19 August 2011

Double strength tour with The Rascal kings, Black river drive and Luger Boa 19/08/11

The Royal Palmerston north

I was very excited about heading down to The Royal for great night of Rock n Roll lined up for the evening. The line up had locals The Rascal Kings, Black River Drive and Luger Boa a very electric brew to swill down on a winter’s night in Palmy.  The Royal is a great venue and was filled to the brim. Due to crap timing on my behalf I only got to witness the last song of The Rascal Kings set and the crowd was well established and rocking out. It was the fullest I had seen the Royal in quite some time but in saying that I hadn’t been to the I Am Giant gig the week before. They had a row of barrels across the front of stage which both acted as a barricade but also an extra stage riser for the band to get up into the rafters. This was great for the people at the back of the venue and shorter people like me as it gave all a great view.

Black River Drive hit the stage and the crowd went crazy. The beauty of the line up was three high energy bands. This band has released five singles off their debut album Perfect flaws. These guys give an awesome show using the front stage riser to full advantage. Everywhere and Call The Doctor feature early in the set and the crowd are lapping it up. The band certainly knows how to rock and by the time Bullet For Your Gun and Fifteen Minutes are played the crowd is eating out of their hands. It’s been quite a while since they released their album in fact they released it as a deluxe edition with 5 more tracks just recently so we were treated to some new music which got the crowd buzzing. This was Black River Drive’s first visit to Palmy and I’m pretty sure they will be back soon. The crowd’s response was awesome. This was an awesome lead in to the next band.

Luger Boa hit the stage and annihilated. There was not a person in the room standing still. Jimmy Christmas is one of my favourite front men in some ways reminding me of Mick Jagger in the way he strutted around the stage mic stand in hand. I love these guys and their latest album is nothing short of awesome so I was extremely amped to be seeing them perform some of the new material.

Now that Luger Boa has two albums out we were treated to a nice long set which was very cool as last time they played in Palmy all we had was Mutate and Die and the singles Paralysed, Lazy and Fuck The Kids although Fuck The Kids was a tour released single so was played live as well. This time we got treated to the classics like On My Mind, I Wanna Girlfriend and What Is Real it’s the new material which I’m really looking forward to and that’s where the real prize was.

They guys have now been playing as a band for a few years now as the first album was more a Jimmy and collaborators album and was such live for some time but now the band are now a solid crew and it really shines trough in what is a solid tight set. We got no less than ten tracks from the new album Paralysed, Lazy and New Hot Nights early in the set with one of my favourite tracks Downtown.

If you follow the concept of the new album it’s roughly about a night out on the town and getting rather rat faced and some of the adventures that ensue so it was in that bent I must admit I had one or two beverages during the set and was singing along with the rest of the crowd as we partied Luger Boa style. Fuck The Kids got the crowd going as Jimmy jumped into the crowd and we got our chance to join in the fun. I was lucky and had caught an early peek at the set list and so I was very much anticipating the last two songs of the set and when they came back for their encore I was nicely boiling and ready to explode. The opening chords of the Kiss classic Strutter sent shivers down my spine and the smile on my face grew and I sang along at the top of my voice.  Heheheh yes I’m one of those guys. What a joy it was and songs are made for singing.

Then the thrilling conclusion was 400a. For those that don’t know the song it’s very much a big night anthem with its chorus about getting fucked up a great sing along song leaving the crowd hoarse and Rock n rolled out. What an awesome night of Rock n roll from the three bands The Rascal Kings, Black River Drive and Luger Boa. They all putting on a massive show the crowd amassed loving every moment. The Royal hosted an awesome show.