Dirty Honey live: honest, generous and fun rock'n'roll

Great fun for those who went to Alcatraz in Milan last night to experience first hand the goodness of Dirty Honey's old rock fresh from the release of their second album “Can't Find The Brakes”. To paraphrase the title of the album, the concert went literally without brakes to the delight of the audience that packed the Milanese hall.

At nine o'clock, introduced by the notes of “Rock 'n' Roll Damnation”, an old AC/DC song from the Bon Scott era (a father next to me addressed his daughter categorically, 'The real AC/DC'), the four appear on stage dressed up as per rock iconography: sunglasses and tight trousers, the drummer with his biceps clearly visible, the singer with a scarf and black hat pulled over his head, the guitarist with a jacket open on his chest and the bassist. .. well the bass player with a bush of curly hair, that Slash avoid! The set starts at full speed from the first minute, but will gain more and more momentum as the minutes pass and the songs always have the right punch, involving and entertaining the audience. The Los Angeles band goes full blast and in the hour and a half of the concert allows itself just a couple of ballads, as well as an acoustic cover, with an original but respectful interpretation, of “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones.

The stage is a place where tricks and deception are allowed, but if the trick fails the audience immediately notices.

Dirty Honey don't use it, the boys are honest and play their cards open, favoring music and only that, without indulging in useless poses: honesty and attitude are their strong points. Frontman Marc LaBelle is generous and empathetic: he smiles, continuously waves the microphone stand asking those present in the audience to join in the choirs and even taking a walk off the stage to go and sing in the audience exactly in front of his companions. The rhythm section, bass and drums, is a good support to the exuberant guitarist John Notto who with his continuous solos is the absolute backbone of the set.

The music of the American quartet clearly harks back to the rock'n'roll and hard rock sounds of the Seventies and the evening at Alcatraz fully confirmed this. Dirty Honey's songs contain numerous references that lead and refer to a large multitude of musicians of the past but, somehow, manage to possess their own originality. Live they have already supported Guns N' Roses and Black Crowes (the Robinson brothers' band is the one that perhaps most resembles them), they are certainly among their best followers.

Setlist:

Can't Find the Brakes

California Dreamin'

Heartbreaker

Get to Little High

Scars

Dirty Mind

Tied Up

Coming Home (Ballad of the Shire)

Honky Tonk Women

Don't Put Out the Fire

Roam

The Wire

Another Last Time

When I'm Gone

Encore:

You Make It All Right

Won't Take Me Alive

Rolling 7s