All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography
It was back to the 80's night at Warehouse Live Midtown on April 26th as GREAT WHITE, SLAUGHTER and QUIET RIOT rolled into town as part of a weekend jaunt through Texas. Also on the bill for this show was the PARTRIDGE FAMILY of hard rock, LILIAC.
Things to be running band from the get-go on this evening as LILIAC took the stage, led by vocalist Melody Cristea, one of 4 siblings that make up the current lineup of the band along with Samuel Cristea (lead guitar), bassist Ethan Cristea and Justin Cristea on keyboards. Though they started as a covers band they have released albums of original material in the form of Queen Of Hearts (2020) and Madness last year. They performed a spirited set combining some of their best known covers with the original content and got the crowd amply warmed up for the night ahead. One thing I couldn't figure out as the night went along though was how they appeared to get their entire 30 minute set time and yet SLAUGHTER and GREAT WHITE at least had to shorten theirs? Normally any set cuts start at the bottom.....but I digress.
Next up was QUIET RIOT. Now while one might argue that a band with no 'original' members in it might not be legitimate and a cover band at best, the return of bass legend Rudy Sarzo to the lineup certainly brought soma additional interest. The band is now all about keeping the music and legacy of the departed members alive and with the band consisting of Sarzo, guitarist Alex Grossi, drummer Johnny Kelly (TYPE O NEGATIVE) and vocalist Jizzy Pearl they continue to do so at a high level. Both Grossi and Pearl had been part of the QR previously and from watching the show I for one think Jizzy does an excellent fronting the band. His voice lends itself to the Kevin Dubrow-style of old and is quite the showman to boot as they launched into "Run For Cover" to start the show, followed by classics "Slick Black Cadillac" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now". It was apparent the band is all about having a good time reliving these classic songs and the crowd was more than happy to tag along for the ride, especially when it came to the rousing, one-two punch of the closing numbers "Cum On Feel The Noize" and "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)".
SLAUGHTER was up next, crashing the stage with "Mad About You", "Burning Bridges" and "Spend My Life". Bassist Dana Strum and guitarist Jeff Blando continue to anchor down the axe corps while current drummer Jordan Cannata, who replaced Zoltan Chaney is an absolute beast behind the kit. Chaney was himself an animal behind the kit and, sorry Mark, was a considerable draw for the band fan-wise. So to say that Cannata had big shoes to fill was an understatement and he more than exceeded expectations in my opinion. He was just as much of, if not more the showman and during a brief solo in the latter part of the set the video screen behind him projected the Muppet Animal walking out and turning to look at the crowd as he 'oversaw' what Jordan was doing. Really the only weak link in the set at all has to be frontman Mark Slaughter, sorry to say. Don't get me wrong, I have always loved SLAUGHTER's music and Mark's vocals but over the last several years he seems to struggle to cover said material at a high level and though the overwhelming majority of the set was performed at a decent level, the weakness really reared its ugly head during the hit "Fly To The Angels". His command of the higher vocal registers was shot by this point and it was actually painful to watch/listen to. Still overall it was a great set by the band and certainly kept the 80's hairband theme of the night going. One final note here, at least one song, maybe two were cut from the set that was posted on the stage, "Real Love" and "Eye To Eye", which they only played a snippet of.
GREAT WHITE was the headliner for the night and from the moment they took the stage with "Desert Moon" it was clear that they can still fire on all cylinders even after 45+ years in the business. The core trio of longtime members Mark Kendall (lead guitar), Michael Lardie (keyboards, rhythm guitar) and drummer Audie Desbrow continue to lead the charge and fly the flag of hard rock as they rolled through such favorites as "Lady Red Light", "Stick It", "Rollin' Stoned" and "Mista Bone".
Now I have seen the band with each of the vocalists Jack Russell and Terry Ilous, I missed their one appearance in Houston (I believe) with Mitch Malloy, so I was really interested in seeing how the new kid on the block Brett Carlisle would do. And when I say 'kid' I pretty much mean that. At just 26 (?!) years of age, he's less than half the age of any of the other band members but let me tell you, he's the real deal. This guy has the pipes and charisma to pull off the GREAT WHITE catalog and with absolutely no disrespect to long time vocalist Terry Ilous, whom I thought was great fronting the band, Carlisle seems to be the embodiment of a young Jack Russell in his stylings as he pulled off numbers "The Angel Song", "The Big Goodbye" and "Save Your Love" with ease. The band closed out the night with the classic "Rock Me" and the mega-hit cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Also noted here, it looks Like heir set was also cut by two songs, "Face The Day" and "Big Time".
Although there's plenty of newer bands and music that's worth checking out these days, it's nice to travel back in time every now and then and remember the good old days in the best era of metal...the 80's, even if we can't use Aqua Net and still fit into those spandex or (gasp!) parachute pants!
Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography
