Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The devastating effect that a exploding volcano has on the surrounding earth and the serenity of the once peaceful air is never surely lost when a rock gig comes to town, especially one born out of a series of bands, one after each other that allows the intense heat and atomic like measure to flow evenly for a period of time before culminating in one final blow out, the landslide of love and affection overtaking the surge of rock endeavour. Volcanoes come and go, it is in their nature, however for Kentucky’s Black Stone Cherry, the impression they left on the minds who made their way to the Echo Arena on a cold January night will live on beyond the fertile cooling down of the Earth beneath the Rock lover’s feet.
The culmination of a tremendous event, of the natural gorging down of American Rock at its youthful physical best showed as the prowess of Blackstone Cherry entered the stage and the sound of a couple of thousand hearts gearing up to beat as hard as possible was audible and welcome. Some nights are just meant to be, they have in them the capacity to take the music fan into a different space in their head and allow new feelings to burst into life with the intensity of a garden formed from fertile volcanic ashes. This was one of those nights where the power and glory found each other and danced with gladdening smile.
The lights from cell phones and the surprising lighters caught the eye as if stars were exploding into life in unseen galaxies and Black Stone Cherry took full advantage of the respect and sheer heart shown with tracks such as the opener Me and Mary Jane, In My Blood, Holding On To Let Go, Soul Creek and the new song from the forthcoming album Kentucky, In Our Dreams.
With the songs The Things My Father Said and The Rambler, also from the upcoming album, being played acoustically, the evening’s volcano found a type of serenity and beauty with the storm of revolutionary invasion being offered throughout the night by young America’s finest.
The Echo Arena reverberates to evenings such as this, the pounding nature of a satisfied heart is always a sure sign that the music enveloped all it found, in Black Stone Cherry it devoured it and swallowed it whole; a band who allowed their support to shine just as much as they did and one in which the audience revelled, a shining example of American Rock.
Ian D. Hall