Live Review: Mike Tramp + Dan Byrne @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on Wednesday 30 August 2023

One guitar and one voice.   

Sometimes that’s all you really need to deliver a great set, and that’s precisely what Dan Byrne delivers tonight. Proving once again, that he possesses one of the finest new voices in rock today, his performance tonight is an exercise in control, power and delicacy.  With only half a dozen songs in which to make an impact Dan wisely cherry picks some prime cuts from across his career with three coming from his former band Revival Black. Opener (and personal favourite of mine) ‘Take You Out’ takes on a whole new aspect when delivered acoustically as does ‘Wide Awake’ from Revival Black’s original album.  Both are bombastic, powerful straight-ahead rockers in their original electric versions, but here they have a finer more delicate edge to them, allowing Dan to showcase that amazing voice to dazzling effect, these simplified arrangements proving as effective in their own way as the full band versions. 

This is a back-to-basics performance with no gimmicks, no back-line and nothing to hide behind, that rightly puts Dan’s voice front and centre.  With the inclusion of a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ - a throwback to his days playing Open Mic nights before turning professional - and ending with Skin’s ‘Tower of Strength’ (with whom he played on this very stage, only a couple of weeks earlier) it’s a short but perfectly formed set.  We also get to hear new song ‘Control’ and with live dates coming later in the year with his brand-new band, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before this vocal powerhouse reaches ever greater and deserved success. 

Indiana Jones once said “it’s not the years honey, it’s the mileage”.   

And with over three decades and many thousands of miles travelled since the halcyon days of White Lion’s time in the spotlight towards the end of the eighties and into the nineties, Indiana Jones was right on both counts. Mike Tramp - like many of us - may well have those heady days of youth firmly in his rear-view mirror, but neither the time nor the distance have done anything to diminish either his performance nor the quality and longevity of White Lion’s back catalogue.  

Looking relaxed and happy, there’s just Mike and long-time collaborator Marcus Nand on stage tonight, and whilst this pared back look means the stage may look a little bare, it allows you to really concentrate and focus in on that voice and those guitar parts that made White Lion’s songs so memorable. The pairing of Mike’s vocals and Vito Bratta’s explosive guitar virtuosity was the heart and soul of White Lion and it’s evident from the enthusiastic response tonight that their back catalogue and the band’s legacy are still alive and well, and remembered with a huge amount of affection. That these songs that are, in some cases, going on for forty years old and still sound fresh and vital, is a tribute to both the quality of the song-writing and the musicianship both then and now that brought them to life. 

Marcus Nand is a phenomenal guitarist in his own right, and does a superb job as Mike’s right-hand man, recreating those electrifying solos and runs with a dextrous elegance and ease.  It’s a fine line to tread, reworking much-loved classics, but tonight it works perfectly, achieving that balance of familiar and new.  They’re the songs we all know and love, but just…a little different.  Like meeting an old lover after years apart, you can still see glimpses of the younger version that lives in your memory; and whilst they’re the same they’re also subtly changed by the passing of the years.   

And, so, it is with tonight’s set.    

The opening 1-2-3 punch of ‘Lonely Nights’, ‘Hungry’ and ‘Tell Me’, from “Pride” is the perfect introduction to a show that ranges across the four White Lion albums. Mike intersperses the songs with stories and anecdotes from his life; from leaving Denmark as a young man looking to find his place in the world to playing Madison Square Garden, he’s never less than captivating, a natural raconteur with a pocketful of tales to tell.  At times surprising and disarming in his honesty and openness, these insights provide a rare and fascinating first-hand glimpse into the life and times of a professional musician.  Sometimes funny, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining, Mike knows how to engage with his audience and as he says at one point, he loves it when that connection happens.  

Equally, the chemistry and connection between Mike and Marcus is evident in every song, as they perform with an easy shorthand between them, that can only be created through working closely together over many years.  They’re having fun and as a result so are we. 

It seems churlish to single out individual highpoints in a set that is littered with them, but I’m going to try anyway! Rousing renditions of ‘Living on the Edge’ and ‘Little Fighter’ alongside a superb, sparkling ‘Broken Heart’ leave the already fervent crowd eager for more, with the biggest cheer of the night going invariably to the evergreen ‘Wait’. 

Mike teases us that this tour has just been laying the seeds for a potential full-band return in the not-too-distant future, and with a commitment that when that happens, he’ll be back to the venue that he describes as “the house that rock and roll built”, we’re left with a tantalising promise of more White Lion still to come, which can only be a good thing. 

And if tonight’s audience is anything to go by when Mike does eventually make that triumphant return, they’ll be waiting (pun definitely intended) with open arms. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Mike Tramp, Dan Byrne