On a Friday night, when the main hall of the Melkweg was filled with gothic's for the sold out concert of Epica and Delain, Buzzin Hornet, Carn and myself went to the second hall of this venue to witness some tight rock ‘n' roll music. Black Stone Cherry proved in March as the support act of Hinder that they really know how to put on a show and now they were back with an own headlining tour through Europe. Serpico opened for this four-piece band from Edmonton, Kentucky.

When I entered the venue, Serpico was already playing. They played really short, so I only saw about 2 songs from these guys. One song reminded me a bit of Bad Relegion, but furthermore I can't say anything else about them. I saw these guys just too short to give a founded opinion about them. 15 minutes after their show Black Stone Cherry entered the stage and in contrast to Serpico I can say enough about this four-piece band.



Black Stone Cherry started their show with their first single, ‘Rain Wizard'. The song was received very well. The audience was jumping, clapping and singing along with almost every song played that night. The crowd was energetic, but that was nothing compared to drummer John Fred Young. If you ever have the need to see Animal from The Muppets in real life, you have to visit a Black Stone Cherry gig! Even a deaf person would have been entertained, just by watching this guy hitting his drum kit. Especially the 5-minute drum solo was great to witness. The first half of the solo was “just a regular solo” and during the second half, John threw his drumsticks away to continue the solo with his bare hands.

Besides the drummer, the other members also did a really great job. Songs like ‘Blackwoods Gold', ‘Rollin' On', ‘Hell and High Water' en ‘Lonely Train' were played very tight and the lead vocals of Chris Robertson sounded just as good as on CD. During the encore both guitar players showed their skills by performing a guitar solo each. The show ended after approximately an hour and that was way too short if you ask me.