LIVE: SLASH featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators – Perth, 3 Feb, 2019

LIVE: SLASH featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators – Perth, 3 Feb, 2019
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators – RAC Arena, Perth
Review by Damien Crocker
Photography by Stuart McKay

New Zealand’s Devilskin kicked off the night with a bang. The clearly seasoned artists were more than comfortable performing on the big stage, getting the Perth crowd onboard early with their fat, chugging guitar and booming bass, which pushed the Arena PA system to its limits. Bass player Paul Martin and guitarist Tony ‘Nail’ Vincent and looked like crazed twins, charging around the stage with matching goatees and hyping up the audience, with Vincent ripping out some big solo’s that gave the guitar-hungry crowd the perfect entrée to warm them up for the main course. Vocalist Jennie Skulander is a force to be reckoned with, impressing with soaring vocals then able to switch to full guttural growls. It was an enthusiastic and impressive Perth debut for the Kiwis, and they’ll definitely be welcomed back.

The lights dimmed to a big roar from the crowd as Saul Hudson, aka Slash made his way out of the darkness and into the spotlight, a position he held for most of the night as he, Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators launched into The Call of the Wild, the opening track from their latest album, Living The Dream.

The last night of their Australian tour, the Arena was running in a cut down mode to compress the okay-but-still-fairly-thin crowd. Possibly Slash’s reasonably frequent visits to Perth in the last few years, including the recent Guns ‘N Roses tour, have led to a decline in numbers for the guitar legend, or filling the Arena on the back of his own name may have simply been overly ambitious.

You know what you’re getting at a Slash show: there’s no special effects, fancy lighting, pyro or other gimmicks. It’s a show straight out of the Rock 101 handbook, with band members strutting around the stage and pulling all the big rock moves. There are wide stances and lots of pointing at the audience, all the while with the spotlight on Slash as he worked through riffs and solo’s on a variety of his signature Les Pauls, even pulling out the double neck SG for The One You Loved is Gone. Tracks Ghost and Back From Cali felt more familiar, unsurprising given Slash’s first solo album is now almost a decade old.

Myles Kennedy delivers as a front man, with the voice and the moves to pull off the show with ease, but bass player Todd Kerns steals a lot of (what is left) of the limelight, delivering energy, presence and crowd interaction. Kerns also taking over vocals for We’re All Gonna Die and Doctor Alibi, dedicating the latter track to Motorhead legend Lemmy (who originally performed the vocals on the Slash album) and encouraging the crowd to “make sure he can hear you up there”. The Conspirators are rounded out by guitarist Frank Sidoris and drummer Brent Fitz, both flawless musicians laying the foundation for the rest of the band to work over.

While Kennedy and Kerns engaged with audience through the night, Slash isn’t big on vocal interaction, letting his guitar do the talking instead, and he had a lot to say, with Wicked Stone featuring an almost ten minute solo, showing off every trick in his kit.

With his solo album and three Conspirators albums worth of material, the show is no longer the Guns ‘N Roses heavy set list that it once was,. There’s no Velvet Revolver tracks at all, and Night Train is the only GNR song to get a showing on the night, to the disappointment of many who still crave the opportunity to see the man in the top hat rip out some of his trademark riffs.

Driving Rain, My Antidote, Serve You Right and Read Between The Lines from Living The Dream all got an outing, with plenty in attendance clearly fans, following along with every word. Finishing with World On Fire, the band left the stage briefly before coming back to play Anastasia as an encore.

If playing on the big stage for over 30 years and showing off your guitar chops is the goal, then Slash really is Living the Dream.

Set List
The Call of the Wild
Halo
Standing in the Sun
Ghost
Back From Cali
My Antidote
Bent to Fly
Serve You Right
Read Between the Lines
We’re All Gonna Die
Play Video
Doctor Alibi
The One You Loved Is Gone
Wicked Stone
Mind Your Manners
Driving Rain
By the Sword
Nightrain
Starlight
You’re a Lie
World on Fire
Encore:
Anastasia

 

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries