A thudding drum beat and great washes of keyboard herald the arrival of White Skies to the hallowed Waterloo stage.   A band I’d never seen before, (or to be honest, knew a great deal about), they are purveyors of melodic rock in the grand tradition of soaring vocals, big riffs, and even bigger choruses.  ‘What Do You Know About Love’ is a great start to the set with all of those three elements firmly present and correct, with tonight’s crowd very receptive and obviously firm devotees of the genre (as becomes even more apparent later on when Romeo’s Daughter perform). 

We’re only on the second song, ‘A Love Unjustified’ and the singer is delivering an impassioned vocal down on his knees centre stage.  Melodic rock needs to have that over-the-top sense of drama and intensity to work at its best.  Without that fervent attack, it can very quickly be come dull and stray into mediocre territory, however that’s not an accusation that can be levelled at White Skies.  Every song is played with a level of energy and commitment that can only be applauded. 

‘Sleeping in the Fire’ picks up the pace, a driving riff, underpinned by a lovely keyboard part (that for some reason puts me in mind of the old “Phenomena” concept album, no bad thing in my book) before my highlight of the set, ‘Kiss Me (As I Say Goodbye)’.  Beginning with a gloriously immaculate keyboard intro and another ardent vocal delivery, on this song all those elements that I mentioned earlier are turned up to the max.  There are some deft guitar flourishes before the drums kick in, the guitar building and building to a sky-high chorus.  As you would expect a suitably emotive and dextrous solo is the icing on the cake; this song is the ear-worm that will stay with me for days…’Midnight Rendezvous’ boasts a chugging riff and a splendid interplay between guitars and keys and the set draws to a close with ‘One Step Forward’.  A solid performance that serves as the perfect entrée before tonight’s main event. 

Romeo’s Daughter are touring to promote their newly released sixth album “Slipstream”, and as vocalist Leigh Matty tells us, this is the first time they’ve been out playing in eighteen months, however you wouldn’t think so given the polished performance the band deliver with a career-spanning set of melodic rock gems.  Whilst they may only have produced half a dozen albums across the thirty plus years of their existence, the strength and depth of the material within those albums is clear in tonight’s set.   

The band hit us with the opening one-two punch of ‘Heaven in the Backseat’ and the always brilliant ‘Attracted to the Animal’ and hell, are this crowd here for it!  Rarely have I witnessed such joyous abandon in a crowd, with many lost in the music throughout and completely carried away in the moment.  It’s such a real and genuine reaction to the band and their music that it’s hard not to be moved by the honesty and passion displayed during tonight’s performance. The affection between the band and the Romeo’s Daughter faithful is equally obvious with Leigh clearly recognising audience members, many having travelled the length of the country for tonight’s show. 

Leigh’s natural and unaffected stage presence plays a large part in this, she is the perfect front-woman, assured and engaging and most importantly looks like she’s having fun. That is surely largely due to the unassailable confidence that must be born out of the fact that she is possessed of a voice of such amazing clarity and tone, one that hasn’t aged a day since the band’s early days back in 1987. Whether upbeat rocker or slower ballad, Leigh’s vocal delivery is a virtuoso performance in sophisticated dynamism, at times like spun gold, at others with a smoky breathless quality, beguiling in its beauty. 

In the live setting Romeo’s Daughter have a surprisingly harder rocking edge highlighted on numbers like ‘Have Mercy’ and ‘Inside Out’, the latter in particular pushing the crowd to a new level of frenzied engagement, aided in no small part by the clap along, singalong drop-out section. Craig Joiner’s guitar work is exemplary throughout, showing a delicacy of touch and some truly gorgeous melodies and guitar lines, whilst being able to rip out a superlative solo at the drop of a hat, something he does repeatedly. 

We get just two new songs from the “Slipstream” album, ‘Fake’ and ‘Over You’ both of which nestle alongside their older bedfellows with ease.  Some of these older songs from the back catalogue are little time machines, at a note throwing those of us who were there straight back to those Eighties nights. ‘I Cry Myself to Sleep at Night’ is a case in question, gorgeous in its atmosphere and so redolent of the era, that you can’t help but raise a glass with a smile to the teenager who first heard these songs all those years ago.  And in the hands of this supremely talented band, tonight it sounds just as fresh and vital as it did back in the day. 

All too soon, we’re into the home straight, with the equally wonderful ‘Stay With Me Tonight’, providing one last emotive number before the band draw the final curtain with a blast through Wild Child. I’m not sure if the bass had been cranked up but for this last song it was vibrating through the floor and rattling the ribs, helping to bring the set to a suitably rocking end. 

Tonight, proves that not only is there still a very healthy appetite for AOR/melodic rock, but also that it is not simply an exercise in nostalgia; with new high-quality material still being produced and played with such verve and expertise, long may it continue…. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Romeo’s Daughter, White Skies