The last time the Neon Angel Cherie Currie graced the stage here at Bannermans was in 2015, and a packed out venue is waiting to welcome her back. Before then we have openers Blue Ruin, a very multicultural band with from New Zealand, Italy & England.
Blue Ruin are presently touring on the back of last years Hooligan’s Happy Hour album bringing with them a touch of 90s-infused pop-punk. The guitars and drums kick off as the band opens with “Exist” from 2018’s Green River Thriller – a great rocking start to the evening. We have the first from last year’s Hooligans Happy Hour with the title track providing a real punky bouncer of a track, with punky pop hints of The Donnas come to mind.
Back to the Green River for a couple, including the attitude driven title track and the mid-paced rocker “2am”. An “Undead Nightmare” opens with the punky attitude of The Offspring meets Green Day, and is definitely a favourite of mine. The track that shows off Charlotte’s vocals as she struts about the stage with Anna pounding the drums. The bouncing bass from Elettra was a joy to listen to and she never stopped moving all night. The crunching guitars are courtesy of Louisa who I last saw here with Tequila Mockingbird.
Blue Ruin “Sing to Me” before we meet “Dracula (out to play)” a tasty fast paced slice of pop-punk. “These Things” slows things down a touch before they put the pedal to the floor as “Still Not Asking For It” explodes in our faces. We hear how “Sarah Killed Her Boyfriend” which has that pop/punk fun vibe of Sum 41/Blink 182, and the band end a short but fun packed set with “Scream Queen” from their Green River Thriller album.
The band has a punky edge in places, with great chemistry between them all and obviously have a fun time on stage. They are a band worth coming early for, a blast of fun rock music played well. Catch them if you can and give them a listen, I look forward to seeing them again.
If you like what we do, consider ing us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Time for Cherie Currie to hit the stage, and we get a double whammy of The Runaways with “Queens of Noise”, and (a favourite of mine) the rocking “California Paradise”. What a start to the night with Cherie in full flight and fabulous vocal form. The band are also in fine form with Danny and Dennis trading guitar licks, Alexx bouncing about with the bass and Markus keeping it all together on the drums.
Cherie is presently touring in of her latest fantastic release Blvds of Splendour, a star-packed album that has been a long time coming for various reasons with guest contributions from the likes of Slash and Duff from Guns N’ Roses, Matt Sorum (formerly of the same band), Juliette Lewis, Brody Dalle and Billy Corgan.
We have the first couple of the night from the album as we meet “Mr. X”, a tremendous bouncing rocker which really shows off Cherie’s fabulous voice and which also has some tremendous guitar work on it. This is followed by the dirty rocking swagger of “Roxy Roller”, originally by Canadian band Sweeny Todd (who actually included a young Bryan Adams in their ranks).
A touch of the Velvet Underground next with that classic “Rock & Roll” – more cowbell please, Markus! A stunning song follows in the form of “Rock & Roll Oblivion”, one of my favourite tracks from the new album and possibly my favourite track from Cherie’s entire solo career. The album version has some fabulous string work added which changes the dynamics from the harder live version, but makes it no less powerful a song. Absolutely fantastic, a real goosebumps track.
We ask “Is It Day Or Night?” before a very emotional version of Bowie’s “Life on Mars”, dedicated to Cherie’s brother Don who sadly ed away shortly before she embarked on this UK tour. You could see she struggled to keep it together, but her efforts were hugely appreciated, the emotion making for a very special memory indeed. Cherie was accompanied on keyboards by Louisa from Blue Ruin for the song.
A touch of the smooth rocker “Midnight Music” next, a track that Lita Ford didn’t like too much, as Cherie lets us know, before we get the last couple from Blvds of Splendor: The groove infused rocker “You Wreck Me” followed by the punchy rocker “Breakout”. We end the night with a quadruple hit of The Runaways starting with slow rocker “Heartbeat”, before the rockier “American Nights” kicks in, on to the punchy “C’Mon”, and then the guitar kicks in as we end the night with (what else) the seminal “Cherry Bomb”.
This was a night of pure rock and roll magic by a woman still at the top of her game, and she even had time for friend Gretchen Bonaduce to her onstage for a couple of songs. The Runaways will always feature in the set even if Joan Jett or Lita Ford don’t play the material of their former group, but to be honest they would struggle to match the vocals. Cherie is more than happy to play the band’s songs and rightly so, though what made it for myself were the new songs.
The new album is superb from start to finish and is destined to be a classic. The songs took on a life of their own on stage and dare I say Cherie could have left out a few of The Runaways songs and added in a few more of the new ones and I doubt anyone would have minded, given the quality of the music.
I would urge you all to listen to the new album and catch Cherie on tour when you can. Where else are you going to hear The Runaways’ songs? Not from Joan or Lita that’s for sure. And her solo songs are just as strong if not stronger. A fabulous, emotive night of classic rock and roll.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Photos by Gary Cooper Photography
