Crimes of Passion, Tri State Corner and Luke Gasser – Trillians, Newcastle upon Tyne 2nd May 2018

I never thought when I was a small child (yes, I was small once thank you) first getting hooked by the wonders of rock and roll that I would reach such an age as i have that it would be possible to still be discovering new bands and music that would fast become favourites. Well, I have become “of an age” and I still find new favourite bands and music. Even better I have become friends with some of these people and it is always a pleasure to be able to catch up with them and enjoy seeing them blossom as other people catch on to the things that grabbed me by the … erm, grabbed my attention in the first place. A case in point for this is Crimes of Passion who I first heard after reading they were “just like Def Leppard” in a major music publication. Being a huge Leppard fan I had to hear this and immediately fell in love with the songs and all of their albums (by the way they sound NOTHING like Def Leppard). The, only a few short weeks ago the new release by Tri State Corner hit my inbox for review – again I was smitten. Bazouki rock? You betcha and my review is for all to see here – Tri State Corner “Hero”. So for a brief tour to be announced including a night at Trillians, I was going to be there by hell or high water – quite an apt phrase as it turned out.

First up was Luke Gasser and his band. Hailing from the land of chocolate, clocks, banks and, as I learned, LSD, the Swiss band led by said Mr Gasser hit us with their unique blend of almost punk blues. Intermingled with their own songs was a very Gasser-esque cover of Sympathy for the Devil. A blistering start to the night and it certainly attracted the attention of the small but perfectly formed crowd.

 

Then came Tri State Corner. Touring to promote their latest release “Hero”, they delivered everything I expected based on my recent introduction to the band. Some intelligent and thoughtful hard rock, melody aplenty and, of course, loads of bazouki. Add in vocalist Lucky’s blasts on the bongo (he is a drummer too, in metal band Rage) and you have a performance to match perfectly with the recorded works. Thoroughly enjoyable and I really needed to purchase the albums but (big fail) ended up chatting and missed the lot being packed away. Doh! Next time though, don’t leave it too long gentlemen – I am a convert and need more.

And so to Crimes of Passion. Well sort of. As I mentioned before, hell or high water had struck. This was to be the first UK appearance of the new line up featuring Marcos Rodrieguez on guitar and new bass player Danny Da Silva joining stalwarts Henning Wanner (Keyboards),  Kevin Tonge (drums) and Dale Radcliffe on vocals and I was very excited, especially having been given a sneak preview of something of the forthcoming album at a very early stage. However, disaster had struck on the journey up from the South Coast. Marcos was in hospital after taking ill on the bus and tonight was going to be something a bit different. The old adage of the show must go on kicked in and Dale and Henning took to the stage to give us a few acoustic songs. Wearing a rather fetching X-Wing fighter pilot sleeping bag (definitely not a onesie, apparently) we were treated to a couple of well-known Crimes of Passion (back to the original name for the new record folks) and two covers “Separate Ways” and the beautiful “Skin” (originally Sixx:AM). The combination of just voices (blimey Mr Wanner can fair chant) and keyboards was something magical and was a very special performance despite the worrying circumstances.

The following morning, Marcos was back on the bus en route to Sheffield for the second date, the tour was back on the road and all should be well with Marcos. Certainly great news to hear – even better for him as it delays his introduction to my fanboy stalking a little longer.

With the level of talent on show tonight, and that I have raved about for a while now, Crimes of Passion should be at the top table of the world of rock and Dale really does have one of the best voices in British rock. They have just released a new ep, “Keep On Moving” – just do yourselves a favour, get it bought. I can tell you the new album is going to be incredible and when they come back to play in the UK, whatever else you may have planned, get to a show to see for yourself just why they stole the show at Hard Rock Hell in March.

Crimes of Passion

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