SWEET Queen's Hall Edinburgh 10th December 2021 Review
Sweet were at The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight as part of their current “Hellraiser” tour, and as usual, the fans both old and new were out to support the band.
For many of us, Sweet will always be best remembered for their classic 1970s line up of of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker, plus of course some of those iconic songs written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
Usually I don’t give much of a band’s set list away, but for this review it makes no difference as everyone expects, well demands, that songs like “Hellraiser” “Blockbuster”, “The Ballroom Blitz” and others are there, and of course they were. With the bands opening song “Action”, the band not only took their audience right into the musical groove for the rest of the evening, but also reminded us all that this 1975 song written by Sweet was just as good as anything written for them by the Chinn & Chapman duo.
Sadly, that iconic band line up can no longer be with us, but thankfully Andy Scott still is, and it is important I think to mention at this point in the review that this 2021 line-up of the band with Andy, Steve Mann (guitar, keyboards), Bruce Bisland (drums, vocals), Lee Small (bass, vocals) and Paul Manzi (lead vocals) is not a “nostalgia” band living out their glory days of yesterday’s songs on stage. The truth is that in changing line-ups Andy Scott has always kept Sweet alive and on-stage whilst also pursuing a very active career in the studio and working with upcoming bands. The “new” Sweet have also been responsible for some very good new songs like “Defender” along with interesting arrangements of songs like “New York Groove” and “Love is Like Oxygen (written by Andy Scott) mixed into “Fanfare for The Common Man” (originally written by composer Aaron Copeland). All three songs were performed to an enthusiastic reception tonight along with another band-written classic “Fox on The Run”. Vocalist Paul Manzi is one of the few rock voices out there at the moment that can do justice to both the new material from the band and those classic songs from the 1970s, and of course the unmistakable guitar sounds of Andy Scott are what connects everything through the years.
Yes, this show is in part a nostalgia trip, but the current band line up are a very tight and sharp band and, maybe to some people, a little bit into the heavier rock genre than they remember the band for, but that too is an illusion as anyone who listened to the B sides of those 1970s singles and the original albums always knew (much of this material written by the band), Sweet were always a band that were far more than their “Top of the Pops” image. Now of course in a digital age, we can all find many of those classic 70s performances on YouTube (including some great clips from European TV shows), but nothing is like hearing the music live on stage once more.
It is of course those 70s songs that so many people in the audience (old and new) still have the biggest connection to, and for me “The Six Teens” will always be one of my favourite songs from Sweet. Watching the audience tonight it is obvious that these songs are not just remembered, but much loved; maybe even more than that, actually taken into the hearts of many people and being able to let people turn back time and revisit their youth for a few hours is a special gift that few bands ever get to give their audiences.
For many of us, Sweet will always be best remembered for their classic 1970s line up of of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker, plus of course some of those iconic songs written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
Usually I don’t give much of a band’s set list away, but for this review it makes no difference as everyone expects, well demands, that songs like “Hellraiser” “Blockbuster”, “The Ballroom Blitz” and others are there, and of course they were. With the bands opening song “Action”, the band not only took their audience right into the musical groove for the rest of the evening, but also reminded us all that this 1975 song written by Sweet was just as good as anything written for them by the Chinn & Chapman duo.
Sadly, that iconic band line up can no longer be with us, but thankfully Andy Scott still is, and it is important I think to mention at this point in the review that this 2021 line-up of the band with Andy, Steve Mann (guitar, keyboards), Bruce Bisland (drums, vocals), Lee Small (bass, vocals) and Paul Manzi (lead vocals) is not a “nostalgia” band living out their glory days of yesterday’s songs on stage. The truth is that in changing line-ups Andy Scott has always kept Sweet alive and on-stage whilst also pursuing a very active career in the studio and working with upcoming bands. The “new” Sweet have also been responsible for some very good new songs like “Defender” along with interesting arrangements of songs like “New York Groove” and “Love is Like Oxygen (written by Andy Scott) mixed into “Fanfare for The Common Man” (originally written by composer Aaron Copeland). All three songs were performed to an enthusiastic reception tonight along with another band-written classic “Fox on The Run”. Vocalist Paul Manzi is one of the few rock voices out there at the moment that can do justice to both the new material from the band and those classic songs from the 1970s, and of course the unmistakable guitar sounds of Andy Scott are what connects everything through the years.
Yes, this show is in part a nostalgia trip, but the current band line up are a very tight and sharp band and, maybe to some people, a little bit into the heavier rock genre than they remember the band for, but that too is an illusion as anyone who listened to the B sides of those 1970s singles and the original albums always knew (much of this material written by the band), Sweet were always a band that were far more than their “Top of the Pops” image. Now of course in a digital age, we can all find many of those classic 70s performances on YouTube (including some great clips from European TV shows), but nothing is like hearing the music live on stage once more.
It is of course those 70s songs that so many people in the audience (old and new) still have the biggest connection to, and for me “The Six Teens” will always be one of my favourite songs from Sweet. Watching the audience tonight it is obvious that these songs are not just remembered, but much loved; maybe even more than that, actually taken into the hearts of many people and being able to let people turn back time and revisit their youth for a few hours is a special gift that few bands ever get to give their audiences.
Opening the show tonight was Troy Redfern, who has been attracting a lot of attention lately for his blues/rock style and his slide guitar work. Troy Redfern has been producing some interesting work over the last few years and with his new album “The Fire Cosmic” recently released in August this year, it was no surprise that some songs came from that, and “Sanctify” is simply a classic sounding song from a musician who not only knows exactly where his music is going, but also has huge respect for the rich musical heritage that he is drawing his inspiration from.
Fitting in with the evening’s 1970s glam-rock sounds perfectly, an interesting closing song take of the T-Rex classic 20th Century Boy was an obvious crowd pleaser.
REview by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH
Fitting in with the evening’s 1970s glam-rock sounds perfectly, an interesting closing song take of the T-Rex classic 20th Century Boy was an obvious crowd pleaser.
REview by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH
