MICHAEL MONROE // BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, LEEDS
100% Rock’n’Roll Performance from Michael Monroe and his One-Man Gang in Leeds
MICHAEL MONROE PERFORMING AT LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB - 01.11.2019
PICTURE BY: | JOHN HAYHURST PHOTOGRAPHY @SNAPAGIG.COM
★★★★★ (5/5)
Frontmen come and go but the good ones never stop until Dead, Jail or Rock’n’Roll, Michael Monroe first came to prominence in the 80’s Post Punk Finnish band Hanoi Rocks but hasn’t really stopped since those early days of debauchery and decadence. His latest album ‘One Man Gang’ is a slew of high tempo classic rock/punk tunes set to fire up any old punk warhorses who have lost their way over the last few decades of trite commercial fodder.
Released only last week, but tonight the faithful fans of MM have sold out the Brudenell Main Room in Leeds and are anxiously awaiting their hero’s entrance.
We have had a crazy Japanese band called Electric Eel Shock as support earlier, a 3-piece who had a drummer playing only in a huge sock to protect his modesty. Red Hot Chili Peppers have done it before but still it amused the crowd here for half an hour and the lead singer/guitarist was later seen crowd surfing around the hall as he is a huge fan of Michael Monroe.
The band finally enter to a western soundtrack and look like a pack of bad guys from a movie, weather beaten and dressed in all black they will soon regret wearing long sleeved shirts and hats as it’s already boiling in here. There are a few changes to his band from recent years, a couple of latter ex New York Dolls – Steve Conte on guitar and ever present Sam Yaffa on Bass, and Rich Jones (Ex Ginger Wildhearts) on Guitar and Karl Rockfist on drums. Both Conte and Jones shared production duties on the album so now they are both well engrained into the band but tonight is all about Michael Monroe.
Opening with title track ‘One Man Gang’it’s already hit 100mph and doesn’t stop, the sweat starts pouring and that perfectly pimped blonde hair on Monroes head soon looks like a wet dog as he struts, kicks and punches the air on this small stage. He is constantly standing on the monitors to get closer to the crowd, slapping hands and waiving his mic stand around complete with black and white scarf tied around.
There is no time for pleasantries tonight, a packed setlist of almost 20 songs from his entire career but concentrating initially on the new album. The most commercial track ‘Last Train to Tokyo’ is next and then latest video single Junk Planet, he’s hardly taken a breath before the next few songs off the album are released to this eager audience.
However, the venues sound system cuts out right in the middle of ‘Ballad of the Lower East Side’ and as the band members leave the stage to get it sorted, Michael Monroe decides to pick up Rockfist’s sticks and play the drums. He teases us with a Malibu Beach Nightmare drum intro and then smashes the kit all over the place for 10 minutes, then picks up his Sax and starts playing a solo whilst the engineers are still trying to fix the disaster. The rest of the band have gone to the bar at the back of the hall but Monroe is a pure pro, he wouldn’t let there just be nothing on the stage for his punters to watch, and as the sound came back, both Monroe and Jones try a short jokey version of The Coasters ‘Yakety Yak’. Then they all look at each other as if to say “Where were we?” before launching into the guitar solo and chorus as if nothing had happened – brilliant, if there was ever a demonstration of how tightly knit this band are, that was it.
After that we get some classic Hanoi Rocks in Motorvatin’ and when ‘Malibu Beach Nightmare’ truly kicks in, the surfing and moshing can really start. Monroe changes his hats from a pimp feathered red one to a sailing captain, and his rock n roll ship is steered into the harbour with an expected punked up version of ‘Up Around the Bend’. The performance has been relentless, a powered-up punk and roll sweatfest and then ‘Dead, Jail or Rock’n’Roll’ sees us to the encore. Monroe using his mic stand as a rest around his shoulders in a James Dean stance, although he’s currently looking more like Diamond Dave Lee Roth in the flesh.
This was probably the fieriest show the Brudenell has seen in years, as the condensation is dripping down the walls.
For those unaware, the likes of Motley Crue, Poison and even Guns’n’Roses owe a massive debt to Monroe, because once Hanoi Rocks had played Hollywood all those bands started to copy the style and panache of this frontman, he’s a 100% rock’n’roll icon and it’s a shame that his bands didn’t make the move to the arenas in the same way that those that were influenced have. For us though, he’s our favourite outsider and it means we can see him in action at so many smaller concert halls for years to come – check out his back catalogue, get to a show soon and prepare to sweat!
SETLIST: | MICHAEL MONROE – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds – 01.11.2019
· One Man Gang
· Last Train to Tokyo
· Junk Planet
· The Pitfalls of Being an Outsider
· Midsummer Nights
· Ballad of the Lower East Side – Power Cut/12 minute drum & sax solo
· Old Kings Road
· ‘78
· Black Ties and Red Tape
· Motorvatin’
· Hollywood Paranoia
· This Ain’t No Love Song
· Don’t You Ever Leave Me
· Malibu Beach Nightmare
· Up Around the Bend
· Dead, Jail or Rock’n’Roll
ENCORE:
· Nothin’s Alright
· Hammersmith Palais