Live Review : Skid Row + The Treatment + Enuff Z'Nuff @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on October 27th 2022

Well what an exciting slice of music we have to look forward to this evening! It’s a mouth-watering mix of classic and rejuvenated ‘80’s American rock, with a hefty slice of noise from current NWOCR Gods The Treatment sandwiched in-between. It is indeed enough to make you proud that you are of an age to remember when both Skid Row and Enuff Z’Nuff released absolute stonkers of debut albums way back in ’89. Time has thrown varying degrees of mixed fortunes at both bands yet here they still are, still rockin and delivering some serious shit in the form of their latest releases. I am indeed salivating at the prospect.

Openers Enuff Z’Nuff are one of those bands that perhaps you should have heard of yet most probably won’t unless you remember necking pints of snakebite or dancing like your father at various metal discos’ or watching The Power Hour back in the day- (Remembering to tape it on a Friday night though!) With the song ‘New Thing’ they had a massive hit and that album spawned many other golden nuggets as well. It would always be interesting to see how they would play out their set, bearing in mind that Chip Z’Nuff the frontman and bass player is the only original member from when they formed way back in the day. The Ritz was always going to be busy tonight and there’s a more than healthy turnout for the boys as they open the show. Dressed in his trademark hat and aviators Chip immediately connects with the enthusiastic Manchester crowd as they launch into a cracking interpretation of The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, remembering they did in fact release an album of “Beatles and Wings” songs back in 2021. It’s really well done with a great 3 part harmony vocal that would feature heavily throughout their set. They play with a great energy and the set, as to be expected, nods back to the direction of that classic first album. ‘Kiss the Clown’ follows up; and you remember hearing that album for the first time. Bouncy track ‘The Love Train’ leads nicely into “Strength” album track ‘Baby Loves You’. They’re fun to watch and the guitars of Tory Stoffregan and Tony Fennel are nicely balanced and really lift these songs up with renewed energy. Keeping the vibrations high we get another excellent Beatles/Wings track with ‘Jet’ before we go back to the sombre melancholic ballad ‘Fly High Michelle’ then, of course it has to be that song ‘New Thing’ to end the evening brilliantly. With 20 albums released now they show no sign of stopping and why should they? They’re back on their own UK tour next week; check them out, they should definitely be on your radar.

Another band that should be on the radar to watch should be The Treatment. A band that have repeatedly gained rave reviews with their trademark Airbourne/ACDC sound and balls out live performances, these chaps take to the stage with the mission of keeping the crowd entertained, your head nodding and the feet tapping. They manage to do that extremely well. Whilst that sound may not be to everyone’s cup of tea, there’s absolutely no denying what an exciting set they brought to the table. Indeed it’s ACDC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ that signals their introduction to the Ritz stage. ‘Let’s Get Dirty’ serves as the perfect start to the set. This hard hitting 1st slice of rifftastic rock off their last studio album “Power Crazy” does indeed get the crowd moving away from the bar and stand back and listen. Singer Tom Rampton practically owns that stage from then on in. The brothers Grey prove to be a great sibling guitar partnership, working the stage very well, engaging with the crowd and singing every line with them. It’s a high octane set and perfect for warming the anticipating Skid Row crowd well. As a band they are very much coming into their own and it’s hard not to like them. It’s easy and fun listening and the songs are full of hooks and catchy choruses. ‘Let It Begin’ follows up and there’s a couple off their latest album ‘Eyes on You’, oozing in sultry swagger and the hard riff age of ‘Vampress’ ensures the feet don’t stop tapping anytime soon.  They’ve certainly stepping up a gear and it’s a stadium like performance. ‘Wrong Way’ is again taken from the album “Waiting for Good Luck” and it’s got single written all over it; catchy and full of those hooks it goes down really well. There’s no let up for the audience as Rampton shows exactly why is such a good frontman as he gets the crowd singing and eating out of his palm on ‘Bite Back’. Old crowd favourites ‘On The Money’ and ‘Shake the Mountain’ get an airing before finally another newbie ‘Rat Race’ finishes an exhilarating set to loud cheers and applause.  It was definitely a case of mission: accomplished for The Treatment.

It’s certainly been a well-publicised journey through the past 30 years for Skid Row hasn’t it? Throwing all that aside though, they’ve just released an absolute stonker of an album in “The Gang’s all Here” and it’s a near capacity crowd thinking the same thing, obviously looking forward to hearing those classics and also quite possibly wondering exactly what all the fuss about the new singer Erik Grönwall really is. The ex-H.E.A.T. frontman certainly doesn’t look like he could knock the skin off a rice pudding but as soon as he opens his gob it’s more than clear that he possesses a voice that not only can scale the same dizzy ranges of what a certain Mr. Bach used to do, and one that really gave those tunes that distinct sound, but in every way he actually surpasses it.

Tonight though there would be another unsung hero who would steal the show and again, not in a way anyone would ever expect either.

The sheer power of that self-titled debut in 1989 blew so many people to smithereens at the time- it’s collection of powerhouse and anthemia songs that literally took rock in a new direction. It was that same power that followed up with “Slave to The Grind” in 1991, and it’s the title track that opens the show. As the band take to the stage one could be forgiven for wondering who the lad with the pub darts top on riffing the fuck out of Snake Sabo’s guitar was? Our puzzled look were solved by the time they had raced through ‘The Threat’ and ‘Big Guns’ when it was revealed that Sabo had tested positive for the old Kung flu and had to bail out. It seems that the gang wasn’t all here at all! Enter stage right guitar technician and all round super hero Casey who, with little over 3 hours to learn the set absofuckinlutely nailed its hat on. It seemed the show was very nearly cancelled and this guy has saved the day. As Casey brings ‘18 and Life’ in, the cheer that rings through the hall does indeed show their appreciation not only for this classic tune but to him for saving the gig. It’s loud tonight, bloody loud in fact! Too bloody loud really, but this is one sublime rock and roll performance in every sense. Erik is having a blast, proving an instantaneous hit with the crowd. He certainly oozes charisma and with his Swedish American drawl engages well at every given opportunity. ‘Piece of Me’ and ‘Livin’ on a Chain Gang’ are fired out with those trademark Bach notes being hit every time and more besides. Its jaw dropping to watch and heads are shaking in almost disbelief at the vocal acrobatics on show. Rachel Bolan takes to the mic for a bit of a punk pogo in The Ramones tune ‘Psycho Therapy’ before Erik returns to rip a new hole in ‘Makin’ a Mess’ before the title track ‘The Gang’s all Here’, a great piece of chant a long anthemia that easily sits amongst those classic first two albums worth of material. Scotti Hill is putting a right shift up there and handles more than one guitar part on some tracks to make up for the missing Snake, showing exactly why he is such a great player. The drumming of Rob Hammersmith thunders away throughout the evening locking everything in brilliantly. 

‘Riot Act’ from Slave gets an airing before another new track ‘Tear it Down’; another great song full of hooks and heavy riffs causes heavy applause but not as much as when Casey brings in set closer ‘Monkey Business’. The thunderous riff echoing and resonating through every ear drum in the house. The place goes mental and the band leave the stage. There’s a longer pause than usual awaiting the bands return and it is to a thundery rainy backing through the P.A. as the acoustic is set up for ‘I Remember You’. There’s no mistaking that intro and its delivered in a timeless manner as close to the near 1500 sing along to every line. The pressure continues to rise as the infectious tick, tick tick of new single ‘Time Bomb’ crashes in. There can only be one song left and yep, you’ve guessed it; ‘Youth Gone Wild’ ensures the place goes suitably crazy and the venue explodes. There’s no denying that Skid Row are still a force to be reckoned with and not some of nostalgia act. The album is a belter and well worth a listen proving that now with Erik on board, they should indeed be playing stadiums and arenas once again. The night though belonged to that guitar tech and there’s no denying that either.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!