The Union - 2013 Tour

On a cold, wet, October night in Newcastle, the O2 Academy2 was the place to be last night. The Union were in town and it was a Peter Shoulder homecoming gig, so a bit special, especially as Luke Morley announced it was The Union’s first sold out show. With those two factors, you know you should hold on to your socks, if not have them grafted to your legs.

Three bands on for the evening, first up were a crunchy trio, Mad Dog. A short, 30 minute set of 6 lively numbers, which I have to say, had bite (groan….). These lads were followed by an Irish 4 piece or 5 piece if you include their “emo-haired” roadie, Adam. Anyway, Fighting Wolf they were called, and loud they were. A little on the grunge/thrash side (shouty), but they played with fun and gusto.

The main course, The Union, came on to the strains of the old Strawbs anthem, and launched into “Where The River Flows” and for the next 70 odd minutes, played one of the best sets I’ve seen. Things fell into a sort of pattern, 3 rocky numbers to 1 slower, semi acoustic, at times turning into a good old sing-a-long with Peter acting as choirmaster to a 250 plus audience. I can’t remember the exact set list though as you’d expect it was culled from both albums in a fairly even 50/50 split; Black Gold; Tupelo;  Saviour; Come Rain, Come Shine; Cut The Line; Lilies. The whole set seemed to balance the rock steady power that was Thunder, but tap into the spirit of early Whitesnake but without being either copyist or reliant on Luke Morley’s former band. They did it with style, fancy shoes and a natty top hat, and the nimble but powerful backline of Chris on bass and Dave on drums.

All in all, last night showed why The Union, like JB are strongly favoured by Classic Rock magazine. A really good, in-your-face, old-school, good-time, rockin’ bluesy band that “does exactly what they say on the tin”.

MIke

PS. Brief mention of Thunder, Luke slips back into the old day-job for a couple of Christmas shows, following the success of the High Voltage reunion. In the New Year, Danny and Ben are doing a tour of Thunder stuff, already sold out for Gateshead Sage, so don’t hang about if you’re interested – you don’t know who might show up.