Live Review : Mr. Big + Jared James Nichols @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on March 20th 2024

Supergroups are never designed for longevity. They exist either as a water-treading exercise for name artists to fruitfully pass time whilst they wait for their main bands to reform or as an egotistical wish-fulfilment vehicle allowing musicians from different genres to work together without upsetting the apple cart of their day jobs. In celebrating 35 years of existence Mr. Big are the exception that proves the rule. Long ago they evolved beyond being a musical distraction for their constitute members and instead Mr. Big has become the thing that Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Eric Martin are now most well-known and revered for. Mr. Big have achieved the thing that very very few supergroups ever aspire to, as a whole they equal more than their individual parts.

Live Review : Paul Gilbert + Blackballed @ Academy 3, Manchester on September 19th 2019

Tonight’s support band are, it seems, a bit of a last-minute shoe-in. So much so that their drummer has never actually played with them before. With that in mind, he actually did a pretty good job of it! They are a 3-piece band with good hats and beards, and they play fuzzy bass-driven blues rock.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby23 September 2019Academy 3Paul Gilbert, Blackballed, MR BIG, Academy 3, Manchester, 2019, Jo Crosby, Johann Wierzbicki, Live ReviewComment

Live Review : MR BIG + The Answer + Faster Pussycat @ Academy, Manchester on November 21st 2017.

On a classic Mancunian night of rain and football, Faster Pussycat, were too fast for writer and photographer to make it to witness one of Hollywood’s finest sleaze rock merchants strut and swagger across the academy stage. We arrived in time for the opening track of second support The Answer. A Northern Irish classic rock outfit in the tradition of Rival Sons, a mixture of blues, country and folk blended together with a rocking pentatonic swagger and groove. Cormac Neeson on vocals is a charismatic frontman, affable and talented.