Chickenfoot

One of the albums that I’ve been listening to this year even after the review, was Chickenfoot’s debut album. As a piece of rock this stands up and as an example of when supergroups can actually work it really stands out – Crosby Stills Nash & Young these guys ain’t!

Sammy Hagar is one of the ballsiest vocalists that rock has found – he may only be 5 foot 6 inches but he belts it out without any reservations. Joe Satrianai is THE primo shredder but he can also riff and belt out the boogie. Michael Anthony held down bass duties with Van Halen for years and perfectly balances Chad Smith’s blistering drumming. Together they make rock sound like fun again and somehow manage to do it without clichés (well not too many – these guys wrote most of the clichés so they are entitled to use them).

The deluxe edition gives us a bonus track but more importantly it gives us a bunch of concert footage and when you have a band with the live history that Van Halen, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Joe Satriani can put up you can expect some great live material and this does all of that.

Looking at the concert material it does seem to be a meeting of like minds – they might not be forming a permanent band but they are enjoying the action while it lasts.

Anyone familiar with the album is going to enjoy these tracks in their video format and the videos that go with them newcomers will simply get a treat.

Shinedown HMV Forum, Kentish Town

Unfortunately, no Florida sun was shining down on the Forum last Wednesday night. In fact, it was pouring down buckets. Thankfully though, it was a different story inside the venue, for Florida-based rockers Shinedown delivered a truly captivating show.

The evening kicked off with Counterpoint and Chigaco rock band Soil as support act. Soil did a fair job as far as support bands go, though the audience got a little impatient and called for the main act to come on stage. After a half-an-hour pause that seemed more like an hour, Shinedown finally appeared and got straight into action with their biggest hit Sound Of Madness. This was followed by Save Me and the melodious 45, a wonderful track with poignant lyrics that resembles slight echoes of Pearl Jam. In between songs, frontman Brent Smith interacted with the audience – sharing thoughts and anecdotes and whatever else he felt like sharing with his fans. It proved to be somewhat of a mixed blessing, however. While some fans appreciated his spoken-word-intervals, others wished he would stick to singing.

The rest of the band - which are guitarist Zach Myers, drummer Barry Kerch and bassist Eric Bass – gave an equally energetic performance. Other songs from the repertoire included the hard rockin’ Cry For Help and Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide.

Shinedown have so far sold over six million albums worldwide. Given their talent for penning meaningful lyrics, those figures shouldn’t come as a surprise. The band’s song-writing skills are especially evident in tracks like the emotionally charged The Crow And The Butterfly or the touching Call Me.

Throughout the night, the atmosphere was charged with a high voltage vibe and the audience danced along, clapped along and yelled along till the show was over.

Shinedown weren’t left off the hook that easily and were called back for some bonus songs. 'We look forward to see you in 2010' promised Brent. It’s a safe assumption to make that Shinedown’s British fans look forward to it just the same.
(gig pic by © Kari Culver)

Rihanna 'Secret' Gig - Brixton Academy

All hush, hush when Rihanna arrived at her 'secret’ London location – Brixton Academy to launch new material for her upcoming album- R Rated. On arrival, it appeared the 'US cat’ was out of the bag as crowds of fans swarmed outside, the hype had seemingly paid off. Drawing up to the stage door in a fleet of black cars, SW4’s night was alight with the flood of paparazzi camera bulbs.

Fans were rushed in before the 8pm witching hour, as VIPs took the balcony and others to the main area. Huge screens were erected and the stage set up with mannequins, televisions and video backdrops - then came the build up. Fans shrieked in embarrassment as their faces appeared on the screens and amass of twittering on the latest contract phones started as the worldwide online screening began,.

A masked and studded Rihanna then appeared to debut her new tracks..Starting with 'Madhouse’ as a warm up, she then fired up the crowd with her scream of 'Let’s get this party started,.London’. Her dramatic video backdrops were a creative haven of images as she continued to rock the academy, with 'Wait your Turn’, 'Russian Roulette’, the old favourite; 'Don’t Stop The Music’ and a new take on 'Disturbia. Maybe way of the mark, but lip-synching may have been going down on a few tracks. All is forgiven too for continually plugging her sponsors, as Rihanna took the crowds to new heights with guests; Jezzy dueting on 'Hard’ then the infamous Jay-Z joined her to crazed, deafening cheers from the academy – as they completed the mini-concert with 'Run This Town’ and 'Umbrella’.

Dramatic, defiant, Rihanna knows what she does – and does it untamed.