Y&T - Wolverhampton Review

It was often a given that during late October and early November the US hard rockers Y&T would tour the UK. You could almost set you watch by their touring schedule, and probably guess the venues, too, but last year's tour, which I caught in London, was the band's first over here since 2019. Fittingly those tours celebrated the band's 45th and 50th anniversaries, so felt like special occasions, but the pandemic and Dave Meniketti's (vocals/guitar) battle with prostate cancer kept the band away from Europe for five years. The band still played sporadically in the US whilst Meniketti received treatment, but I doubt at the time he was up for big touring cycles - and travelling long distances is generally not advised when going through treatment for cancer. The UK fans missed their yearly outing to see the band, then, but understood why. Thankfully, though, Meniketti seems to have beat the cancer. He is currently in remission, so has been back to his old self for a while now - which means that the band's yearly pilgrimages to the UK can happen once again. As such, the 2024 show I went to in London last year felt like a special occasion. Having been starved of Y&T live action for five years, the O2 Academy in Islington was packed - uncomfortably so really. I did not realise just how full the venue was until I had to use the toilet about half way through and ended up being stuck at the very back for the rest of the night with a poor view. There were people with poorer views than me, though, stuck in the door to the foyer - which makes me think that too many tickets had been sold really. The band have opted for the larger Islington Assembly Hall this time, which is likely wise given how popular they remain as a live act, but my choice for 2025's tour was KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton. This continues my trend of seeing the band in a different city and venue each time - with Wolverhampton now joining Bristol, Nottingham, Cardiff, and London. It is not surprising that a band like Y&T would enjoy somewhere like KK's Steel Mill. They are a proper old-fashioned hard rock band and the venue is, despite being fairly new, a proper old-fashion rock venue. The band even commented on such during the show - and it is a favourite of many bands, gig-goers, and myself for its overall vibe, set-up, and facilities. I was last in the city in September, for nights with both FM and Ricky Warwick - so it was nice to return again so soon. The trip up from Bristol could have been an eventful one, given that there had been a fatality on the railway south of Bristol which was causing a lot of delays to trains coming from the South West. I ended up getting an earlier train which was starting at Bristol, as it looked like the one I was supposed to get would be cancelled - but it ended up not being cancelled, so luckily my ticket was not checked too closely. As such I ended up in Wolverhampton an hour before I was supposed to - which meant a leisurely Wetherspoons lunch and a nice relax in the hotel, avoiding the rain, before walking up to the venue ready for a night of rock.

Despite the show being advertised as an 'Evening with...'-type arrangement, which generally means no support act, the growing crowd was treated to 30 minutes of AOR from Powell-Payne before the main event. As far as I am aware, none of the other shows on the tour have had a support act - and there was no support act when I saw the band last year, either. Strangely enough, though, I remember last year's KK's Steel Mill show having Chez Kane as the support act - so perhaps KK's Steel Mill is one of those venues that insists on there being a support act. I recently learnt that this was a thing during Fish's final tour, as he had to have a support act at a handful of the shows. Regardless, though, Powell-Payne only had half an hour to play with - and given that the venue handily published the set times ahead of the doors opening I got there not long before the support act started. Formed recently by former Psycho Kiss drummer Mark Powell and former Airrace frontman Adam Payne - the duo released their debut album last year via Frontiers Records. Joined by guitarist Aydan Watkins and bassist Alex Anderson, the duo ran through a handful of melodic rock pieces from the album to start off the night. I am a big fan of AOR and all things melodic rock, but the Frontiers sound can get quite tiresome after a while. It seems that the label is somewhat slowing down when it comes to endless cookie-cutter AOR projects, which is no bad thing, but Powell-Payne shows that there is still love at the label for such. As such, whilst the band's music was competent and even enjoyable in places - it was everything that all long-term AOR fans that occasionally get suckered in by Frontiers Records have heard multiple times at this point. Slightly heavy guitar riffs, keyboards on a backing track, and decent choruses that never quite take hold essentially summed up the band's sound. Nothing felt like a failure but at the same time nothing felt like a winner. Watkins impressed with some melodic, shredded guitar solos, and Payne still possesses the strong voice I remember from the final Airrace album, but very little seemed to jump out. The most musically interesting part of the set was an excellent melodic bass intro to one of the songs, just because it was something different, but otherwise the set was very much Frontiers 101. That being said, the band did manage to garner something of a reaction. The crowd were slow to catch on, but by the end there seemed to be a few enjoying what they were doing - with the last couple of numbers getting some louder cheers and there was even a brief sing-a-long at one point. For me, though, the set never really felt like it came alive - and this is likely down to my fatigue when it comes to this kind of sound. I certainly did not hate the set, and it passed 30 minutes pleasantly enough, but I did not come away with a copy of the band's album - which probably sums up my overall view.

It was only half an hour following Powell-Payne's set that the lights went down again and Y&T took to the stage as the intro to Black Tiger played - before launching into the song proper. This was my fifth time seeing the band, and the first where everything that they played I had already seen them do live before. They are generally good at pulling a couple of deep cuts out of the vault on each tour - but this year the setlist very much felt like a greatest hits-type affair. This was certainly no bad thing, though, as it meant that the evening was essentially anthem after anthem. The large Wolverhampton crowd lapped it up, too, with plenty of singing going on around me - with the choruses to both Black Tiger and the sleazy Lipstick and Leather garnering strong reactions. The latter included lots of melodic bass playing from Aaron Leigh - and the two powerful tracks set the tone for much of the night. Despite the set largely containing more well-known tracks, there was still a good mix from throughout the years. Tracks like Don't Stop Runnin' and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark showcased the band's more melodic late-1980s sound nicely, with smooth guitar melodies and poppy choruses - whilst the weight of the classic era was nicely represented early on with tracks like Mean Streak and Hurricane. Turning to the band themselves, they were as powerful as ever. Each time I see Y&T live I wonder if this is going to be the time that Meniketti starts to show his age, but yet again the guy put musicians half his age to shame. His voice has not lost any of its melodic tone or power - and he remains one of the genre's best guitar players. His riffs and soloing were on-point throughout, with the delicate Winds of Change showcasing some of his soaring, bluesy talents early on, whilst the rest of the band played like a unit that have done many gigs together since Leigh came on board in 2016. John Nymann (guitar/vocals) and Mike Vanderhule (drums/vocals) have been Meniketti's foils for longer than that, though, and the current Y&T line-up is well road-tested by now. Despite Meniketti being the star, Rock & Roll's Gonna Save the World featured some excellent soloing from Nymann - whilst much later in the set Eyes of a Stranger ended with some powerful and busy drumming from Vanderhule. Everyone got to show off a bit, then, but a barnstorming rendition of signature ballad I Believe in You, with Meniketti's longest solo of the night, certainly reminded everyone who was boss. Before that, though, the band conjured up lengthy and loud sing-a-longs during Midnight in Tokyo and Contagious - whilst the poppy 1980s single Summertime Girls is one of those songs that even the most ardent of metalheads cannot help by get swept along by. Even with a few ballads in the set the atmosphere never really let up, and later on the bluesy stomp of Dirty Girl and the newer, ever-present I'm Coming Home included some intricate guitar melodies. The main set then came to a close with the riffy and shout-along Rescue Me - before the band left the stage to loud cheers. There was time for a couple more, though, and the cheers brought the band back for another anthemic piece in Lonely Side of Town, before their signature track Forever rounded out what had been another masterful two hours of hard rock. The setlist was:

Black Tiger

Lipstick and Leather

Don't Stop Runnin'

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Mean Streak

Don't Wanna Lose

Winds of Change

Rock & Roll's Gonna Save the World

Hurricane

Midnight in Tokyo

Summertime Girls

Contagious

I Believe in You

Eyes of a Stranger

Dirty Girl

I'm Coming Home

Rescue Me

-

Lonely Side of Town

Forever

Y&T never disappoint, and seeing the band for a fifth time was just as good as seeing them for the first time. Despite never perhaps getting the plaudits they deserved, they remain a popular live force - and each tour sees them coming back strong and delivering for their many UK fans. I am sure that the fans will keep coming back as long as the band does - and I imagine that I will be seeing them again for a sixth time around the same time next year.