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Black Spiders @Newcastle O2 Academy 2, November 23 2021

It was March 2009 when Rushonrock first became entangled in this Spiders’ web.

A web of intrigue, incandescent rage and riffs borrowed from the very gods of rock.

A web of simple truths and soaring hooks.

And a web that trapped us in a prison of 70s-inspired doom for the next eight years.

It’s worth remembering that this is what we thought back then:

“This band look like the bastard sons of industrial chord crunchers, sleaze rock slouches, Scandinavian car salesmen and werewolves on heat.

“But throw them all together on one cramped stage and the three-pronged axe attack cuts through to the bone. 

“It’s brilliant. Watch it, buy it, live it.”

And it’s pretty much what we think right now.

For Pete’s sake celebrate the Spiders

Since 2009 the Spiders have lost a guitar (on this tour, at least) but gained experience.

They’ve called it a day only to rise from the dead.

And the band’s released three thunderous albums fusing blues, stoner and good old grunge.

That core sound has never changed. 

Frontman Pete Spibey still spews barbed-wire vocals like a harassed hybrid of Osbourne, Fallon and Cornell.

Trusty sidekick Ozzy Lister still batters his fretboard like a man possessed.

And the Spiders still sound the like Massive Wagons’ brothers from another mother (co-headline tour anytime soon chaps?).

In Newcastle the eight-legged beast included newest recruit Wyatt Wendels and his cymbals of appreciation have never sounded better.

Last seen in the Toon delivering a DJ set at the Rock N Raise event, Planet Rock’s very own Animal had been busted out of the studio.

And Wendels revelled in his new-found freedom as he blasted his way through the Spiders’ muscle-bound back catalogue.

You can’t kill the Spiders…just ask Kiss

That catalogue now includes the seriously catchy Fly In The Soup and the darkly comic Stabbed In The Back.

Indeed, this year’s self-titled comeback album is a reassuringly tight fit for the latest Spiders’ setlist.

Of course, if it’s bona fide party anthems par excellence you’re after then it’s impossible to look past the enduring Kiss Tried To Kill Me.

And even after all these years it’s the song that’s still guaranteed the get old men dancing.

It’s just as well Gene didn’t succeed.

And it’s just as well the Spiders kicked their brief hiatus into touch.

Black Spiders always were the saviours of bullish British rock and on this evidence they still are.

What Good’s A Rock Without A Roll? asks a quizzical Spibey night after night after night.

Well what good’s rock without Black Spiders?

When the news broke within Rushonrock towers that this comeback was on the cards we could barely hide our joy.

And true to form, this rapid-fire gig made us giddy. Good Times indeed.