Black Stone Cherry - Exeter Review

The last couple of months have certainly felt like the return of normality. I have managed to attend quite a few concerts since July, but having two in two days really felt like the return of normal life - at least for me. In the past two (or more) gig weekends were fairly commonplace. Being from the South West, I often have to make trips out of the area to see bands live - so it makes sense to tie gigs together if possible. Living in the South West of late has not been as barren as usual however, as a number of bands have come down to Plymouth and Exeter over the past couple of months. The latest visitor to Exeter to interest me was the Kentucky-based southern rock act Black Stone Cherry - who had not played a gig in the city since 2009. I first got into the band around the time that their second album Folklore and Superstition was released in 2008, and I saw them the following year in Bristol. For some reason, the Exeter show was not on my radar at the time - but the band put on a great show in Bristol. It was clear at the time that they were on the cusp of bigger things, and over the next few years the band's star only rose higher. The next time I saw the band, in 2014, they were headlining one of the large arenas in Birmingham - and the show was filmed for an eventual live album/DVD release. It was a great thing to be a part of, but since that show I have not had the opportunity to see the band live again. Black Stone Cherry have always been popular in the UK, and tour here regularly as a result. It was just the case that every tour that they announced since 2014 took place during very busy times for me - with their gigs often clashing with others that I already had tickets for. It was always disappointing, but I have long resigned myself to the fact that you cannot do everything. It was with excitement then that I greeted the announcement of another Black Stone Cherry tour in early 2020 - especially as it contained a show at Exeter University's Great Hall. The Great Hall is a criminally underused venue, and one that I have only been to a handful of times as a result. A band with Black Stone Cherry's popularity would easily fill it, but of course expectations had to be tempered when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the concert to be postponed. The show was essentially delayed by a whole year, but with the UK now essentially open for business the American band were able to travel and play their lengthy set of UK shows - even though shows scheduled in the rest of Europe have been postponed again. The length of the UK tour made it worthwhile for the band to still visit, and with sold out shows up and down the country it would seem that Black Stone Cherry are as popular as ever.

Prior to Black Stone Cherry taking the stage, the growing crowd was treated to a strong showing from the Kris Barras Band - who romped through a nine-song set with ease. Being from Torquay, Exeter was the closest thing to a hometown show for Barras and there were clearly quite a few fans of his in attendance. I was familiar with some of Barras' work, but with the majority of the set taken up with new material from an album that is set to be released next year much of Barras' set was unknown to me. This did not hamper my enjoyment of it however, as the new songs were strong. Opener Dead Horses in particular stood out, and gave an indication of where Barras wants to go next. With bandmate Josiah J. Manning (guitar/vocals) having recently switched from keyboards to guitar, the Kris Barras Band are clearly now going for a somewhat heavier sound. I did miss Manning's Hammond organ, which has always been a big part of the band's sound, but the twin-guitar attack worked well too - and gave Barras an opportunity to indulge in the odd twin-lead guitar harmony. These moments certainly pleased the crowd, as did Barras' many excellent guitar solos. The atmosphere throughout was great as a result and due to the amount of fans in attendance there was plenty of singing to be heard. The chorus of Ignite (Light It Up) was sung back at the band loudly, while even one of the newer songs My Parade attracted plenty of attention. Despite moving away from his bluesy roots somewhat with his new songs, Barras' blues credentials were highlighted during a strong version of the old blues standard Going Down - but for me the overall highlight of the set was the rousing closing number Hail Mary. I knew that the song was one of Barras' signature tunes, but I had not heard it before the concert. Hearing it live for the first time, however, was great - and the bluesier side of Barras' playing was again on display with some occasional slide licks. The chorus also featured plenty of singing from the crowd, and during the song it was easy to forget that the Kris Barras Band were not headlining the night - such was the reaction. It was a great end to a strong set, and I will definitely be checking out the band's new album when it is released next year. The setlist was:

Dead Horses

Rock 'n' Roll Running Through My Veins

Ignite (Light It Up)

What You Get

Who Needs Enemies

My Parade

Going Down [Moloch cover]

These Voices

Hail Mary

Half an hour or so following Barras' set, the stage was cleared and the lights went down. The cheer from the crowd was the largest that I had heard in a while (this was the biggest gig that I had been to for quite some time after all) and it really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Black Stone Cherry are a band that are great at whipping up a crowd, and their live sound is much heavier and freer than how they present themselves on their albums. From seeing their Facebook posts, the rest of the tour had been great - and the band were full of energy when they hit the stage with Me and Mary Jane. The crowd were instantly singing the song back at them - and this is something that happened during basically every song of the set. It was clear too that, given the postponement of the original tour, that the band really wanted to give the crowd their money's worth. An 18-song set that covered all of the band's seven studio albums was certainly worth the price of admission - and it was great to hear a mix of the band's classic tracks as well as newer numbers and some deeper cuts. Early on the newer hits came thick and fast, with Burnin' and Again keeping the energy levels high, before the first deeper cut in the form of the old b-side Yeah Man took me back to that Bristol show in 2009. With the exception of a couple of slower songs later in the set, the rest of the set was upbeat and hard-rocking. Even the band's more country-tinged songs such as In My Blood and Like I Roll were rocked up with extended jams - as well as plenty of soloing from Chris Robertson (vocals/guitar) and Ben Wells (guitar/vocals). In fact most of the songs were stretched out somewhat, and it was great to hear the band really going for it. There were some 1970s-esque jam band vibes at times - particularly during the funky Cheaper to Drink Alone which featured plenty of riffing as well as some additional percussion from roadie Jeff Boggs.

A real highlight for me however was the inclusion of Devil's Queen - which has always been one of my favourite Black Stone Cherry songs. I had never seen the band play the song live before, and the loose version played really hit the spot. It lacked the roaring Hammond organ of the studio version, but the shredded guitar leads more than made up for it - with Robertson and Wells closing the piece with a lengthy back-and-forth solo. This led into a drum solo from the flamboyant and hard-hitting John Fred Young - which again was a trip back to the 1970s when such things were commonplace. By this point the band were about three quarters of the way through the set, so all that was left was bona fide classics. Robertson's solo rendition of Things My Father Said was poignant, but for me it was tracks like Blind Man, White Trash Millionaire, and the closing southern metal of Lonely Train that really took the roof off at the end of the night. The classic tracks were a powerful way to end the set; which made the choice to encore with a ballad, Peace Is Free, somewhat strange. The song is a good one, but following such a relentless barrage of energy the choice was an odd one - especially as Robertson's voice was somewhat ragged at the end of a long set of hard rockers. It would have been better to have included the song earlier in the set, and encored with something heavy to really end the evening on a high. This was the only criticism I could level at the band however, as they owned the Exeter stage during their time in the city - and the large crowd certainly went home happy after such a powerful showing. The setlist was:

Me and Mary Jane

Burnin'

Again

Yeah Man

In My Blood/Island Jam

Ringin' in My Head

Like I Roll

Cheaper to Drink Alone

Hell and 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

-

Peace Is Free

Despite having been to a few gigs so far this year, Black Stone Cherry was the first on the bigger side that I have managed to get to - so it felt like more of an event as a result. While I think that some of the other performances that I have seen this year so far have been better overall, it was great to be back in a larger venue with a lot of people watching a big touring band. It was also great to see Black Stone Cherry live again, as it had been seven years since my last experience of them in concert. They are a band that will always put on a good show, and are always worth seeing if the opportunity presents itself.