Concert Review
Slaughter
Stephen Pearcy
Braun’s Concert Cove
Akron, NY
Friday August 2, 2013
Review/Photos: Joseph Suto
Slaughter made their first trip to the area since 1997, Friday evening. The band last played an area show with Dokken, Warrant and Alice Cooper who headlined at Darien Lake. A modest crowd gathered to see how this version of Slaughter would go over.
Still at the helm is singer, guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum. Both have been there since day one as the band was formed out of the ashes of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, a band led by former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent. Joining them were guitarist Jeff Blando as well as the animated drumming of one Zoltan Chaney.
Finally hitting a stage in the Buffalo area for the first time in what seems like a lifetime, the band cracked into “The Wild Life”, a great choice for an opening song. “Take Me Away” a song from the most recent Slaughter studio release 1999s Back To Reality was up next. As bassist Strum was running all over the stage very reminiscent to Billy Sheehan, drummer Chaney was up, down and all over the place behind the drum kit. Definitely watching Chaney play drums was an experience all in itself.
“Spend My Life” an old MTV staple, was probably the best song of the night despite a muddy sound mix throughout the show, this song sounded the best. The band actually played a new song “Livin Inside” which hopefully means the band may release a new album sometime in the near distant future.
Due to a close proximity of some houses the band’s set was cut short due to an 11 PM curfew. It was unfortunate because that meant that they did not have time to play their two biggest songs so they opted to play both an abbreviated medley featuring both “Fly To The Angels” and “Up All Night”. The sad thing is this whole matter could have been avoided as the downtime between each bands sets was way too long. The set in total clocked in at fifty-five minutes. Obviously not the way anyone wanted this show to end under those circumstances as it took a little away from the overall picture.
Stephen Pearcy and his Rat Bastards got things started in fine fashion as they took a run through the Ratt songbook. “Lay It Down” and “You’re In Love” a great one-two punch featured some very good solos from guitarist Erik Ferentinos, who has been playing with Pearcy since 2001.
Pearcy used his time wisely as he made sure to play all the most known songs. On the downside, it always appears he tends to ignore songs from one of his old bands Arcade. While on the original set list there was one track listed, Pearcy omitted it from the set perhaps due to time constraints. It also has to be said how much clearer the sound mix was for Pearcy as opposed to Slaughter.
It was an enjoyable evening nonetheless featuring two bands who had plenty of songs blasting out of boom-boxes in the late eighties to early nineties. Hopefully both will be back playing the area sooner than later.
Slaughter
Wildlife
Take Me Away
Buring Bridges
Spend My life
Mad About You
Eye to Eye
Livin Inside
Real Love
Fly to the Angels/Up All Night
Stephen Pearcy
Lay It Down
You’re In Love
Lack Of Communication
Wanted Man
I’m Insane
Slip Of The Lip
Way Cool Jr.
Sweet Cheater
Bady Talk
Headed Out To The Highway
Back For More
Round And Round
Special thanks to Ross Catalino and Back to Back Entertainment
