Y&T - Cardiff Review

Y&T are one of those bands who possibly live on more in who they influenced than their own music. While this is certainly a very generalised statement, and the band are still an extremely popular live draw, they are one of those bands who the greats love but never really had them same impact as those who followed in their footsteps. If this gets to Dave Meniketti (vocals/guitar), then he never lets it show. The band have been around since 1974, but found the most success throughout the 1980s. The six albums that the band released throughout the 1980s are all excellent examples of 1980s hard rock which, on the whole, does not fall into the AOR and hair metal traps that littered the decade. Y&T were a much tougher, bluesier band than many of their peers, but they still knew how to craft a strong hook and melody - which helped their material to be memorable as well as hard rocking. Despite Meniketti being the band's only original member left, and in fact still alive, Y&T are still tour heavily. Despite not releasing a studio album since 2010, the band still play a good number of dates each year - including, usually, a decent-length UK trek. 2018 however did not see the band's traditional Winter tour. A headline tour had been eschewed for a run of support slots with Saxon, but health issues meant that the band had to pull out of the tour. It had therefore been a couple of years since the last spate of Y&T headline shows here in the UK, so I would imagine the band's fans immediately picked up tickets as soon as they went on sale earlier this year - I know I did! 2019 is also the band's 45th anniversary, and throughout the year the band have been playing a gradually-evolving setlist that includes songs from all twelve of their studio albums - from 1976's self-titled debut album to 2010's Facemelter. Y&T tend to switch up their setlists year on year in any case, but even by their standards 2019's tour has seen a lot of rarities included - including some songs that had not been played live previously. Having seen the band in Bristol and Nottingham previously, this year I opted for Cardiff. I do not get to Cardiff as often as I should, and as the show fell on a weekend it made it easier to plan around work commitments. The show took place at the Tramshed, a new venue for me, which proved to be a decent space. It was not as big as some of the pictures make it appear, but that meant that the decent-sized crowd that was packed into the space made it look full throughout the evening. The place did not particularly impress from a sound point of view however as, from my spot on the barrier down at the front at least, the sound was quite messy throughout the evening. It seemed that the crew thought that the best sound was achieved by turning everything up really loud - which certainly meant that some of the subtleties of the music were often lost.

Before Y&T's customary two-hour set however, the growing crowd was treated to a seven-song set from Bare Knuckle Messiahs - a newly-formed band fronted by ex-Tigertailz frontman Kim Hooker. This was in fact the band's first ever show, and Hooker led his new band through a powerful set that included material from their newly-released debut album That Which Preys on the Dead and some old Tigertailz favourites. Despite being a new band, both Cy Danahar (guitar) and Andy Skinner (drums) were part of the Wazbones-era of Tigertailz with Hooker, while bassist JJ is a veteran of the Welsh rock scene. Bare Knuckle Messiahs suffered from the same sound issues that plagued the night, but they powered through and kicked things off nicely with two new tracks in the form of Smash It Up and If Your Face Is Your Fortune. The new material is much heavier than Tigertailz ever were, but that suits Hooker's deeper vocal style now. He sounded great, and added some extra guitar to the sound while Danahar ground out the main riffs and tore through a few tortured-sounding solos. The band are certainly no hair metal throwback, and even the times they dipped into the Tigertailz catalogue they took their cues from Wazbones - an album that was much heavier than the albums that it followed. There were clearly a few fans in, as when Hooker introduced Dirty Needles an audible cheer was heard, and the thrashy Tear Your Fucking Heart Out really started to shake away any pre-gig cobwebs with quite a lot of us down at the front headbanging along to the band. They only had 30 minutes to play with, which did not leave much time for pleasantries, but the band's music more than did the talking. By the time Spit in Your Eye came around, which heralded the end of the set, I think it is fair to say that the band had made their mark, and many in attendance certainly made their appreciation heard. For a first show it was a triumph, dodgy sound aside, and I really hope that this is a band that we will be hearing a lot more about in the future. The setlist was:

Smash It Up
If Your Face Is Your Fortune
Belly of the Beast [Tigertailz cover]
That Which Preys on the Dead
Dirty Needles [Tigertailz cover]
Tear Your Fucking Heart Out [Tigertailz cover]
Spit in Your Eye

By the time Y&T took to the stage just before 9pm, the Tramshed looked pretty rammed. The band are an extremely reliable act, and there are probably many like me who return time and time again to see them. As promised, the set was a mix of fan favourites and very deep cuts - but things got underway on a fairly familiar note with the hard rock anthems of Hurricane and Lonely Side of Town kicking everything off. Despite being backed by three stellar musicians, Meniketti is - and always has been - the main focal point of Y&T. His strong, bluesy voice has lost none of its power over the years; and his guitar playing is still second-to-none. He is definitely one of the most underrated players that there is, and he tore into a great solo in every song - with the crowd continuing to be wowed after each one. The biggest reaction early on was reserved for Black Tiger, before the first of the rarities in Come in from the Rain took the crowd back to the early 1990s. The sound issues meant the the vocal harmonies of the late 1980s/early 1990s material were lost in the mix somewhat, but the songs were still powerful moments. Mean Streak and Midnight in Tokyo returned to the glory days, and it was great to hear the 'proper' version of Midnight in Tokyo rather than the stripped-down version that the band have been playing in recent years. By this point everyone was on board with the band, and sung the song's opening twin-guitar harmony very loudly, which pleased everyone on the stage. Of the rarities played, it was probably the upbeat Face Like an Angel and the early stomper Struck Down that impressed the most. The band rarely play anything from their first two albums live, so the latter in particular was a highlight. It was also one of the few songs to feature some soloing from John Nymann (guitar/vocals) who proved to be a capable shredder in his own right with an excellent run of notes. He was also featured throughout the newer I Want Your Money, which saw him take the first of the song's two solos, before Menketti stole the show with a lengthy, solo-heavy version of I Believe in You. The song has never been one of my favourite Y&T songs, but it seems be a be a fan favourite - and live it is always stretched out with lots of soloing from Meniketti. It was his main showcase moment, and he demonstrated over and over again why he is held in such regard by many. Everything that followed felt like a victory lap, with another rarity in 21st Century closing with some impressive drumming from Mike Vanderhule before the late 1980s singles Contagious and Summertime Girls got everyone singing along - particularly the former. By this point it was hit after hit, and Rescue Me got everyone moving one last time before the epic I'm Coming Home closed out the main set with its excellent main riff and hooky chorus. The curfew was looming by this point, but there was still time for a couple more. The gorgeous ballad Sail on By received a rare outing, to the crowd's delight, before arguably the band's signature song Forever rounded everything out nicely. Everyone shouted the song's chorus back at the band, and they took their bows afterwards to huge cheers. From this evidence, and despite the sound issues, it seems that the band's latest UK trek is going to be another successful one. The setlist was:

Hurricane
Lonely Side of Town
Don't Stop Runnin'
Black Tiger
Come in from the Rain
Mean Streak
Midnight in Tokyo
Face Like an Angel
Anytime at All
Earthshaker
Struck Down
I Want Your Money
I Believe in You
Hang 'em High
21st Century
Contagious
Summertime Girls
Rescue Me
I'm Coming Home
-
Sail on By
Forever

After the show I managed to have a quick chat with Hooker who was hanging out by the bar, and he signed my copy of Wazbones which was nice. Both the bands are ones I would see again (and have seen multiple times in Y&T's case) so I will be looking out for further opportunities to see both. Despite the sound this was an excellent night out in Cardiff, and it was great to hear some many Y&T songs live that I had not heard them play previously.