Live Review : John Corabi + Tony Mitchell @ the Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on December 11th 2019

It’s another bleeding Wednesday gig, bah. Sometimes I think the Universe conspires against me, other reviewers get to go and do nice no-need-to-juggle-work weekend gigs but for some reason all the best gigs that I get to go to are on Wednesdays at the moment. I do cheat a bit tonight though by accepting a lift from my ROCKFLESH colleague and ace photographer Johann, so at least I don’t have to tackle the M6 again and I can have a couple of rum & coke for *ahem* medicinal purposes when I get there. The Waterloo itself when we arrive is warm and welcoming. It’s really starting to take off as a venue now and some class acts are queueing up to play here. Ian and his team have done a superb job of making it into a venue that’s a good experience for both bands and fans, and if someone you like announces a gig at the Waterloo I highly recommend that you pop along and see for yourself. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with the décor, the atmos, the sound or the bar prices!

Opener tonight is a local boy who I think I’ve never heard of but then realise that actually I have. Tony Mitchell was formerly best-known for being part of Kiss Of The Gypsy, but I know of him from another band he was associated with, Dirty White Boyz. He has a nice voice, that according to my notes sounds a bit like (don’t laugh) George Michael. Hmmm. Maybe less medicinal rum next time? Anyhow he gives us a set of songs from his past that is very good. His guitar work is spot-on, and as we get further into the set the vocals go a lot more Jovi-esque. He’s joined for one song by singer-songwriter friend and collaborator Chris Clancy, and the two of them give us some seriously good harmonies. The ballads are suitably sad, the rockers definitely rock and the whole thing is very enjoyable indeed. For someone I didn’t know I’d heard of he turns out to be a talented guy whose name I will now try to remember and look out for. Cheers Tony, I enjoyed that very much.

The main man tonight, John Corabi, is a bit of a musical hero of mine. He first came to my attention in the very early 90s (91-2 ish) when an album “Let It Scream” by a band called The Scream was recommended to me by a friend who worked in our local record shop. I loved that album. I played it over and over again, couldn’t get enough of that slightly rough, raspy but oh-so-tuneful voice, couldn’t wait to see where they would go with their next album. That difficult second album never actually happened though as John was recruited into Mötley Crüe as a replacement for Vince Neil. I was gutted, I wasn’t a huge Crüe fan and no more Scream? Say it ain’t so! An album was duly produced that in my opinion was probably the best one Crüe ever did, and a couple of years of stadium-sized debauchery followed before Vince was back in and Corabi was chucked back into relative obscurity. He teamed up with ex Kiss man Bruce Kulick to form Union, and all was well again. Further solo work and most recently a stint in The Dead Daisies followed, and all that history culminated in this show in this pub in Blackpool tonight. Amazing!

Actually, I could do this review as just a one-word thing and “amazing” would be that word. Maybe “bloody amazing” if I was feeling particularly eloquent. But then you would feel cheated, and I hate to disappoint you! The main thing about John Corabi is of course his spine-tingling voice. In fact, it’s not just a voice, it’s a Voice. You know how you can sometimes describe the voice as an instrument? Well, that. Mr Corabi can do things with his voice that makes it pretty unique, he can hit notes and string together phrases that other singers can only dream of. However, tonight isn’t just about the Voice. In between songs he tells us a bit about his life and the history of each song, a gentle self-deprecating and at times screamingly funny account of how he got to where he is now. If you’ve seen him before you may recognise a couple of his stories, if not I’m not going to spoil it for you. Go and watch, see for yourself. He even deals quickly and patiently with a coupe of hecklers. The songs he gives us tonight span his career and also include some of his own favourites by other artists, and he does a pretty mean impression of Steven Tyler from Aerosmith (dude)!

When watching him it’s easy to forget that as well as possessing that Voice he’s actually a pretty mean guitarist as well. Highlights of the set for me are the emotional ‘Father Mother Son’ from the Scream album, a great cover of Aerosmith’s ‘Seasons Of Wither’, the swampy version of The Dead Daisies’ ‘Dead and Gone’, the rousing singalong of Mötley Crüe’s ‘Hooligan’s Holiday’, the stark message of ‘Misunderstood’, the poignant cover of The Cars’ ‘Drive’ (dedicated to the late Rik Ocasek) and of course set closer and his signature song The Scream’s ‘Man In The Moon’. All in all, a superb evening of songs and stories, and of course afterwards he is happy to chat, sign things and take photos with anyone who wants him too. What a performer, what a night. I think I’m actually starting to enjoy Wednesdays.