Here we are at Bannerman’s, sadly for Cherie Currie’s last ever UK tour, but first we have Slyder Smith & the Oblivion Kids, a band I have seen a few times now and have always been enjoyable. A different rhythm section tonight with Slyder Smith on guitar/vocals than the last time I saw him with Adam Bam Bam McNaughton on drums and Brian Kerr from Powderkeg on bass.
I think the band is all the better for it judging from tonight’s performance which was a real bouncy swinging affair with the setlist mainly drawn from the 2022 album Charm Offensive. The band opens with the rocking “Pleasure Victim”, a real guitar-driven groover of a song with a bit of a punk vibe meets The Georgia Satellites; great start. “Road Love” keeps the punky vibe whilst bringing in shades of Tom Petty before “Calico Queen” bounces in with its Hanoi Rocks feel, one of my favourites tonight as the band are all grooving on stage with no one standing still, making this a much more enjoyable watch than last time.
The boys power through a few more before we meet another with another nod to Hanoi Rocks in “Crash Landing In Teenage Heaven” – just a quality track. We have “Hey Tonight” and “Song For Lonely Lovers” before Smith delves into his past band, The Last Great Dreamers, with “The Way We Collide”. I’ve mentioned in the past as my preferred version as it’s a bit more rocky. We have a cover of Motorhead’s “Bomber” which was not bad before the boys end the night with the punky bouncy rocker that is “Oblivion Kids”. This was a step up tonight from my perspective as I thoroughly enjoyed their set tonight and the band looked like they were having fun up there and it came through on the music and the way they moved and interacted. More of this please, Slyder! Go catch the boys when you can as a most enjoyable night of rock and roll will be had.
If you like what we do, consider ing us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Now for the main event and a woman I have followed, not in a creepy way I might add, for many a year since her days fronting that seminal all girl band The Runaways. this is Cherie Currie‘s last UK tour, having been lucky enough to have seen her multiple time before I knew it was going to be a great night and she did not disappoint a packed venue tonight. The set tonight is a Runaways heavy setlist as you would expect with some solo tunes in between as Cherie hits the stage to the Neon Angels intro as we are introduced to a triple Runaways hit with the hard rocking “Dead End Justice”, the bouncy rocking “California Paradise” and the fabulous “Queens of Noise” which has the crowd singing along.
We head to Cherie’s solo songs now with one of my absolute fav tracks from her as the drums kick in for the fabulous (and unused Velvet Revolver song) “Mr.X” from her Blvds of Splendor album. The whole album rocks [I couldn’t agree more – Ross] but this bouncing rocker just shows off her voice at its best; just tremendous live. We have the rocker “Roxy Roller” along with the haunting spine tingling “Rock & Roll Oblivion” minus the strings from the album version but stunning nonetheless and the bass-tastic “You Wreck Me”. I’ve said it before, she should play more from her solo albums as much as you want to hear the Runaways songs, Cherie’s solo songs just rock.
The Runaways continue with rarely played songs like the rocker “Secrets” along with the more well known “Midnight Music” and “Is It Day or Night?” and to be fair if it was not for Cherie we would not hear Runaways songs as Lita and Joan Jett rarely, if ever, touch base with their roots. The band play “Wild Thing” with a dedication to the late great Sandy West (Runaways’ drummer) who used to sing this song live. The band end a jam-packed hit list of Runaways songs tonight with what else but that rock-tastic epic that is “Cherry Bomb” – the place is bouncing and rightly so
This was a night of pure rock and roll with Cherie and the band on fire and enjoying every moment on stage. Cherie was in fine voice, Alexx on bass just nailed it, Danny and Christoph trading guitar licks all night and Markus just killing it on the drums. A fabulous, if sad, night knowing that will be the last time we catch sight of the Queen of Noise live on stage here in the UK. Thanks Cherie for all the years of absolute pure rock and roll – you are the one true Chh-chh-chh-cherry Bomb!
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Photos by Gary Cooper
Cherie is eternally a powerful dynamic performer. I refuse to believe there won’t be more from this gifted, resonant voice. How I wish I could’ve been there.