Mitsubishi Electric Hall, Düsseldorf, Germany 8th April 2024
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators - “The River is Rising - Rest of the World Tour 24” - Special Guest: Mammoth WVH
Rock audiences have been salivating for months: Cult guitarist SLASH and Myles Kennedy, who some people might know as the lead singer of ALTER BRIDGE were coming to town. In the long lines in front of the parking ticket vending machines (thanks for nothing, dear Mitsubishi Electric Hall) debates were raging about Wikipedia’s list of best guitarists vs. the one from The Rolling Stone Magazine. In short, everyone was hyped to unearth their leather vest with the carefully curated band patches from the closet and head to Düsseldorf for a chockful of good ol’ Rock’n’Roll.
Mammoth WVH
The task of opening up the evening fell to MAMMOTH WVH, the American Rock band around Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of the legendary Eddie Van Halen. What originally started as a solo project has now become a fully-fledged band, which has released their second album ‘Mammoth II’ in August 2023. http://www.mammothwvh.com
Music & Performance
Arriving early paid off that night, as MAMMOTH WVH proved to be an excellent choice for an opener. A visibly high-spirited Wolfgang Van Halen greeted the audience by “Düsseldorf! Why are you all here so early?” and the band put on a great show which won over the hearts of the arena in a heartbeat. The excellently written song material from the two albums definitely helped, as the opener ‘Another Celebration at the End of the World’, or the catchy ‘Take a Bow’ clicked with the audience. For some reason, the guitarist from the main act SLASH feat. MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS Frank Sidoris joined the band setup, so with three guitars the sound setup was pretty massive. The only downside however was that in the audio signal process chain there seemed to be some overload issues, which caused some glitches in the band’s sound, but nevertheless the live performance was quite captivating.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
The band goes way back to 2009, when SLASH hit a wall with his second side project VELVET REVOLVER, and decided to record a solo album and subsequently went on tour with it. As a live singer, he recruited Myles Kennedy, as well as Brent Fitz on drums and Todd Kerns on bass guitar. It turned out that the setup worked pretty well, so the band decided to record an album titled ‘4’, which was released in February 2022. https://www.slashonline.com
Music & Performance
Shortly after 9pm the lights were dimmed and the stage was drenched in dark blue light. To a gloomy intro the band took to the stage and kicked off their set with the banger ‘The River is Rising’, which is the first single of their latest album. But the band did not limit itself to their own compositions. Notably, cover versions from GUNS N’ROSES, LENNY KRAVITZ, and (in the encore) ELTON JOHN played an integral part in the diverse setlist. Singer Myles seemingly had a good time sharing the spotlight with SLASH. For ‘Fill my World’ he asked the audience to pull out their phones, and - instead of the usual request to turn on the flashlight and wave - he asked people to show photos of their pets. Time flew by quite quickly, as the setlist grew longer, and each song received a decent amount of ‘Shlashification’, which means minute-long guitar solos on his favourite instrument, a Gibson Les Paul.
After almost two hours of playtime, the band left the stage. While the audience steadily clapped and screamed, stage hands were busy arranging a new instrumental setup on stage. When the band reappeared, it became clear why. For the ELTON JOHN ballad ‘Rocket Man’, SLASH showed off his instrumental prowess on a tabled pedal steel guitar. This was an impressive demonstration of skills from the whole band, which caused the audience to singalong. With ‘Anastasia’ the band sent off the crowd into the night.
Setlist
01. The River Is Rising
02. Driving Rain
03. Halo
04. Too Far Gone
05. Back From Cali (Slash song)
06. Whatever Gets You By
07. C’est la vie
08. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
09. Always on the Run (Lenny Kravitz cover) (Todd Kerns on vocals)
10. Bent to Fly
11. Avalon
12. Spirit Love
13. Don’t Damn Me (Guns N’ Roses cover) (Todd Kerns on vocals)
14. Starlight (Slash song)
15. Wicked Stone
16. April Fool
17. Fill My World
18. Doctor Alibi (Slash song) (Todd Kerns on vocals)
19. You’re a Lie
20. World on Fire
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21. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (Elton John cover)
22. Anastasia
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Munich Vampire
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