Russell Hughes@Newcastle University, February 28 2015
Anyone who wants to know how to be a lead singer should watch Royal Republic frontman Adam Grahn.
The man was born to be on stage, and it’s like the microphone and guitar are extensions of his own body.
The Swedish rock stars have just released their third album Weekend Man – they gave airtime to a lot of songs from their new LP but it was, predictably, the older material that got the crowd most excited.
You could tell they were itching to play a long set but that’s the downside of being a support act. The band are naturals on stage, and Theory of a Deadman had a hard act to follow.
The Canadians don’t have the instant charisma and energy of Royal Republic but they are experienced and give the audience a different, but no worse, show.
Tyler Connolly is all about connecting with the fans and the songs dotted around his setlist are about love and relationships. They’re not the heaviest but they resonated with the gathered faithful, especially classic hits like Santa Monica and All or Nothing.
This was a gig for Theory of a Deadman fans of all shapes and sizes. Savages may be the band’s most recent album but Connolly made a pledge to perform tunes from all five and he lived up to that 100%.
The band from British Columbia dotted a few favourites from LP number five, the best of which were Blow and Drown. And as excellent as the two instrumental solos were, the most memorable being from drummer Joey Dandeneau, they did let the night drift a little as the crowd began to switch off mentally.
Theory of a Deadman are no slouches, however, and they soon had things back up and running once more with Better Off and Panic Room.
They haven’t been in Newcastle since supporting Alter Bridge all the way back in 2011. But on the strength of their most recent performance in the Toon there’ll be plenty of folk keen to see them back as soon as possible.