The tour that felt like it would never come finally kicked off on Wednesday night, packing out the legendary Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my old friends in Bad Touch, and have been a fan of The Dust Coda for a while now yet have never seen them, so this was a damn exciting gig for me. But what did we think of the evening? Let’s dive right in and find out!
Eddie & the Wolves opened the show in style. Y’all know by now the deal here. I would like to say a huge thank you to both bands for letting us share a stage with them, as well as every single person who came out early to check out the band. The room was pretty packed from the jump, and we had several people say some very kind words to us after the set. And, in this writers humble opinion, I thought we sounded pretty good! I had a blast playing, even if I did nearly break my cable and fall flat on my face at one point, and I can speak for the other three in saying they did too! And, from going to see bands in that venue since I was 15 to actually being up on the stage playing there, it was pretty damn special!
Next up and fresh off a lineup change were The Dust Coda. Our good friend from AK and the Red Kites has been fronting the band since earlier this year, and this was his first gig with them officially. Honestly, you wouldn’t have known at all, as he looked right at home up on stage with them and the whole band smashed it out of the park! They all sounded so tight and solid, with Andrew’s vocals fitting them well and it all matching the tracks pretty closely. If I had one ever so slight criticism, it was that it didn’t feel like the band interacted or moved a huge amount through the set. However, they haven’t played for a while, and had a new frontman, so a combination of slight rust and slight nerves may not have helped. But I’m sure they’ll shake it off by the other tour stops and, as I said, they sounded absolutely excellent. How I hadn’t seen them live before is beyond me, but I am so glad I finally have and will definitely be seeing them again soon!
Headliners Bad Touch absolutely smashed it. Myself and the boys go way back but as I said, it’s been a while since I’ve managed to see them. Somehow over the last four years they have gotten even better! It’s crazy to see them go from a tiny band playing at pubs to a handful of people to packing out a venue like Rescue, but the band owned that stage from the very first note to the very last. They were a well oiled machine up there, even with two members that have only been with them 18 months or so. From brand new, never before heard tracks to classics like ‘Good on Me’ and ‘Skyman’ to even older tracks the band have never played live (in the UK) before, it was a fantastic, varied setlist. Personal favourite was ‘I Get High’, getting the crowd going awesomely! The band had so much energy too, bouncing around every inch of the stage and all of them had the crowd in the palm of their hand throughout! The band are now tailor made for bigger venues and crowds like this, putting on a show fitting of their position in the UK music scene. It was slick but still felt completely natural and like the band were genuinely having a good time up on stage, too!
And there you have it, folks! A night jam packed full of awesome hard rock music from start to finish. All three bands below the roof off the place and the crowd was loving it all night. I cannot recommend checking out either of the headliners on track or live enough, they are two of the best in the UK rock scene right now and put on one hell of a show. The tour is very much still in full swing, so get down to your closest stop for one hell of a night!