Buckcherry played Austin's Fuel Room in Libertyville last week and the place was packed, sold out, standing room only. I have never been to a show where people were so unwilling to move out of someone's way or at least turn sideways so people could get by. It was crowded, but people were ridiculously territorial to the point of claiming places on the floor as their own or their friend's spot to stand. There were so many open "spots" because the line to the ladies room was at least 20 girls deep all night. The club has a 700 people capacity and 4 stalls in the ladies room.
On to my job, Buckcherry is a great straight up rock band! They became moderately famous in the late 20th century. Then Josh Todd, the lead singer, was chosen to head up what would become Velvet Revolver until Slash briefly quit the project only to reform it with Scott Weiland.
Slash messed up, while Weiland may be the more talented singer, Josh Todd is a real deal, aviator sunglass wearing, rock star performer. I've seen Weiland give lesser performances to much larger crowds than I saw Todd give at Austin's. He is a mesmerizing front man and if you look in the slide show of photos accompanying this article, you'll see it in the faces of the crowd. He took off his shirt after the first 3 songs that I photographed, so as you can imagine, the crowd only got more fired up as the show went on.
Buckcherry is a great band and if radio stations played hard driving rock music, Buckcherry would play to much larger crowds and I think eventually they will. The reformed Buckcherry is a smoking hot band with two great guitar players and a unrelenting rhythm section. Here's the set list from last week at Austin's Fuel Room:
- Ridin'
- Rescue Me
- All Night Long
- Fall
- Everything
- Sorry
- It's a Party
- Next 2 You
- Lit-Up
- Gluttony
- Dirty Mind
- Check You Head
- Crazy Bitch
- Bliss
- Whiskey
If you love guitar driven, loud rock and roll and find Buckcherry in your town, get to that show! You will see a great band at the top of the game.
Opening bands for the night were Chicago's own Hessler and The Last Vegas. Hessler is the subject of an upcoming documentary film by El Jinete Films. They are just back from a long quick multiple date tour to Los Angeles where they played the Viper Room. Hessler takes the time to interact with their fans after a show. They must have taken over a hundred pictures with fans at their merchandise booth the night I saw them. They are a super tight rock/metal band and I think they will add every attendee to any of their shows as a fan. They are very charming and accessible.
The Last Vegas is the band that in December 2008 won Guitar Center's contest to open for Mötley Crüe. They toured with Crüe and have played this year alone with Alice Cooper, Face to Face, The Cult, Guns 'n Roses, and Jackyl besides this show with Buckcherry. The Last Vegas is, like Buckcherry, a simply fantastic, full speed ahead, rock band. They have filling in on guitar, Bryan Wilkinson (Formerly of The Lustkillers, and currently in Black Actress) who is an amazing player. If The Last Vegas is smart, they will try and keep him in their band.
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