Page 45 - Black Velvet Issue 91

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YYYYY Excellent YYYY Very Good YYY Good
YY Listenable, Just Y Poor

TOSELAND / ILLUSTR8ORS /BLACK ROSE CADILLAC – WOLVERHAMPTON SLADE ROOMS, 29.09.16
It’s been six months since the UK has been treated to a Toseland headline tour. But in that time the band’s name has been growing as the number
of people in The Slade Rooms shows. This time around the main support is Illustr8ors, previously known as BlackWolf, while opening up the West
Midlands show is Staffordshire band Black Rose Cadillac. Black Rose Cadillac themselves bring in a lot of fans and friends, and when you hear them
play you’ll know why. The band’s sound is driving, bluesy rock. With prominent bass and classic low funky riffs the band go down well with the classic
rock fans. It makes sense that a band with ‘Cadillac’ in their name have a song called ‘Behind The Wheel’. Their set is very short – only five songs,
but they manage to impress and like their final song, ‘Give It All’, they do.
It’s hard to tell whether changing their name from BlackWolf to Illustr8ors was a good idea. For one, you have to think how to write it every time!
It’s easy to want to add a ‘t’ after the 8! That said, the name Illustr8ors does describe the band. Songs such as ‘Swimming With Anchors’ and ‘Something
Biblical’ have an artistic element to their heaviness while ‘Shush Shush’ has a slinky slither to it. ‘Your Animal’ is incredibly captivating from the start
with its serrated riffs, hard drumbeats and Scott Sharp’s penetrating vocals. There’s a lot of energy to Illustr8ors. They get a set that’s twice the length
of Black Rose Cadillac, ten songs, which is almost too much for a support band really, but they’re a talented
band so we’ll let them off.
The ticket price for tonight’s
show is only £8. A real bargain,
especially when Toseland then
put on an 18-song set. They
prove that they’re in it for the right
reasons. With top quality songs,
the set is at a high level from the
get-go and doesn’t falter. The
band open with the title track from
their latest album ‘Cradle The
Rage’. It kicks the set off to a fine
start and is very dynamic. Former
motorbike champion James
shows that he likes a fast pace
and songs with a wild tempera-
ment with ‘Gotta Be A Better
Way’, while single ‘Life Is Beauti-
ful’ is strong and resilient. The
tempo lowers for ‘Never Love An-
other’, “a personal song”, James
says, while the keyboard is
brought out for ‘Kingdoms’ and
‘Fingers Burned’. You can’t go
wrong with ‘Living In A Moment’
and ‘Too Close To Call’. James
seems to casually misplace his
footing during ‘Hearts And
Bones’. Funnily enough it’s one
song before ‘Crash Landing’.
Luckily for him, he doesn’t have a
crash landing! The crowd is a little
sedate while the band put their all
into their set. Toseland attract an
older audience and everyone en-
joys the show, but are for the
most part quite quiet. When it’s
time for ‘Renegade’ in the encore
James asks, “Where’s the guy
who wanted ‘Renegade’? Has he
gone?” One audience member
had yelled for ‘Renegade’ early
on in the set. There’s no reply –
so maybe he had! If he did it’s his
loss. Wrapping the show up with
‘We’ll Stop At Nothing’, Toseland
show that they really will do
everything they can to put on the
best show they can and to please
everyone in the house. No-one
goes home disappointed.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet

James Toseland & Ed Bramford (Tose-
land) Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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