Oh Danny Bowes The Pipes Are Calling!
By all accounts Thunder should have called it a day about 15 years ago, but the advent of Planet Rock radio, the Classic Rock regeneration and a set of incredibly loyal fans, has kept this British band on the road and releasing records. In fact their latest album ‘Wonder Days’ received rave reviews only last year.
I hadn’t seen the band live for a long time, probably when vocalist Danny Bowes still had long black curly hair, and like a lot of the classic rockers in the audience, it’s now either disappeared or a silvery grey. Bowes is sporting the silver fox look with a black suit, shirt and jeans, he’s looking smart and cool for his generation.
A projected backdrop of imagery shows a legacy of music faces from the 60’s and 70’s, a notable cheer goes up when Aladdin Sane is shown and this all serves as an intro as the band take to the stage and launch into title track to ‘Wonder Days’ a Zeppelinesque refrain, good start and Gary “Harry” James is on fine form giving the Bonham treatment to his kit.
What immediately strikes you about this band is that they hold on to everything that is traditional of a good classic rock band performance, but without the overbearing extended soloing of drums and guitar. We do get the predictability and rock clichés of audience participation, hand clapping, screaming and singing, we get some Luke Morley guitar solos and poses, Marshall stacks, and a master of ceremonies in Bowes.
Danny Bowes tonight put in such a great rock vocalist performance, the likes of which I haven’t seen in years, just the right level of power, pitch and treacle gargled tone from his vocal pipes. He should really be recognised as one of the finest British rock vocalists of his generation, on a par with David Coverdale and Paul Rodgers, and better than Brian Johnson in my view, and tonight he had the audience right where he needed them and they loved it – fans completely devoted and in awe of the man.
Melodic ballads are a plenty with ‘Empty City’ and ‘Love Walked In’ being the highlights, and we had a fair share of the rock classics in ‘Backstreet Symphony’, ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ and ‘I Love You More Than Rock n Roll’. Crowd pleasers all, band and audience faithfully revelling in the genre with a packed stadium bouncing along to these fiftysomething rockers.
A sight to see, yes it’s clichéd - but that’s exactly the diet these fans expect to receive. Frequent adverts for Planet Rock are heard before the band took to the stage and Bowes himself is a presenter on the radio station. With events like the recently successful Whitesnake/Def Leppard Stadium Tour, Thin Lizzy reunions, and younger bands like the Temperance Movement getting frequent airplay, its clear that this genre is definitely here to stay for a few more years at least.
Without playing ‘She’s so fine’ tonight (a personal favourite), they save their biggest old hit ‘Dirty Love’ for the encore and Bowes teases the crowd with the longest intro build up he can muster. The lights go up and dutifully the trustworthy devotees join with the band for the party tune of the night, all beery smiles and sore throats. Thunder exemplify a consummate professional British classic rock live performance, with a singer of flawless blues standards, long live classic rock and roll!
