Rival Sons / The London Souls

There is a sense of unfinished business in the air tonight at the UEA LCR in Norwich. That's because this gig began back in December on the final date of Rival Sons UK tour. That evening was short lived as singer Jay Buchanan had to surrender due to illness after just two songs and the show had to be abandoned. Back to tonight and the rescheduled date comes at the start of another UK tour for a band that's no stranger to the road.

One thing that's for sure is that Rival Sons are a band confident in their ability to wow a crowd and certainly don't fear being upstaged by the support act. I say this because past support acts have included The Temperance Movement, The Graveltones and Blues Pills, all amazing live bands and tonight they continue the trend with The London Souls.

The popularity of two-piece rock groups appear at an all time high and The London Souls are another such band, hailing from New York and not London as the name may suggest. They do a great job in opening tonight's show and engaging the audience early on with their hard hitting, fast paced rock n' roll. In fact watching their performance reminds me of another great supporting set I've witnessed in this venue, that of our headliners Rival Sons when supporting Black Stone Cherry a few years back.

The Californians have come a long way since then however and are now established headliners having packed out some of the most famous venues in our country over the last couple of years. The UEA may not be the most famous venue Britain has to offer but for Rival Sons and Buchanan in particular it was the scene of, as he describes on stage tonight, one of the worst days of his life.

As the band take to the stage it's clear they are keen to make amends for December and blast through a selection of tracks from their most recent album 'Great Western Valkyrie' in the form of 'Electric Man', 'Good Luck', 'Play The Fool' and 'Secret'. That they have enough faith in their newest material to open with four new songs evidences the confidence of the band.

There's no doubt from me either that they should be confident. Because when you take one of the greatest guitar players of his generation in Scott Holliday, add in one of the greatest vocalists of his generation in Buchanan and then finish off with one of the tightest rhythm sections around in drummer Michael Miley and bassist Dave Beste you should create one of the greatest bands of their generation. Realistically they haven't quite reached this accolade yet, but they are striving for it and I'd suggest are well on their way.

They are after all a band with great flexibility and demonstrate this tonight when they play an extended 'Manifest Destiny, Part 1' which evolves into alternate acoustic renditions of 'Nava' and 'Manifest Destiny, Part 2'. The acoustic portion continues with 'Burn Down Los Angeles', 'The Man Who Wasn't There' and 'White Noise' before the band hits their heavier stride again with the hauntingly good 'Torture'.

It's following 'Rich And The Poor' that Buchanan can finally bring himself to address the elephant in the room and that fateful night in December. The apologetic singer tells the audience that he left a piece of himself on the stage that night and he's been unable to get it back until tonight. With the audience now back with no doubt of his brilliance as a singer they are accommodating of his apology and the air is cleared and ready for Rival Sons to bring the show home in style with 'Belle Starr', 'Where I've Been', 'Tell Me Something' and 'Get What's Coming'.

By now the band have done enough not just to entertain the crowd but mesmerize them with their musical ability both individually and as a band, but there is still time for a little more. Returning to the stage to a hero's welcome the band finish the night off with 'Open My Eyes', 'Pressure And Time' and 'Keep On Swinging' and send the crowd home happy, if only a few months later than expected.