Black Rebel Motorcycle Club review: Veteran rockers stand tall

Moment of Glory: co-vocalist Robert Been spreads the love at the O2 Kentish Town
Dafydd Owen/Avalon
Andre Paine27 July 2018

There is currently a dearth of garage rock bands with bad attitudes, so the return of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has to be a good thing.

While the Californian trio have had their problems — not least drummer Leah Shapiro’s lengthy recuperation from brain surgery — last night’s Forum performance was admirably uncompromising.

Co-vocalists Peter Hayes and Robert Been were as surly as ever and their mumbling tended towards the gnomic. “I hope you are all keeping alive,” said Been, who may or may not have been referring to the wilting heat.

Playing under murky lighting that accentuated their moody lyrics, BRMC aired material from the well received Wrong Creatures album, their first in five years.

The clanging riffs on Spook and Little Thing Gone Wild were raw, while Shapiro’s thundering drums on King of Bones induced a degree of queasiness. BRMC’s brand of droning rock might be considered samey, although acoustic album Howl demonstrated a bit more range. Ain’t No Easy Way was a rootsy stomp with a bluesy blast of Hayes’ harmonica.

10 must-hear albums arriving in 2018

1/10

The band also showed off a lighter, jaunty touch on beguiling tune Circus Bazooko, but they really hit their stride as they headed into the past for antagonistic renditions of White Palms, Red Eyes and Tears and Six Barrel Shotgun.

While Hayes indulged in some desultory drumming, Been was clearly after a moment of glory as he headed into the crowd with his bass held aloft during Spread Your Love.

For the finale, the only real option was the primal ferocity of Whatever Happened to My Rock ’n’ Roll? At a time when guitar music is struggling, it’s a pressing question from a band who are still standing tall.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in