Formed in LA in 1988, this quartet of American rockers seemed to have had their day until they reformed with the original line up in 2009 and came back to take the world by storm once more.
In 2010 the band recorded their first album in ten years titled ‘What If…’ and they set out to tour in support of this, which was released here in the UK in January this year.
I was a little surprised at the size and the ages of the audience; since The Wonder Years were playing in Academy 2 upstairs I had assumed the younger members of the queue waiting to be admitted were going up to see them but surprisingly a lot of them were there for Mr Big. A testament to the way they have managed this come back and attracted new fans as well as the old faithful!
Support was provided by a couple of young guys who told me that they usually had a full band but were asked to do an acoustic set for Mr Big, which was very impressive! Info on the band can be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/mikegattomusic) and their music can be downloaded from MikeGatto.bandcamp.com I will definitely try to see this band sometime soon! Watch this space!
Mr Big came on stage to a thunderous ovation from the eager fans in attendance. Pounding through songs old and new, the band were out to show that they hadn’t lost the magic touch!
Songs such as ‘Take A Walk’ and the gorgeous rock-ballad ‘Take My Heart’ were brilliantly played and the harmonies were perfect (Those guys got some lungs!) But the one let down for me for the night was the solo’s. I’m as much a fan of guitars as anyone but ten minutes I’m sorry is overkill! (OK maybe that’s exaggerating.. it could have been 8… or 9!) But a guitar solo doesn’t have to be painfully long to be genius! And if that wasn’t bad enough Sheehan decided that a bass solo was a good idea and ground out another ten minutes of something that sounded like a blocked Dyson! PLEASE! If you’re gonna do a bass solo at least do a funky one!
The rest of the set was excellent and their rendition of ‘To Be With You’ made my night complete! During the encore all the band members changed instruments too which was interesting!
Definitely a band with a lot to give; loads of energy and entertainment and here’s hoping they carry on for another decade!
Thanks to Mr Big management for the opportunity and to my partner in crime!
Sue
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