Originally published by L.S. Media. January 25th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

What would be on your ultimate juke box? If you are a rock fan, a lover of great guitars, crashing drums and lyrics that melt the heart whilst simultaneously making you join in the drum beat with your heart pounding out a rhythm that no other person can fathom, then more than likely you have the top ten albums of all time tattooed on your arm and index-linked and time stamped in your brain.

Last year the people behind The Classic Rock Show stormed the Empire Theatre in Liverpool with a show that shook the shackles off the old year and tore up the apathy of the post-Christmas/ New Year blues. This year the band managed to do exactly the same thing and with buckets of enthusiasm from members of the audience at the Philharmonic Hall spurring on the talented group.

The evening was to be played in two sets, both of which would house some of the greatest rock songs recorded. The first half was a special collection, ten songs from the ten best-selling rock albums of all time.  A rock fan’s jukebox made very real and very, very live.

The band opened up the night with Fleetwood Mac’s eponymous hit The Chain from the outstanding Rumours album. If that didn’t get any stagnating cobwebs out of the audience’s system then the tracks that followed would have shaken a colony of sleeping spiders to their core and made them move onto pastures new. There’s a reason why Damian Darlington, musical M.D. of the band, is so highly rated with his work ethic, it’s the confidence and hard work approach he installs into those around him. As the band ploughed diligently through the first half of the show playing tracks such as Pink Floyd’s Money from Dark Side of the Moon, Take it easy by the Eagles and Meat Loaf’s epic Bat out of Hell it was easy to see that, with very few exceptions, the thrilled crowd had their feet tapping in time to every wonderful beat.

The second half of the show mirrored the first perfectly, a set made up of some of the best rock music ever laid down on vinyl. When a band covers so much material by some of the greats of the genre there can be a tendency amongst the fans of certain bands to dismiss what they are hearing and accuse the band on stage of relying on other’s hard work and not being able to come up with something original.

However this misses the point. There is a call for this music to be kept strong and current and with the age range in the audience being perfectly split between those that could have seen the older bands perform their songs at the time of writing and those that would, because of their youth, never get the chance then as long as the band delivers and keeps to the spirit of the music then what does it matter.

There is room for a great covers band like The Classic Rock show to keep the past alive without it becoming a pastiche. It will be a cold day in hell before the city of Liverpool gets to hear Boston for example, play More than a Feeling or the five members of classic Genesis perform I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) again. So should we dismiss the past, of course not!

The band finished an exciting evening, full of great and magical songs, with tracks such as Supertramp’s Logical Song and an excellent version of the Beatles/Joe Cocker hit With A Little Help From My Friends.

A night of exceptional quality!

Ian D. Hall