LIVE: SEBASTIAN BACH – Perth, 27 Sep, 2015

Shane | 30 September 2015 | Reply

LIVE: SEBASTIAN BACH – Perth, 27 Sep, 2015
Sebastian Bach with Legs Electric
The Astor Theatre, Perth, Western Australia – Sunday, 27th September, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

“It’s a Sunday funday,” yelped ex-Skid Row singer SEBASTIAN BACH as he stormtrooped The Astor’s ornate stage to deliver a succession of hits from his old band’s multi-platinum selling early albums, and conspicuously few tracks from his three solo records.

The visibly excited crowd were already fired up after a powerful and engaging opening set from local ladies LEGS ELECTRIC. Becoming the go-to support act for rock and metal bands touring our fair town, these girls have the style, presence and confidence to stand tall on any stage. With a few more memorable songs they have the potential to be a worthy successor to the Baby Animals.

Bach’s larger-than-life personality dominated his set, which leant heavily on the first two Skid Row albums with hair metal classics Slave To The Grind, Big Guns, Piece Of Me and 18 & Life. Only Hell Inside My Head and Temptation appeared from his solo work, but no-one was complaining, those old enough to have had their hair long in the early ‘90s reliving their glory days in as fine singalong voice as their hero himself.

Recently married for the third time, sober and healthy after decades spent living the rock life to the hilt, Bach bounds around the stage like a much younger man, and sounded in great vocal form. It was surprisingly, therefore, to note that there seemed to be harmonies and long notes coming from offstage – I don’t want to make unsubstantiated claims that there may have been backing tracks used, but… maybe. If so, they seemed mostly redundant as what was sung by the band was right on the money.

Bach gives a shout out to the sister of ex-Perth girl Cheryl Rixon – a Penthouse Pet of the year who established a chain of jewellery stores in Japan and now lives in L.A., where she and her husband put Bach up in when his house was destroyed in the New Orleans floods.

Bach’s three-piece band are peerless: drummer Bobby Jarzombeck, bassist Rob De Luca and guitarist extraordinaire Brent Woods have played with the likes of Halford, Riot, UFO, Vince Neil and Warrant, and their talent & experience is obvious.

American Metalhead from his Angel Down record was changed to Australian Metalhead, to the delight of the crowd, and a cover of Rose Tattoo’s We Can’t Be Beaten, inserted into Skid Row track Monkey Business, and AC/DC’s T.N.T. similarly went down well with the Sunday night rockers. The biggest cheers of the night were reserved for Skid Row’s biggest singles: I Remember You and the gloriously dumb Youth Gone Wild.

Bach knows exactly what his adoring crowd want and gives it to them: and with such a large reliance on Skid Row tracks recorded over twenty years ago, maybe that much-discussed reunion with his former bandmates is inevitable after all.