Audrey Horne

If Audrey Horne’s pulling power reflected the critical reviews of their albums, then they’d have left venues like the Underworld behind some time ago. As it is, here they are, and sadly, playing to a half full venue.

Up first were SAHG who played a functional, well received set of solid rock. A couple of new songs suggest more of the same in October. The Mercy House were up next and were a mixed bag of big riffs, funk and traces of nu-metal. Not that original but they do it very well and went down well with the punters. Its early days for them.

That can’t be said for Audrey Horne who have been around a while now and are one of the best hard rock acts playing and recording at the moment. Opening with Redemption Blues, and not at all phased by the low turnout, the band gave it all, performing a charged set of commercial hard rock that, that shorn of the album’s keyboards, would stand it’s own with the heaviest of bands.

The new album was the core of the set with the breezy rock of Youngblood, and the more straight hard rock swagger of There Goes a Lady. The band honed to almost to perfection and ripping the place up, almost had the carpet pulled from them with some lengthy tech problems. A joke, some improvisation and a short drum solo filled the gap, and then they hit the ground not looking back. Frontman Toschße was a whirlwind around the stage, with the guitars of Thomas and Ice Dale on hyper Lizzy form as on This Ends Here. The actual set ended with a pulverising Straight Into Your Grave, and that was it. You should have been there.