Simon Rushworth
@ Newcastle Trillians, September 12 2011
Newcastle’s premier rock bar, Trillians, got out the eyeliner and hairspray for three bands that turned a stormy night into a celebration of sleaze.
All girl rockers LYXX opened the show with their brand of sleaze with a hard rock edge. Tracks such as Thrust, Rip Her To Shreds, Up All Night and Bad Man Bangin, prove that these girls are ready to take on the boys who dominate the rock n roll arena.
Falling Red erupted onto the stage and within seconds Trillians became animated. How You Feel On Me, Little Vice and new track, We Are Who We Are, keep the party going while Last Kiss Goodbye gives us all a chance to catch our breath.
Audience participation was required for the finale as Ain’t Down With The Rock and Comets cover, Rock Around The Clock, saw a whole lot of shaking going on. A change in line-up and time spent on the road has this band’s skills honed to sleazy perfection and they delivered a set that didn’t just warm up the crowd – it left them smoking hot!
Swedish/American glam rockers Vains Of Jenna are easy on the eye and the ear. Offering an eclectic mix of original tracks and covers taken from their 2011 release, Reverse Tripped, they took the crowd from glam to classic rock and threw in a little RnB for good measure.
Vains classics such as Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead and Enemy In Me were interspersed with Cee Lo Green’s tale of heartbreak F**K You, which, in turn, lead into a few bars of Maggie May.
But it was their interpretation of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water that had the audience in raptures. Much like Mr Big’s Billy Sheehan the following night, Singer Jesse Forte took the vocal made famous by Ian Gillan and turned it into an erotic and hypnotic journey drenched in aural intrigue.
Vains of Jenna are a fine example of a truly great rock n roll band. Sure, they’re sleazy. But they’ve evolved into something far superior done so without losing any of their credibility.
Viki Ridley