Black Stone Cherry / Kris Barras Band
Birmingham, O2 Academy
Kentucky rockers make a triumphant return to the UK.
Twenty years after they first emerged from the backwaters of Kentucky, Black Stone Cherry have become entrenched as part of the hard rock firmament – in the UK, at least; their sonic fingerprint can be found everywhere from Walsall (Stone Broken) to South Wales (Those Damn Crows, Florence Black), their sun-soaked riffs and radio-ready choruses proving a winning combination. That same recipe is apparent in tonight’s main tour support the Kris Barras Band, who ease a rapidly filling Academy into the party spirit with some slick rock’n’roll, delivered with enough panache that it isn’t long before the audience is clapping and singing along.
Playing to the converted, BSC seem like conquering champions, coming out to a sold-out venue singing Bohemian Rhapsody. “How about you show Black Stone Cherry some of that love?” quips frontman Chris Robertson, to which the audience digs in with equal fervour to a roaring Me And Mary Jane. The sheer physicality of their sound leaves the rockier songs feeling like a freight train at full speed. Album off-cut Yeah Man is a prime slice of BSC magic; the heft of guitar, bass and drums a solid counterweight to Robertson’s soaring vocal melodies, as if providing a distillation of the band’s DNA.
Darting around their discography, BSC fire out selections from last year’s The
Human Condition (Again, Ringin’ In My
Head) alongside fan-favourites In My
Blood and Blind Man. Although undoubtedly a celebration of the band’s output, the show also takes on a sense of added poignancy given the precarious uncertainty of international touring even now. As Robertson puts it succinctly: “I wish I had some rock-star shit to share, but being on stage with y’all is just the most amazing feeling.”
Striking a balance between joyous and immensely emotional, the show reaches an apex as Robertson stands alone on stage to introduce Things My Father Said, dedicating it to his father who passed away in June. Robertson’s vocal has always had an emotionally soulful edge to it, but with so much contextual weight behind the song it undergoes an emotional metamorphosis. Even as his voice wavers and he has to step away from the mic, the audience provides a serenade that, lit by the glow of thousands of phone torches, is nothing short of magical. “If there’s one crowd I know can carry me, it’s you. I love you from the bottom of my heart,” a tearful, kneeling Robertson says.
The closing run of Hell And High Water through to Lonely Train (via Blame It On The Boom-Boom and White Trash Millionaire) is a stellar reminder of BSC’s anthemic prowess, but by that point the lightning has already struck. A final joyous rendition of Peace Is Free gives one last blast of positivity, the chorus line ‘Don’t you bring your sadness down on me’ a perfect summation of the cathartic release felt as Black Stone Cherry become one of the first international bands to return to touring the UK. As far back as 2009 (when the band got an early taste of UK arenas supporting Nickelback), they haven’t shied away from returning to more intimate venues even as they made their own leap to arenas. In turn, this has clearly strengthened their relationship with UK audiences. But while much is said of music fans’ abilities to connect with music, tonight’s BSC’s show goes to prove it can be even more resonant when that relationship becomes a two-way street.