It was early evening, the Traffic in San Diego was Heavy and The Dead Daisies were in town to drop some Heavy Rock on the Audience at the House of Blues. The Dead Daisies are a “Supergroup” made up of the Crème de la crème of today’s music industry top guns. Their combined careers span for decades with artists such as WhiteSnake, Motley Crue, Thin Lizzy, The Scream, Black Star Riders, Lynch Mob and the list goes on and on.

The band started with all guns blazing and never stopped feeding us their infectious form of Kick Ass Rock n Roll. Each member is known for their expert prowess and mastery of their instrument. But as we all well know, just mastering your instrument does not make for good music, it takes talented song writers and thank God the Dead Daisies have no issues when it comes to writing great songs.

With the band pumping out enough energy to power the clubs electrical circuits the band started with “Long Way To Go.” The crowd was charged. The entire band looked comfortable and in was in total charge of their environment. Next was “Mexico” which is a definite tune that provided us with an ’80s vibe. The song “Make Some Noise” had you feeling like you were at a huge sports arena show, kind of a song that will become a great Anthem for the band. You could not sit still and the entire audience participated with their fist in the air. Very infectious sing along and John Corabi made you the Sixth member of the band.

Marco Mendoza and Brian Tichy made the perfect rhythm section. “Song and a Prayer” is one of the tunes that stood out and Doug Aldrich’s solo just kills in the song. The Dead Daisies included a few nice cover songs in their set starting with CCR’s “Fortunate Son” and Corabi’s vocals were a perfect match and felt powerful during his delivery. “We All fall Down”, which allowed Doug to use the Talkbox, was next and had its cool moments. Next was a great tune “Last Time I Saw the Sun” that was reminiscent of old Aerosmith and sounded great. Aldrich and Corabi made you feel this song by the way they delivered it. The crowd ostensibly felt the song and really enjoyed it. This line up was pumping out straight up rock n’ roll tunes all night long. No question about it, they are definitely a must see live.

Brian Tichy’s drum solo started and had everyone’s attention. Most drum solos are boring but with Tichy you will be entertained through the sound and visual experience he delivers. Tichy is just a monster talent behind the drums and even plays a mean guitar (Not in this band). The acrobatic sticks and his playing with his bare hands was a sight to see. He is a brilliant performer and knows how to keep your attention; it was just pure Nirvana. The Who’s song “Join Together” was the next cover played. The song was the catalyst to get crowd participation going and got them energized. And from 2016’s “Make some Noise” album “All the Same.” Then “With You And I” was more of the same catchy progressions that have us wanting more, giving a good message to us all; I love intelligent lyrics that make you listen. As the band was introducing its members one by one, they performed a bit of the following songs: “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” “La Bamba,” “Black Night,” “Run to the Hills” and “Heaven And Hell.” It was pretty cool the way they did that. Each band member started the song they liked and the band joined in for a short journey through the song. Speeding things up a bit was “Mainline” which had an upbeat tempo. “Devil Out Of Time” was introduced and just put you back in the mindset that “Make some noise” started at the beginning of the night.

The Dead Daisies‘ version of “Helter Skelter” was awesome and the crowd went into visual paroxysms. But the song that seems to always get people going was Grand Funk Railroads “We’re An American Band.” The crowd loved every minute of this song and wanted nothing more than the night to continue. The HOB San Diego sound system is spectacular and a great place to enjoy music of any genre. Believe it or not but that was not the last song; the band kept going with “Midnight Moses.” Song was very catchy and had just the right amount of balls to the wall feel that makes you groove and shake what you got. The Dead Daisies are great showmen and had no problem keeping the crowd engaged, using their stage presence and interacting with the audience they made the night memorable and I would love to see them again!

The Dead Daisies are:

John Corabi – Vocals
Doug Aldrich – Guitar
Brian Tichy – Drums
Marco Mendoza – Bass
David Lowy – Guitar

The Dead Daisies Setlist:
1. Long way to Go
2. Mexico
3. Make some Noise
4. Song and a Prayer
5. Fortunate Son
6. We All Fall Down
7. Last Time I saw the Sun
8. Drum Solo
9. Join Together
10. All the Same
11. With you and I
12. Band Introduction
13. Mainline
14. Devil out of time
15. Helter Skelter
16. American Band
17. Midnight Moses

By: Billy Esquibel / BackStage360