Tyketto - London Review

After spending the Easter long weekend gigging closer to home, and the following one at home with no travel plans, it felt good to get away to London again yesterday. Whilst I have a few gigs planned elsewhere, this year seems more London-centric than ever. I usually go to London quite a few times each year, but the vast majority of my plans this year fall in the city - and before April is out I will go twice more. It is nice to spread things around, and visit lots of different places, but London is so big which means there is always something to do - and I spent much of yesterday afternoon walking around Islington and Finsbury Park before having a couple of hours rest in the hotel, including a nap and a shower, before heading out for the evening. The reason for the trip out was to catch the American melodic hard rockers Tyketto on their latest UK tour. Despite Tyketto being a US band, most of their touring activity these days takes place in Europe - with the UK seeing much of it. The band, for some reason, seemed to take hold here in a bigger way than anywhere else - and I have managed to see them live quite a few times over the years since I first saw them in Wolverhampton back in 2014. With three of the current line-up of the band originally from the UK, and frontman Danny Vaughn, the only original member left, now living in Spain, it seems fitting that Tyketto focus so much of their time on Europe - and those efforts seem to be paying off. Tyketto have never been a big band, but their 1991 debut album Don't Come Easy did attract some positive attention when it dropped - and a couple of the album's singles became minor hits. Since then, though, Tyketto have essentially operated on a small scale - and spent much of time on hiatus or only undertaking occasional, small-scale tours. Over the past few years, though, that seems to have changed. Perhaps the decision of both founding drummer Michael Clayton and long-time guitarist Chris Green to step back from the band a few years ago, and the need to put a new line-up together, actually worked in Vaughn's favour. He was able to bring in people who were perhaps more keen to get on the road more regularly - and Thunder's inactivity due to Danny Bowes' health also meant that Chris Childs (bass guitar/vocals) could return to the line-up. Since launching the new Tyketto line-up in 2023, then, the band have been busier than has been typical for them - playing quite a few UK shows, branching out further afield, and also recording their first album for 10 years. Closer to the Sun (which I reviewed here) dropped last month and, like all of the band's previous albums before it, it is already becoming a bit of a favourite. Vaughn has largely managed to keep the trademark Tyketto sound intact despite him being the only original member left - and live the current line-up are a force to be reckoned with. I will always see Tyketto when they tour should I be able to go - so it was with excitement yesterday that I headed up to London to catch the band on their launch tour for the new album. The show took place at 229 - which is on Great Portland Street, just outside of the tube station of the same name. It is quite well-hidden, as it seems to be in the basement of what seems to be student accommodation, but it is somewhere that I have enjoyed going to before. Yesterday was only my third visit to the venue, and I would actually like it if more bands played there - as the high stage means that views are great throughout the room and the sound has been very clear every time that I have been.

Tyketto tend to attract decent crowds in London, and yesterday was no exception. The first band on the bill, though, came on not long after the doors opened - so they started their set to a fairly empty room, but during their 30 or so minutes on stage the place filled up. Opening the night were Collateral, a young UK melodic rock act that have been making a bit of a name for themselves over the past few years. They now have two albums to their name, both of which I have reviewed on this blog, and they have toured with an impressive list of other bands. I previously saw them opening for both Reckless Love and H.E.A.T, both back in 2022, so I was looking forward to seeing them live again given that it had been quite a while since I last saw them. Despite crowd looking a bit thin on the ground at first, it was clear that everyone who had turned up early had done so to ensure that they caught Collateral's set - as everyone around me down near the front seemed to be fans. There was plenty of singing from the off, then, with a big cheer erupting when frontman Angelo Tristan took to the stage - as the rest of the band had already erupted into the opening riff of No Place for Love. Despite only having time for six songs, the band made their time count - and really fed off the crowd's early energy. Usually when the first band on tries to get the crowd to sing they fail miserably, but this was not the case for Collateral - as both No Place for Love and Glass Sky were stretched out to include audience participation during the choruses, which were impressively loud given the relatively few in attendance so early. The band have slimmed down since I last saw them, with Louis Malagodi (guitar/vocals) now the sole guitarist - whilst drummer Charlie Southard is also a fairly new recruit. Losing a guitarist did not seem to make a huge difference to the live sound, though, with Malagodi impressing throughout with lots of excellent soloing. Tristan still added acoustic guitar when needed, too, with the summery Midnight Queen feeling bigger thanks to the organic acoustic guitar backing - whilst the soaring ballad On the Long Road was an overall set highlight. It largely started out with just Tristan and his guitar, but the song grew as it went along - culminating in one of the most emotive choruses of the night and a soaring solo from Malagodi. Southard and Jack Bentley-Smith (bass guitar/vocals) formed a tight rhythm section throughout, perhaps compensating for the lack of the second guitar - but, in truth, Collateral's melodic rock sound was never the heaviest, so perhaps only having one guitar actually works in their favour. It is a shame that they only had time for six songs, as I have never been able to see the band play for longer than around half an hour before - but with Merry Go Round and Mr Big Shot rounding out a powerful and anthemic set, those who turned up early certainly had a great time. The setlist was:

No Place for Love

Glass Sky

Midnight Queen

On the Long Road

Merry Go Round

Mr Big Shot

The main special guests, Warrior Soul, were very different entirely. I knew very little about the New York-based rockers before last night, apart from the fact they were another band that was originally operating during the early 1990s, but I was not prepared for how strange they were going to be. I assumed that they would be a tougher sounding 1990s hard rock act, perhaps with a touch of grunge, which I suppose they are, but there was a raw, almost industrial feel to some of their work - which was all underpinned by the really caustic voice of frontman Kory Clarke. Clarke is the only original member of the band left, and Warrior Soul seems to have gone through a huge amount of members over the years, but he was immediately captivating - from swaggering onto the stage in his sparkly jacket, shades, and clutching a large bottle of what looked like whiskey; to his uncompromising vocal style and stage presence. I cannot really think of anyone to compare him too vocally. Having now listened to a couple of the band's old singles online, it seems that he has always had essentially the voice that he does now. I wondered if he had just really suffered over the years in terms of blowing his voice out - but it seems that he has essentially sounded like that from the off. Rough does not really cover it, but after a while his aggression and overall tone started to make sense - and the band's grinding riffing and occasional bluesy solos worked well alongside him. Perhaps the best way to describe the band's sound is to imagine Sonic Temple-era The Cult turning up to the studio - only to find all their equipment damaged and their producer pushing them towards a more extreme metal direction, all whilst Ian Astbury has the nastiest cold imaginable. Given the feelgood vibes of Collateral before them, and Tyketto to follow, Warrior Soul really stood out - and sounded much heavier and more aggressive than anything else being played. Tyketto last toured the UK with a grittier hard rock band in Little Caesar, but that pairing worked quite well due to Little Caesar's approach to melody. Warrior Soul sounded like Napalm Death by comparison - and their 45 minutes on stage was roaring chaos amid the relatively calm of the melodic rock sandwich. Despite all this, I found myself largely enjoying Warrior Soul's set - and I was certainly captivated. Clarke is one of those frontmen that you can barely take your eyes off, partly as he looks he could keel over at any moment, but he is clearly someone with years in the tank - with his banter and overall vibe that of a true rockstar. Whether or not Warrior Soul will ever be a band that I 'get' remains to be seen - but I am glad that I finally got to learn more about this unique band, and their set was certainly extremely memorable.

Despite one very good support act, and one certainly memorable one, it was Tyketto that everyone was in attendance to see - and around half an hour following Warrior Soul's set coming to an end, the lights went down and Tyketto took to the stage. Over the next 90-plus minutes, the band delivered a strong 16-song set, which covered plenty of favourites whilst also delivering a few choice cuts from the new album. I had expected the band to kick off with something new, but following the intro tape fading out Harry Scott Elliott (guitar) started the familiar riff of the old favourite Rescue Me - and Vaughn bounded onto the stage with his usual infectious energy and started belting out the classic number with his ageless voice. Vaughn still pretty much sounds the same as he did in the 1980s when he started his career proper with Waysted - and he has clearly looked after himself over the years. There was not a moment during the set which was vocally weak - and the band were extremely tight as ever, rocking from the off. In the end, five songs from the new album were played - but the band chose not to throw them in right away. As if to ease in the casuals, the set opened with three big favourites - as both Wings and Burning Down Inside followed Rescue Me. The large crowd did not need much encouragement to get involved - but the choruses of both the Don't Come Easy cuts were sang loudly by the crowd. The live sound mix was also great, with the backing vocals nice and audible throughout - whilst Ged Rylands' (guitar/keyboards/vocals) keyboards were also high in the mix. His role in the band has expanded in recent years, with him adding extra guitar to some of the heavier songs - but he played much more keyboard last night, with the big intro to Burning Down Inside really standing out. He also added plenty of Hammond organ to the bluesy Higher Than High - the first new song played. The riffy number hit nicely after the melodic rock classics which started the set - and Vaughn also got to play around with his harmonica during the bluesy track. From this point on, classics and new cuts came fairly evenly. Despite the focus perhaps being on the new album, the band still included a handful of songs from their last album - with the title track Reach and the more ballad-esque Circle the Wagons particularly hitting the spot. Both of these songs, but particularly Reach, have become real live favourites in the 10 years since the last album dropped - and for a band with a relatively small catalogue it is important that newer songs stay in the setlist, so as to ensure some variety going forward. Some of the brand new songs are likely to become favourites, though. We Rise is certain to remain a staple going forward thanks to its anthemic chorus - but the cinematic, acoustic-filled Closer to the Sun also has the potential to find a home in future setlists due to its melodic nature. I personally would not have included the band's cover of Roxette's Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky) in the live set, but Vaughn was clearly having a lot of fun with it - and it came following an organic rendition of the older favourite Seasons which turned the clock back somewhat after a portion of the set which focused on the last two albums. One more new number, the piano-driven The Brave, later closed out the main set - but the soaring ballad Standing Alone sounded as good as ever before that, whilst the sleazy, hard rocking Lay Your Body Down was stretched out to include soloing from Childs and plenty of crowd interaction. By the the time the band left the stage after The Brave there was not much time left before the curfew - but they did not leave the crowd waiting for long, and were soon back and powering through the perennial favourite Forever Young to round out what had been another excellent set. The setlist was:

Rescue Me

Wings

Burning Down Inside

Higher Than High

Strength in Numbers

Reach

Closer to the Sun

The Run

We Rise

Circle the Wagons

Everybody Wants to Rule the World [Tears for Fears cover]/Seasons

Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky) [Roxette cover]

Standing Alone

Lay Your Body Down

The Brave

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Forever Young

Tyketto do not disappoint live, and they certainly did not start doing so last night. Their set in London at the 229 was as good as ever, and it was good to hear a revamped set with plenty of new material and a remaining helping of the old favourites. A healthy crowd was gathered, too, and it is good that Tyketto seem to continue to find success so long after their classic albums - and, if anything, they seem bigger now than they have done for quite some time.