Page 23 - RYAN'S GIG GUIDE JANUARY 2015

RGG January 2015 - p.23
J. Holder
Last summer I stumbled across a band called One
Man Revival I reviewed their set in Derby one
summer evening and they made a real impression
on me They are a band without complications and
band without illusions of grandeur They are a
straight up rock band; it’s as simple as that As so
often happens with these things I was offered the
chance to go and review a gig in Glasgow (see
opposite) totally out of the blue and completely by
chance One Man Revival were playing so I think it’s
only right that I tell all of you fine people what I
saw
That night when I first saw the band in Derby they
were fantastic in pretty strange circumstances as
in there was barely anyone at the venue to
appreciate what the band were doing
Nevertheless they put on a really good show so as
I drove up to Glasgow I was expecting exactly the
same if not more
The set began with a barnstormingly energetic
rendition of Be With You which set the tone for
what was to follow The band by their own
admission had left out the slow stuff to keep the
pace up and that was exactly what the audience
were after The venue’s smoke machine also proved
to be in full working order as drummer Wayne
Glaister slowly faded from view As the opener slid
directly into An Ordinary World Glaister could have
given up and gone home for all the audience knew
as he was still invisible with only the pounding
beat providing some evidence that something was
going on in the gloom The band then hit the
audience with a surprise confession that they
were… well nursing the effects of a heavy night
but frankly you couldn’t tell and a stirring
performance of Shipwrecked only served to provide
further evidence that the band were on top form
A booming drum beat and an equally sizeable
guitar riff greeted the arrival of the brilliantly titled
Nice Night For A Bar Fight A slower section part
way through caught the audience by surprise but
the band were soon back in top gear for a real
grandstand finish
Jager Jack Vodka Disco might sound like an
absolute recipe for disaster but that couldn’t be
further from the truth as the audience continued
to lap up the bands feel good brand of rock and roll
I think it’s important to say at this point just how
tight and tuned in with each other these guys are
You can tell just from watching them for just a
couple of songs that they really put the hours in in
the practice room and gig regularly This was
massively in evidence with Out Of Here which
begins with a thundering beat from the rhythm
section and saw the band even throw in short burst
of the T Rex classic th Century Boy
The drum intro which dominated the opening of If
The World Should End signalled not only the start
of the track but also the closing stages of the set
This tune along with final In The End flashed by in
a whirl of guitar solos and rhythms which you
could feel through the floor
The band might have been the ones who were
opening the night but they played the set as if they
were headlining It was just flat out commitment
and energy from start to finish The only slight
blemishes were a couple of attempts to get the
audience participating as to be honest they didn’t
really work although that was probably more to
do with the audiences shyness/lack of alcohol at
the start of a long night than the band themselves
As I have already said One Man Revival aren’t a
band who are going to try and dazzle the audience
with some sort of stage show with all sorts of crazy
effects These guys are a rock band pure and
simple; it’s all about the music So if you want to
have a good time take in some quality rock and roll
while a band give their all on the stage in front of
you then get down to a One Man Revival Show
You will not be disappointed