly delivered tonight.