Live Review : Kris Barras Band + Florence Black + Ashley Sherlock Band @ Academy 2, Manchester on March 16th 2022

He’s rather a nice chap that Kris Barras fella; on the tour to support their latest album “Death Valley Paradise’, he’s been offering an opening slot to local bands as a way of giving promotion and exposure, and tonight Manchester’s very own Ashley Sherlock Band has the unenviable job of opening the show. They’re a 3 piece outfit and are rather good with their heavy blues soaked rock and roll. With a punchy guitar driven sound, great bass-lines and strong vocals throughout their set, by the time they got to their fourth song ‘Realise’, they were starting to relax in the awe of the big lights and began making new friends amongst the Kris Barras Band faithful at the front. This was a song that spoke single at you; a bit like If You Dig It, the tune that follows from their 2nd EP. There are some nice bluesy guitars from Ashley throughout, and the set builds nicely into the atmospheric ‘Trouble’, demonstrating that they can write more than a good tune or so. By the time the lights went back up it was a performance which these guys will relish for a while, and rightly so.

To say Florence Black hit the ground running is somewhat an understatement. Playing a high octane set of high powered energetic New Wave of British Classic Rock, they thundered and growled, captivating the crowd right from the opening bars of Zulu. The venue has filled up nicely and there are plenty of fans here more than familiar with the boys from deepest Merthyr Tydfil. Settling into their groove we get hit by Bird on a Chain and The Deep End before the hugely popular Smoke. These boys are critically acclaimed by some big names in rock, and it’s not hard to see why. They display a maturity beyond their years; Tristan Thomas stomps around owning the stage, the confident frontman he is becoming. The crowd love them and it’s a blistering set. For a 3 piece, the sounds they produce are mighty to say the least and are an excellent choice to support this evening. They manage to combine those classic sounds and influences of Black Sabbath with the modern force of artists like Black Stone Cherry to perfection. On tunes like Pierrepoint and The Ride you can hear that magnificent blend of old and new rock. It’s a real stadium like performance crammed into the Academy, with the boys focused on entertaining, and that they certainly did. Playing the old Budgie tune and crowd favourite Breadfan they don’t just pay homage to their fellow countrymen, they put their own stamp and flavour on it, in essence making it their own tune, yet still instantly recognisable. The last song appears too soon and a cheer rises up as Sun and Moon is introduced. It has one of those Gilmour esq guitar lines that literally melt before the song explodes in the heat of the evening crowd.  “Weight of The World” is the album that has turned heads, pushing these chaps into a surely unstoppable force for the future- slick, polished and with the delivery of a juggernaut; these boys are going to be massive.

If you thought that was heavy enough, then you obviously hadn’t heard the latest material from The Kris Barras Band. Things are continuing to move upwards for these guys, and rightly so. Kris has changed course dramatically since his last tour in 2019 in support of “Light It Up”. A man not afraid to be bold and strike out, pushing boundaries in pursuit of musical happiness, he’s assembled a band that will take some stopping and tonight was a superb showcase not only for the new album, but to unleash the new harder and super heavier direction on a perhaps, unsuspecting public.

“Death Valley Paradise” is the new album, and probably, it’s their strongest release to date, it’s an album that possesses some bonafide classic rock anthems and in some ways, such a million miles away from the blues soaked roots of their first album “Lucky 13”. Kris Barras has worked his way nicely up through most of the venues over the years, and tonight he’s at his biggest headline venue in Manchester to date- The Academy 2.

Kicking off with crowd favourite ‘Hail Mary’, the new sound is evident right from the start; it’s given a makeover and it’s downright filthy, it’s a perfect introduction to the face melting set. Long-time wingman Josiah J. Manning has traded his keyboards in for a telecaster and the multi-talented pair of drummer Billy Hammett and bassist Kelpie McKenzie complete the line-up. Lead single ‘Dead Horses’ gives us the first of six tonight from the new album and the sheer power and energy of the delivery sets the mood and the tone for the duration of the show- it’s super slick and melodic. Former set closer ‘Rock n Roll Running Through My Veins’ certainly gets an added boot up the arse and the band’s fave new song ‘These Voices’ shows the sheer quality of this line up and strength in the current songwriting. Tonight’s set obviously leans heavily from “Death Valley Paradise” but its offset nicely with favourites from the early albums too.  On tunes like ‘Devil You Know’ and ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ you can tell that Kris has been working hard developing the direction the band is heading in, Its loud, hard and dirty, yet drip with melody and catchy hooks throughout. 

A surprising addition midway to the set is an acoustic interlude which works incredibly well. The pairing of Josiah J. Manning and Kris on the Beth Hart tour from 2019 opened the band up to a whole new audience as a result and tonight they’re sharing a couple of tracks. As a frontman Kris continues to cut a confident figure, engaging with the crowd, holding the audience through a reworked ‘Heart On Your Sleeve’ before a blistering sing-along version of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’. The band are back on for ‘Watching Over Me’, the haunting Gary Moore tinged song Kris usually dedicates to his late father, but tonight it was for all of us, for everyone that survived one way or another the events of the past two years to end up here this evening. Phones are out, torches are on as we hear Kris wring every last note out of his guitar. The interplay between the band during ‘Not Fading’ shows exactly what Kris Barras has become- a band, and one hell of one at that. They are tight and extremely well-polished with a thunderously huge stadium filling sound.  There’s still time for the excellent new tracks ‘Who Needs Enemies’ and the anthemia ‘My Parade’ which crawls under your skin. Kris takes to the mike to connecting with the audience, drawing us into realising it has a collective meaning, if you don’t like it then well- go away! If he pulls this card out at a festival, he’s onto a winner. With time left for a stonking updated ‘Lovers and Losers’ to bring the night to an end, Kris and his men have delivered a powerhouse of a performance, cementing thoroughly where they deserve to be. The future of classic rock is safe.