Live Review : John Corabi & Friends + The Great Alone @ Holy Diver, Stockport on February 17th

John Corabi must have a lot of friends. It’s been 35 years since he first came to public notice as vocalist in The Scream and since then he’s played with all sorts of people. He replaced Vince in Motley Crue for a single album that was possibly one of the best they ever made, he joined with Bruce Kulick in Union, he’s been in and out of The Dead Daisies since their inception and as well as his own solo stuff he’s guested with all kinds of other rock-household names over those years. Essentially, he’s a busy guy. This year though he’s picked a handful of mates to record an album and go out on tour with, and when all done we all wish we had mates like these in our phone contacts?

On drums you’ll find Troy Lucketta from Tesla. Keyboards are manned by Paul Taylor, who you might recognise as a co-founder of Winger. Bass is provided by Michael Devin, his colleague in The Dead Daisies and also touring member of Whitesnake for a good while now. Guitar duties fall to two more well-known faces: Marti Frederiksen is perhaps better known as a producer and songwriter following his 30-year stint working with Aerosmith and many others, but this man knows how to bend six strings to his will. Final friend Jeremy Asbrock has been touring extensively with both Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley’s solo bands and is a well-known studio musician to boot. That’s a pretty impressive circle of friends to have, so the question has to be asked – with that kind of pedigree can this supergroup live up to the hype?

Support band The Great Alone need to warm us up before we find out. They proceed to do that with an eclectic set that ranges from doomy blues rock to rather more happy classic blues rock. Their curveball is singer and founder member Murielle, whose tone is very much from the Siouxsie Sioux school of warbling. The vocals meld with the music pretty well though, especially in a couple of the more spiky, punky songs. The vibe is 80s student indie, and it’s well-performed and well-received. Heads are nodding along and the initial polite smatter of applause becomes an enthusiastic cheer by the time they finish.

On to the main event then, and a quick word about the venue. It’s a fairly new venture and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. It’s a much-needed space for live music in the area and ROCKFLESH wishes them every success.

That said, the space tonight is pretty crowded and from the off the atmosphere in the room is palpable. Whilst John’s main band The Dead Daisies are on a bit of a hiatus this stellar lineup has recorded a new album which is due for release on April 24th and they kick off with the title track ‘New Day’. It’s typical Corabi fare, a laid-back slice of classic rock with a bit of a country song to it. Straight away though the main thing that jumps out is that voice. Whatever he’s working on, Mr Corabi is consistent in the quality of his vocal prowess and it seems this new album will be no exception to that. The rest of the band join in with some cracking harmonies, and the whole vibe is laid back and happy. The new album features heavily in the set, but they still manage to throw in a few old favourites to keep the die-hards happy. We get a couple of The Dead Daisies songs; ‘I’m Gonna Ride’ is dedicated to all the bikers in the room and romps along nicely, as does ‘Do Your Own Thing’.

The pace changes continually as the set goes on, with the emotion of the Union song ‘Love (I don’t need it anymore)’ jostling alongside a fiendishly re-worked version of Motley Crue’s ‘Hooligans Holiday’ which gives the crowd chance to sing and clap along. ‘Midnight Moses’ brings the groove, and new single ‘When I Was Young’ gives us a little pathos and nostalgia wrapped in a boogie-woogie danceable package.

Highlight of the night goes to what should be the encore except there’s no room in the crowded venue for them to leave the stage! The song that started it all, The Scream’s ‘Man In The Moon’ has been performed in all kinds of style from simple acoustic to all-out rocker and tonight we get the latter. It starts as always with John and his acoustic guitar and then BAM! The rest of the band come in and turn it into the power ballad to end all power ballads. Satisfied, the crowd join in with enthusiasm one last time and give it their all to end the night on a spectacular high. It was a fine night spent in fine company, and it sounds like the new album will be well worth a listen when it arrives.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
John Corabi & Friends + The Great Alone