Living proof that 70s rock will never fade away
THE crowd at Rock City on Saturday were treated to a smorgasbord of rock when Graham Bonnet, FM and headliners The Dead Daisies showed that they were well and truly back after an enforced pandemic break.
Graham Bonnet is a revered rock vocalist whose career has included stints with the Michael Schenker Group and Rainbow. Now touring with The Graham Bonnet Band, he kicked off with Rainbow’s Eyes Of The World, which saw the first singalong of the night.
He delivered All Night Long and Since You’ve Been Gone, with the crowd helping him with the high notes, before a brilliant Desert Song and Night Games got a great reaction.
Rounding off his seven-song set list with Lost In Hollywood, he demonstrated that the stage had undoubtedly been graced by a true legend.
Up next, mixing up the classics from their albums, FM impressed with a sixsong setlist. A lively Synchronised opened the show before the twin guitar intro to Bad Luck grabbed the crowd’s attention.
With frontman Steve Overland’s sublime vocals had his ageless voice showcasing their timeless, melodic rock songs.
After Killed By Love, with its chorus made for crowd participation, old favourites Tough Night and I Belong To The Night followed, both rapturously received, before they brought things up to date with set closer and new song Turn This Car Around.
When the rock supergroup The Dead Daises were formed in 2012, they were essentially a vanity project for Australian millionaire David Lowy, but with this current line-up that includes Whitesnake’s Doug Aldrich and Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, their serious intent is evident.
Delivering a slick and professional set which saw them open with the monster hardrocking Long Way To Go, the band were immediately on point.
Unspoken, with its rock steady rhythm guitar, was followed by Rise Up and Dead And Gone before new song Radiance, with its crunchy guitar and at times soaring vocals from Hughes, was given an introduction.
They treated the crowd to a very heavy cover of Creedance Clearwater Revival’s classic Fortunate Son before Brian Tichy offered up one of his mindblowing drum solos that saw drumsticks flying all over the stage.
Bustle And Flow was a hard heavy song as was My Fate, but the crowd’s appreciation for Deep Purple’s Mistreated and encore song Burn served to show that 70’s classic rock is still alive and kicking.