Following hot on the heels of their successful 2021 tour, The Dead Daisies returned to the UK in 2022 for eight gigs featuring tracks from the new album ‘Radiance’. This time they storm the home of rock in the Midlands, KK’s Steel Mill, which is literally a converted heavy metal foundry in the heart of Wolverhampton!

Warming the crowd up on this bitterly cold night in the large and chilly industrial space is FM. The UK 80’s rockers hit the stage to a welcome from an appreciative 7pm crowd, with three members of this five piece from the original line-up. Tonight is surely going to be a tribute to the endurance and longevity of some great musicians. With a back catalogue of thirteen albums and time for only seven tracks, FM span the decades from 1989’s Tough it Out through to Turn This Car Around from their latest release ‘Thirteen’. Whilst FM’s music has perhaps not evolved significantly since their debut, you get the same polished musicianship and enthusiasm, while their newest member, Jim Kirkpatrick, brings a much-needed injection of energy and vibrancy to the lead guitar.

After a quick huddle around the lone fan heater to defrost, we have another amazing legend from rock history, Graham Bonnet and his band. With a career spanning five decades, Bonnet still strides the stage with his eclectic look of shirt, pencil thin tie and shades as if those decades were no time at all. Despite fighting off a cold that would have most gents his age at home in the warm in his slippers, he gives his all and still demonstrates his amazing vocal range. With only time for six tracks there is no room for fillers, and the band crank out real crowd pleasers from Rainbow’s ‘All Night Long’ to Deep Purple’s ‘Lazy’, finishing on a high with his own ‘Lost In Hollywood’.

With the temperature rising the sell-out audience eagerly anticipates the Dead Daisies arrival on stage, with some of the super fans in the audience, who have followed them across Europe on this tour, battling for front row positions in the hope of capturing a few mementos thrown from the stage.

Frontman Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion) has shaken off the illnesses that had him missing some US tour dates and is joined by guitar hero Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio, House of Lords) and the group’s founder David Lowy on guitars. This time drumming duty is taken up by the returning Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Foreigner, Billy Idol) who first performed with the Daisies back in 2013.

After the 2021 tour of the much acclaimed ‘Holy Ground’ the band went straight back into the studio to record the new material that has become the latest album release, ‘Radiance’. They have been on the road non-stop, playing to tens of thousands on the festival circuit and as special guests of Foreigner & Judas Priest over two months in the EU this summer.

The Daisies have maintained their distinctive sound on this album but, whilst there are a few catchy tracks to enjoy, the studio does not do the album justice. Live and loud is the only way to hear these guitar riffs and rhythms, driving bass lines, accomplished drumming gymnastics and classic vocals.

As the lights dim in the hallowed halls of KK’s Steel Mill, and the dry ice rolls in for the headliners, we soon discover what happens to dry ice in nearly freezing temperatures….it no longer evaporates but simply hangs around for the rest of the night! Like a scene from the movie Arrival, we see these talented monsters of rock moving through the mist, occasionally coming into view as they get close to the front of the stage, and are beautifully backlit, but then disappear back into the shadows.

Despite this, the music powers through and those infectious smiles still shine. Doug with a twinkle in his eye and Glenn full of joy playing to an audience in a hometown that is clearly close to his heart and full of memories. Doug and David’s guitar work is an accomplished mix of thundering riffs, lead solos and rock solid rhythms, not to mention their charismatic stage presence and athletic ability as they continually swap sides of the stage.

The ‘Voice of Rock’ is certainly on form and hitting the high notes this evening! Opening with ‘Long Way to Go’ from ‘Make Some Noise’ the show gets off to a blistering start and goes straight into ‘Unspoken’ from last year’s excellent ‘Holy Ground’. Following ‘Rise Up’ and ‘Dead and Gone’ from 2018’s ‘Burn it Down’ we get introduced to the first of four from the new album starting with the title track ‘Radiance’; the anthemic ‘Born to Fly’ with its catchy guitars and soaring vocals, through to ‘Hypnotize Yourself’ which is perhaps the most powerful track on the album. At the halfway mark the band launch into a rockier than usual ‘Fortunate Son’ as a prelude to a fabulous old school drum solo by Tichy. At this point the ice clouds have dissipated slightly and we can see him having fun with a fabulous stick juggling performance. For an encore the band bring the house down with a rousing fan favourite of Purple’s ‘Burn’.

Hughes is ever thankful to still be performing and the audience loves him for it. This band is undoubtedly a supergroup, and we’ve been treated to a superb high energy performance that would have been equally at home in the largest of stadiums. KK Downing himself is in the audience and waiting to entertain his guests after the show. All these legends of rock gathered in one place!

Words: Nic Smith

Images: Nicki Sharp

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