Black Stone Cherry / Kris Barras Band – Rock City – Gig review.

It’s a Monday night in Nottingham and we are off to Rock City, Nottingham’s classic rock venue in the heart of the city. It’s a strange time in history post Covid as we have 3 great bands playing on the same night, Black Stone Cherry at Rock City, Massive Wagons at The Rescue Rooms next door and The Primitives at The Bodega.

The last time we were at Rock City was December 2019 (pre pandemic). Its great to see that venues are now able to open their doors and crowds are returning to see acts which have been restricted from performing for nearly two years. On stage tonight are Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry with support from Kris Barras band.

The fans had arrived early and by 6pm the queue was already back past the tour bus park and growing. As the doors opened the line moved swiftly into the venue with little hold up. Credit to the guys on the doors checking the tickets. Once inside we made our way up the stairs and into the main stage area. We were now in Rock City – the UK’s best live venue!! The colours of the stage lights were shining and there was already a substantial crowd claiming their positions just inches from where the bands will be performing.

First up on Stage was Kris Barras Band opening with their latest single ‘Dead Horses’. They went on to perform a collection of new and existing songs which included the crowd favourite ‘Ignite (Light It Up)’, ‘My Parade’ a cover of ‘ Going Down’ and finished with ‘Hail Mary’.

Black Stone Cherry / Kris Barras Band – Rock City – Gig review.

Whilst Kris had a few technical issues at the start of the set, in no way did it effected the overall performance. Kris even demanded that the band continued with the next song whilst he adjusted his monitors and plugged his guitar in. Being the support act, Kris had an easy time of warming the crowd up as each of his songs were greeted with encouragement and participation from everyone in the venue.

Kris Barras band did a fantastic job in support with their style and performance very much in tune of the main act Black Stone Cherry. Judging by the crowd reaction to the bands setlist , when they return in March 2022 on their head line tour there will be a good turn out by the Nottingham fans.

Kris Barras Band Setlist

Dead Horses (new)

Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Through my Veins

Ignite (Light it Up)

What you get

Who Needs enemies

My Parade

Going Down

These Voices

Hail Mary

A short interval between bands and you could feel the anticipation for the main act rising. Rock City must have been at capacity for the eagerly awaited Black Stone Cherry who had reschedule tonight’s gig from late October 2020. Front man Chris Robertson even commented during the performance that until they landed in the UK they weren’t 100% sure if the reschedule gigs would go ahead. The Rock City DJ’s began playing crowd favourites and the whole place was singing along to classics from Iron Maiden and Queen.

Black Stone Cherry / Kris Barras Band – Rock City – Gig review.

Then ‘Bang!’ out on stage were Black Stone Cherry. The crowd met them with a massive Cheer and it was straight into their opening song, the instantly recognisable ‘Me and Mary Jane’. Then came ‘Burnin’ followed by ‘Again’. The band paused before the next song and reminisced of the time they played Rock City in the late 2000’s. On that early performance was ‘Yeah Man’ which was the next song on tonight’s set list. The crowd obliged with front man Chris’s encouragement to sing along.

Ben Wells produced an energetic performance continually head banging and high kicking his way through the bands firmly established 2 decades worth of music. Ben even provided comical life advice, asking the audience who had attending the gig alone and then professing that they are the smarter ones using the statement ‘Cheaper to drink alone’ as the link to the next song.

Chris Robertson introduced the members of the band each showing off their incredible musical skills. The latest addition to the band is bassist Steve Jewell. A few more songs followed and then it was time for the 2nd biggest rock cliché. The Drum Solo!!. (surely the number one rock cliché is the guitar slolo?). The man with 2 first names ‘John Fred Young’ exploded in a sound and sight of hair, legs, arms and drum sticks and entertained the crowd with his rhythmic beats for the next few moments.

Chris Robertson now alone on darker quieter stage introduces the next song ‘Things My Father Said’ with reflections of how much the song means to him and how much it means to the people/fans who listen to it. It was a humbling moment as he began to play the song. Within seconds of the first notes there was a room full of upstretched arms. Mobile phones in hands with torches lit waving in time to Chris’s performance. A smile came to my face when I saw an old school lighter being waved. Rock ‘n’ Roll is certainly in that fans soul.

It was now the final part of the show with Black Stone Cherry performing ‘Blame it On The Boom Boom’, ‘White Trash Millionaire’ and ‘Lonely Train’ without pause to the delight of the arm waving, cheering and singing along crowd. With a short good bye the band were off the stage.

After a night of songs selected from a back catalogue designed to get the audience excited and singing, more was wanted from the crowd. Shouts of Encore reigned from the audience and Chris Robertson was the first of the band to appear on stage. With the audiences attention he spoke of the impact of the last 2 years have had. His message was clear and that was not to take events, such as the gig tonight, for granted. Chris then began to perform the last of the bands songs ‘Peace is free’ before the rest of Black Stone Cherry joined him on stage for the finally.

Black Stone Cherry Setlist

Me and Mary Jane

Burnin’

Again

Yeah Man

In My Blood

Ringin’ in My Head

Like I Roll

Cheaper to Drink Alone

Hell & High Water

Soulcreek

Devil’s Queen

Drum Solo

Things My Father Said

In Love With the Pain

Blind Man

Blame It on the Boom Boom

White Trash Millionaire

Lonely Train

Encore:

Peace Is Free

Neil

Check out even more from Black Stone Cherry .

http://www.blackstonecherry.com
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Check out even more from Kris Barras Band.

https://www.krisbarrasband.com
YouTube
Spotify
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Apple