My first of two shows at Jergel’s in Warrendale, PA was to on Tuesday evening in anticipation of the first L.A. Guns show on their “Lucky Motherf#cker” tour. The house was packed with an officially sold-out crowd arriving early for local band performances from Xander Demos Band (XDB) and punk-rockers The Cheats kicking things off.
We were so excited to see our friends from Red Reign back in the ‘Burgh. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, these guys are no strangers our local venue, but it had been a few years since they’d last performed at Jergel’s opening for Slaughter.
Since their last visit, Red Reign had been busy completing their sophomore release Don’t Look Back and performing on the road with classic rock band Nazareth. The album was produced by Grammy Award-nominated multi-platinum producer David Ivory who has worked with Halestorm, and features guitarist George Lynch on its title track. The band features Carlton “Bubba” McMichael on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, lead guitarist Stevie Shred, bassist Larry Moore and drummer Sammy Lee. Their genuine drive and enthusiastic performance won over the crowd quickly as the band featured songs from their debut release and latest album before closing out the show with the cut that first introduced us to Red Reign, “Not That Way,” as they always do.
Headliners L.A. Guns took the stage with the attitude we’d come to expect from the sleaze rockers. The band is fronted by Philip Lewis, with founder Tracii Guns on lead guitar, Ace Von Johnson on rhythm guitar, Johnny Martin on bass, and Shawn Duncan on drums.
This was the first time the band would be performing new cuts “Hit and Run” and “Lucky Motherf#cker” from their recently released Leopard Skin (Cleopatra Records) album which could be found mid-set. The show began with an intro that featured the axe-slinging talents of Tracii Guns before drilling into some high-octane favorites like “Cannonball” and the classic “Electric
Gypsy.”
The show continued with a mix of old and new, and the crowd could be found cheering for the new songs, which was encouraging in a world where most people focus on the MTV-era favorites. We were happy to see that other newer cuts like “Speed” and “Like A Drug” continue to make the list.
We enjoyed the tribute to AC/DC which foreshadowed “Never Enough” and the sing-along melody of “The Ballad of Jayne” but were sad that (while on the setlist) the guys skipped over “Crystal Eyes” which is often included in part and by far our favorite L.A. Guns ballad. While the entire set was high on energy from Johnny Martin’s in your face encouragement to Ace Von Johnson’s bubble-popping duets with Tracii, the guys really brought things home when they closed out the evening with “Rip and Tear” before making us laugh with their humorous farewell.
Review and live photo coverage by Kara Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop