{"id":72284,"date":"2018-08-31T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=72284"},"modified":"2018-09-02T17:15:25","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T17:15:25","slug":"live-review-la-guns-31-08-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/live-review-la-guns-31-08-18\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. GUNS – O2 Academy, Islington, London, England (August 31st, 2018) | Live Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

L.A. GUNS<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nO2 Academy, Islington, London, England<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAugust 31st, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n

Tracii Guns<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n


\nBack in the 1980s and early 90s I attended some great gigs and as I\u2019ve aged I\u2019ve seen many acts come and go, and now we\u2019re in this position where so many young upstarts are trying to recreate that dynamic and wild surge of the first time round. But forget the young pups and the great pretenders, because all the while bands such as California\u2019s L.A. Guns are still around that original vibe remains.<\/p>\n

Walking into a sea of people at Islington\u2019s O2 Academy was somewhat of a surprise knowing how many veteran acts tend to be performing in tiny and often half-filled venues today, but this sizeable and rammed arena provided the perfect atmosphere for what proved to be a blistering night of struttin\u2019, sleaze and Hollywood glam.<\/p>\n

Indeed, any band fronted by the inimitable Brit Phil Lewis and his right-hand man Tracii Guns is going to be a formidable force to be reckoned with, but after just a trio of songs I found myself (almost) back in the halcyon days of sleaze rock when such an act would get the hairspray flyin\u2019 and the bandanas flailing.<\/p>\n

Of course, many in attendance were of an older age, but it was great to see so many disciples come out to pay homage to their heroes\u2026 and boy did the quintet put on a show. Particularly bassist Johnny Martin, who beneath a jet black helmet of hair plucked and pumped furiously enough for a thrash line-up, and couple his tremors with percussive talent Shane Fitzgibbon and you have one hell of a racket to contend with.<\/p>\n

Sure, the expected dots of mobile phones held high were there throughout, but for the most part Phil and Tracii whipped the crowd up into what could be deemed a manageable frenzy as old favourites \u2018Rip And Tear\u2019, \u2018Sex Action\u2019, \u2018No Mercy\u2019, \u2018Electric Gypsy\u2019 and the sweeping \u2018The Ballad Of Jayne\u2019 leaked into the sea of long and not so long-haired audience members.<\/p>\n

However, this wasn\u2019t merely a case of attempting to refuel old engines. With each tune the combo sounded as fresh as the day such melodies were born; Lewis\u2019s tone just a pitch perfect and faultless breath of fresh air aided by Tracii\u2019s twiddles, fiddles and then occasional slips into self-indulgence circa Jimmy Page. But if this had been 1987 in some Hollywood sweat hole we\u2019d have been howling at the moon in praise of such a show.<\/p>\n

The classic \u2018Malaria\u2019 seemed heavier and punchier than ever; the black steely riffage causing the cranium to crumble. But for me it was the monstrous \u2018Over The Edge\u2019 which stole the show; a criminally underrated behemoth with its doom-laden rolls that offered up an almost Led Zeppelin-cum-Black Sabbath<\/a> wave of syrupy excitement.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n

Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Elsewhere, the newer \u2018The Devil Made Me Do It\u2019 and \u2018Speed\u2019 easily matched up to those more recognisable anthems; the former being a raucous racer of a tune to get the fists pumping. Meanwhile, the more familiar cutting groove of \u2018I Wanna Be Your Man\u2019 just added an extra sleazy coating to proceedings. And with any sign of a gap filled by Tracii\u2019s genial and mesmerising jams, it was hard for even the stone-faced souls not to be moved by a band that deserved to be up there with the likes of M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce and Guns N\u2019 Roses success-wise, <\/p>\n

As I staggered out into the cool summery air and headed off into the wind tunnel of the nearest tube station, I couldn\u2019t help but smile, truly blown away by one of the best live shows I\u2019d seen in my entire life time. Not a single crack appeared in the armoury of L.A. Guns, that peculiar match of Phil\u2019s rather camp and quintessentially British yelps and quirks alongside Tracii\u2019s metallic yet soulful strains.<\/p>\n

Tonight I witnessed something special, something more than mere nostalgia\u2026 just the simple sound of high energy rock \u2018n\u2019 roll played for real.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L.A. GUNS O2 Academy, Islington, London, England August 31st, 2018 Tracii Guns Back in the 1980s and early 90s I attended some great gigs and as I\u2019ve aged I\u2019ve seen many acts come and go, and now we\u2019re in this position where so many young upstarts are trying to recreate that dynamic and wild surge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-l-a-guns","category-live-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72284"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72298,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72284\/revisions\/72298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}