Y&T - Nottingham Review

After finally taking the plunge last November and going to see Y&T, I knew that I had been missing out all these years! Without fail, Y&T undertake a fairly lengthy UK tour around October/November time every year. While I had been a casual fan of the band for sometime, they were always a band that became victims of busy schedules. This time of year is always busy, with lots of bands touring, and the regularity of Y&T's schedule made them an easy one to pass up on knowing forwell that they would be back the next year. I finally decided to commit to a Y&T show last year however, and I am glad that I did as it turned out to be a fantastic evening out. While the crowd at the O2 Academy in Bristol was not as large or as loud as it could have been, the band still played around two hours of music from throughout their extensive back catalogue. As soon as the dates for 2017's UK tour was announced I bought a ticket, this time opting for the show in Nottingham as it was on a weekend. Rock City is one of my favourite venues in the UK and it is always great to go back to the Midlands city that I spend so much time in during my years at University. It seems that Y&T are a much bigger draw in Nottingham than they are in Bristol, and Rock City was pretty busy throughout the evening.

Support came in the form of the local Nottingham band Knives who hit the stage about 15 minutes after the venue opened and kept the growing crowd entertained for around 45 minutes. Given the dress and overall styles of some of the band members I was expecting a set of punk, but the band turned out to be a competent melodic rock act with some strong material. Being a local band, there were quite a few friends and fans of Knives in the audience and this helped to create a good atmosphere throughout their set. Most of their songs were quite simple, but were often built around melodic choruses that were easy to latch onto after only a couple of hearings. Knives gave a good account of themselves at Rock City and the cheer as they left the stage should tell them that it was a job well done.

It was Y&T that I was here to see however, and they hit the ground running with the hard rocking Black Tiger and the energy and class did not let up at all throughout their two hour set. Having only seen the band a year ago (almost to the day) I was surprised just how different the setlist was this time around, with only the real classic songs retained and others replaced by other deep cuts. Dave Meniketti (vocals/guitar) is one of the most underrated singers/guitarists/songwriters in rock, and he proved this over and over throughout the set, with pretty much every song containing a blistering guitar solo for him really to sink his teeth into. Lipstick and Leather and Straight Thru the Heart kept the energy going early on, before an extended version of the bluesy Dirty Girl allowed rhythm guitarist John Nymann a chance to share the spotlight with Meniketti with some soloing of his own. Mean Streak brought about some of the biggest cheers of the early part of the set, before a couple of songs from one of Meniketti's solo albums were featured. The highlight of the two was the muscular blues of Storm, which led nicely into the classic Y&T ballad Winds of Change. Meniketti dedicated this song to Joey Alves, Phil Kennemore, and Leonard Haze; who made up three quarters of Y&T's original and most-classic line-up; who are all now sadly no longer with us. Meniketti is the only original member of the band still alive, and he leads this current version of the band perfectly, and the musicians he has picked really help to keep the legacy of Alves, Kennemore, and Haze alive while keeping Y&T a hard-rocking unit for the 21st Century. From then on, the set was mostly packed full of more upbeat, rocking songs. Masters and Slaves saw a rare outing, before fan-favourite Hang 'em High was greeted with a huge cheer, with the chorus being sung back at the band with real force. I Believe in You was the last of the 'slower' numbers featured before a killer version of Contagious reinstated the party atmosphere. I mentioned in my review of last year's show in Bristol that the songs from the band's late 1980's AOR-inspired era felt a little flat live due to the lack of keyboards and big backing vocals, but thankfully this did not seem to the case this time. Contagious really rocked the place, before an extended solo section took over showcasing the skills of both Aaron Leigh (bass guitar/vocals) and Mike Vanderhule (drums/vocals). Summertime Girls had more power this time around as well, and was unsurprisingly given one of the biggest receptions of the night as it is one of the band's most well-known songs. The sloppy blues rock of both Barroom Boogie and Squeeze, the latter featuring Nymann on lead vocals, created a great atmosphere towards the end of the set, before everything came to an end with I'm Coming Home, sadly the only cut from 2010's excellent Facemelter featured this time around. There was of course time for a few more however, and Meniketti asked the crowd what they wanted to hear, and chose one of my personal favourite Y&T numbers Midnight in Tokyo out of the ones called out by those down the front. This was a triumph, and was followed aptly by the ever-present setlist staples Rescue Me and Forever to cap of a wonderful evening of hard rock. The setlist was:

Black Tiger
Lipstick and Leather
Straight Thru the Heart
Dirty Girl
Eyes of a Stranger
Mean Streak
Lay Me Down [Dave Meniketti solo material]
Storm [Dave Meniketti solo material]
Winds of Change
Masters and Slaves
Hang 'em High
I Believe in You
Contagious
Drum Solo
Rock & Roll's Gonna Save the World
Summertime Girls
Barroom Boogie
Squeeze
I'm Coming Home
-
Midnight in Tokyo
Rescue Me
Forever

In a few years time, after a taking in a few more of their shows, Y&T could well become one of my very favourite live bands. They have a no-nonsense approach to shows, and help to repay their regular fans by keeping the setlists fresh each year. It was great also to meet Nymann too at the merch stall after the show to get my copy of Facemelter signed, which was an added bonus on top of an already excellent night.