Hot off the heels of their recent trek across Europe with WHITESNAKE, the American/Australian supergroup THE DEAD DAISIES made a pit stop in the UK to do a small run of shows up and down the continent. Support came from two new British bands including London Hard Rockers THE WILD LIES and Brighton Classic Rockers COLOUR OF NOISE. I had the privilege of attending the final show on the tour which took place at The Garage in Highbury & Islington in London on December 11^th 2015 and this is my write up of what happened when I was witness to this supergroups live show.

Before the show took place, I headed off for an interview with THE DEAD DAISIES frontman and vocalist John Corabi, where I asked a mixture of questions related to the bands he is in now plus past projects using questions I wrote up myself as well as questions sent in by the fans for the first time. After the interview, I lingered around London for a bit before heading to the venue to be there for doors opening which was at 7pm.

At 7:45pm, the first support band, a local band from London, took to the stage in the form of THE WILD LIES. They played a 25-30 minute set of the material they had released over the past couple of years they have been on the scene, including songs from their "Jack's Out Of The Box" EP as well as their new song. Before the show I did check out some of their work and I did like what I heard as it was very upbeat and energetic rock music and this translated into their performance as they brought their hard rock sound and energy to the stage to deliver a short but sweet performance.
 

At 8:30, the second support band took to the stage and it was a new British Classic Rock band who I've been following for some time now since their formation and that band was COLOUR OF NOISE. I was already familiar with their vocalist Matt Mitchell from his band FURYON and I saw both bands live this year in Brighton so I already had a good taster of both live and both shows were great.
 

Since those gigs, the debut crowd funded album from COLOUR OF NOISE was made, recorded and released. Before the show I was listening to the songs back to back as I really liked how they sounded and it reminded me that the pledge I made for this album was money well spent. The live show from this new Classic Rock band was full of great sounding old school rock music with a modern twist. The songs they played were all from their debut album and their set included in no particular order; "Head On", "Medicine Man", "Temptation", "Can You Hear Me", "Can't Take It With You", "You Only Call Me", "Heavy" and "Hit Rock Bottom".
 

Hearing all of these tunes live twice in the same year was great, as I saw them back in Brighton earlier in the year when they did a pre-Download festival warm up gig, so I already knew what they sounded like, but that show was on a small stage and they were able to take that small stage vibe, and translate it excellently onto a bigger stage.
 

All of the musicians on the stage were working together as one to deliver some memorable and enjoyable Classic Rock songs that will stick with you for a long time to come. This is all thanks down to the charismatic vocals of Matt Mitchell, the shredding guitars from Bruce Dickinson and Dan Electro, the funky bass grooves from Ben Daniel and the excellent drumming beats from Randy Nixon. The end result of all this was a short but sweet set filled with great sounding songs, energetic musicians and great crowd interactions so seeing a local band from the area I live in along the south east coast live twice in the same year was the perfect icing on the cake.
 

At 9:30pm, the main band we had all been waiting for THE DEAD DAISIES took to the stage and this band did not disappoint. On the stage you had six experienced musicians who had all played or performed in some of the biggest names in the Classic Rock scene including members from MOTLEY CRUE, THE ROLLING STONES, GUNS N' ROSES and THIN LIZZY plus many more.
 

Each of the members brought in their own experiences, charisma and musical talent to the show and all throughout their 90 minute headline set, we got a taster of just that from each of the members, which all translated into an electric show that made the crowd go nuts with excitement.
 

Throughout the set, the band played songs from the records they had released so far including their two EP's, their self titled debut and their latest album "Revolucion". Some of these hits included "Mexico", "Evil", "Helter Skelter" (a BEATLES cover), "Midnight Moses" (a Sensational Alex Harvey Band cover), "Devil Out Of Time" , "Lock N Load", "With You And I" and "Angel" to name a few.
 

If those songs weren't enough to satisfy our Classic Rock appetites, the band even found time to throw in a few two covers including "Hush" by Joe South, "Sick As A Dog" by AEROSMITH, "All Right Now" by FREE and "Fortunate Son" by CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL. Although I wasn't familiar with the original songs, they still sounded great when played in the bands set.
 

Throughout the show, there were lots of memorable moments to recall, including the energy being displayed by both the band members on the stage, and the audience members who were all rocking out and singing along with the band as they played their songs. What else is there to mention? Oh yes. The insane drum solo from Brian Tichy which was really nutty to watch.
 

I know there are drummers today who like to show off and give us a taster of their experiences translated into a solo where the spotlight is on them, but no drummer does it better then Brian Tichy. It's hard really to explain it but you'd have to be there to see why his drum solo was amazing to watch as it was full of fast paced drumming, insane energy, parts where his hands were hitting the skins like bongos and there were even drumsticks flying all across the stage. One of them flew off the stage and landed in my hands, which were primed and ready to catch it and fortunately, I was successful and this catch resulted in me owning my first drumstick caught at at a rock show.
 

It wasn't just Brian though that was full of talent of course as the other amazing musicians in the band was also giving it their all, be it Richard Fortus and David Lowy shredding it up on their six string axes, Marco Mendoza giving us some funky bass rhythms, Dizzy Reed rocking out at the back of the stage on the keys or John Corabi belting out the vocal melodies with flair and style while getting the crowd engaged with the songs. All six of these talented and experienced musicians really were in sync with one another and their perfect sync resulted in a great show which will always remain in my memory as an evening of rock and roll magic.

Bottom line, all three of the bands at this show were amazing to watch and with each band that came on, our rock and roll energy was warmed and charged up so come the headline band, we had plenty of it to burn and burn we did as THE DEAD DAISIES are one of those groups who don't just play for the crowd, they play WITH the crowd and that, for me at least, is a good reason why you should see them whenever you can.

Setlist:
1. Midnight Moses (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band cover)
2. Evil
3. Mexico
4. Get Up & Get Ready
5. Hush (Joe South cover)
6. Looking For the One
7. Sick As A Dog (Aerosmith cover)
8. Something I Said
9. Lock N Load
10. All Right Now (Free cover)
11. Drum Solo (followed by a short talkbox guitar and drum battle)
12. With You And I
13. Angel In Your Eyes
14. Devil Out Of Time
15. Helter Skelter (The Beatles cover)
Encore:
16. Face I Love
17. Fortunate Sun (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)