Buckcherry + Backyard Babies
Glasgow Garage, 21st March 2007
It may be raining outside (in Glasgow? Surely not…) but rollicking on to the stage with a blazing rendition of 'People Like People Like People Like Us', the Backyard Babies are firing on all cylinders and ready to rock, steaming through a compact set of no-nonsense, good time rock'n'roll that gets everybody (okay, most people) jumping. Okay, so they may look as if they've all been culled from different bands (with a drummer who's wandered in from the set of Master and Commander) but when they get togther, they sure know how to rock.
As indeed do tonight's headliners, LA sleazemerchants Buckcherry. I must confess, I'm new to this raunchy bunch of rock'n'roll reprobates and all I can say is: where have they been all my life? Racing through an exhilarating set of classic post Faith No More glam, laden with funky, heavy bass riffs and exuberant, shout-a-long choruses as big and hot as the sun, these lean, mean, tattooed love machines really rock. Hell, they even have two massive power ballads (the anthemic 'Sorry' and 'Everything'), complete with key changes and, er, everything.
They do commit the somewhat annoying error of over-playing their biggest hit, the touching and sensitive 'Crazy Bitch' (yup, these guys definitely come with a 'parental advisory' sticker attached) but given the waves of adulation exuding from the crowd (a cheery mix of babyglams and ageing glam casualties), I think I'll forgive them. Hell, with cheekbones like that (Viggo Mortensen meets Cillian Murphy and, er, gets a serious load of Sailor Jerry tattooes), I'd forgive vocalist Josh Todd pretty much anything…
