Slash @ SEC Centre, Glasgow (17th February 2019)

with Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons

Words: Joanne Gray

It was certainly a busy night at the SEC Campus on the night that Slash and co. rolled into town. Just across from the SEC, Post Malone was playing the SSE Hydro. I reckon this is the only reason Slash was playing the slightly smaller SEC, as the last time he was here, he was the one playing in that venue. Right up until the gig took place, it was billed that they were going to be playing the 5,000 capacity Hall 3, but they were in fact playing the considerably bigger Hall 4 (a 12,000 capacity room). This was a relief, as it meant Slash was only marginally playing a room smaller than his more contemporary neighbour. Take that, Post Malone! (My views on the biggest thing in 'mumble rap' would be best left for another time though, so let's talk about this gig, shall we?).

Supporting Slash was the project from the former Motörhead lead guitarist, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons. Before this gig, I'd only listened to a song or two from this band so I didn't have much frame of reference for them, other than they sounded a little bit like a hard rock version of Campbell's previous band. This impression was only confirmed upon seeing them live.

Sporting matching denim vests, the Bastard Sons aspect of this band was in fact made up by three of Campbell's sons (which was quite a fun realisation in itself), and former Attack Attack!/ Dopamine vocalist Neil Starr. Phil Campbell was the only one not wearing a vest, and this only highlighted the interesting dynamics on stage. Throughout the set, there was a clear distinction between Campbell's laid back and almost nonchalant style of play to his younger contemporaries, of which, the vocalist was full of a particularly admirable energy. This in itself made this band a better act to watch than if Campbell had formed a band full of older members. Musically, I thought the band were decent but I wasn't entirely excited by them. They had a sound that tended to largely stay in one territory, namely a more mid-paced, accessible and rounded version of what Motörhead did really well. Speaking of which, they did throw out a couple of covers of both Motörhead ('Born To Raise Hell' and 'Ace of Spades') and Hawkwind ('Silver Machine') which were quite fun as a nice little homage to the legendary Lemmy. In terms of their original material, the best parts of this set were when the band moved away from the mid-tempo material. A particular highlight for me was when they played a really cool, almost Black Sabbath esque slower song that really locked into a nice groove. I was less keen on the lead vocals however, as I didn't think there were delivered in a particularly memorable or strong manner. This impression maybe wasn't helped by the fact that the vocals sounded quite low in the mix, particularly at the start of the set. Up against some decent riffing at times, I felt the vocals were the weakest part of this performance. Kudos to the vocalist for being a ball of energy on stage though. This energy, which was evident in the rest of the band, somewhat made up for what I felt was an alright but not incredible performance for me personally. The rest of the crowd seemed more enthusiastic than myself however, and by the end of their set, the room had both filled up considerably and had warmed to them as they went on.

This led to the room feeling rather full by the time Slash and co. came onstage. No chance of us moving any further forward in the crowd then, but luckily the SEC tends to have a relatively decent view of the stage no matter where you stand. Unless you're stuck behind some tall people... which we were...

...You know what, we'll skip over that for the sake of brevity and your general sanity. Onto the music, then.

Opening with the first track of Slash's newest album, 'The Call of the Wild' gave a sneak preview of what to expect during this set. In the way of stage set up, there was only a back drop and a relatively simple light show, and occasional spot light. And a good few songs from last year's album. As I've said on this page before, I wasn't too impressed with the material on that album and, unfortunately, the songs in the live environment didn't do much to change my mind. It's not that the band weren't technically proficient during these songs. It's just that I felt like the songs were not particularly hooky or imaginative, and the energy of the band and audience during these songs did seem to dip quite considerably. Luckily, the band didn't string too many of these newer songs together, which helped with the flow of the set more generally, but also highlighted that these songs are quite a bit weaker than the rest of Slash's back catalogue.

Alongside the obvious additions of the Myles Kennedy songs 'Back from Cali' and 'Starlight', I was particularly happy to see the band also play another 4 songs from the first Slash album ('Ghost', 'By The Sword', 'Doctor Alibi' and 'We're All Gonna Die'). The former two of these were handled particularly well by Kennedy, who is always a joy to listen to in the live environment. More on this later. Paying another nice homage to the one and only Lemmy, the bassist Todd Kerns handled the vocals for the latter two songs. As much as Kennedy's voice is awesome, it was great to see these songs handled with a bit more bite and rawness. These were great fun to watch (even if I'm less keen on the naff lyrics on 'We're All Gonna Die'), and the enthusiasm from the crowd and band seemed to ramp up during these songs. This did pale in comparison with the response to the performance of the only Guns N' Roses cover that night, however. 'Nightrain' managed to get a huge singalong from the crowd which wasn't too far off the response to what Guns N' Roses would be able to achieve. Myles Kennedy really does excel at those Axl Rose vocal lines and manages to give the songs a unique but still charismatic twist. Nice. I would say that this extends to the other material as well. Throughout this set, I really got the sense that Kennedy has  grown into a great frontman for this project, away from his main project and guitar led presence on Alter Bridge. This was particularly evident on the material from the first three Slash albums, where the sheer joy, energy and pace of those songs was evident in the way Kennedy swung the mic stand around and bounded across the stage during songs.

Onto Slash himself then. The technical proficiency of the man is always a joy to watch, and this was certainly the case during this set. Ultimate hero worship for any guitar player or appreciator in general. I did get the feeling throughout however, that there was a bit too much showing off of his chops however. Guitar wankery, if you like. I seem to remember the top hatted legend playing a generous 3 guitar solos throughout the set. Fair enough, it's Slash, like. This only got a bit on the ridiculous side of things when these solos seemed to exceed the 5 minute mark each. The extended solo at the end of 'Wicked Stone' did seem like it actually exceeded 10 minutes (whether or not it was actually 10 minutes or it just felt like it is largely irrelevant but it really did start to drag after a while). For me, solos are good but there is a point in the set where it just feels like too much for any musician, regardless of the actual skill involved. Add to the equation that the crowd was largely quite static yet crowded throughout this gig, the solos really did feel quite long for what they were. For a set that was over 2 hours long, having such long solos only added to a sense of lethargy, both musically and physically. I can only imagine the leg and back pain of other older members in the crowd when someone in their early twenties (me) was struggling towards the end of the set. I couldn't help but feel like these solos did verge on the self indulgent side, and the set overall could have done with only one of these, or a more trimmed down version of 3 solos. It is Slash after all. I wouldn't really expect him to not solo at all...

If the last part feels like a bit of a downer on this review, I suppose it is to some extent, but I did still enjoy this gig as a whole. The whole band feels more like a complete unit on this album cycle than when I saw them a few years ago. Myles Kennedy really has grown into the frontman for this band that someone with the status of Slash really needs to drive any project. I only wish they could have maybe switched out some of those newer songs for some more from their earlier material. And, for the love of God, please cut down the solo-ing just a bit next time Slash, yeah? Hopefully next time they come round, they'll have a stronger album to tour on, and a free space at the Hydro where the show can feel just that little bit 'bigger' (and give some older, and maybe even younger, folks a wee seat for this long a set). Speaking of which, I would like to see a little bit more in the way of stage set up from the band on future bills. You'd reckon that someone with the status of Slash could splash out a little bit more on some more extravagant screens or effects. That's a relatively minor gripe though. Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing Slash and co at Download, as having a more succinct set will mean that they can even better show off what they do really well. 'Mon the top hat.

(PS. Screw you, Post Malone...).

If you want to check out some videos from this set, I've got a couple below.