Death, Jail or Rock and Roll?
Michael Monroe was the lead singer of Finnish glam metal pioneers Hanoi Rocks back in the 80s and whilst never achieving super stardom he has always been on the fringes, constantly playing and collaborating and recording with the likes of Guns ‘N Roses.
He doesn’t get the biggest crowd tonight as he is up against Rage Against the Machine and 30 Seconds to Mars on other stages but those that are here are in for a treat. There is the star studded line up of his band for one thing, featuring Steve Conte from the New York Dolls and Ginger of the Wildhearts on guitar, that alone makes it worth checking him out! Due to the ridiculously long walk from the campsite and that being the only place they show the England game (don’t get me started!), we arrive half way through the set and immediately kick ourselves that we didn’t get here sooner. The sound is great and as you might expect with such natural performers as Ginger and Monroe the stage show is highly entertaining.
The material is largely fast paced rock and roll centred around a mix of Hanoi Rocks and solo material but there are one or two welcome surprises. They play a couple of Damned songs back to back, ‘Love Song’ and ‘Second Time Around’, Monroe being good friends with the band in his Hanoi Rocks days and Ginger having name checked them in ’29 x The Pain’. Monroe announces that he’s having “so much fun” and so are the crowd as he never stops moving, having lost none of his enthusiasm or stage presence over the years. Of his solo material ‘Dead, Jail or Rock and Roll’ is probably the highlight with some fine guitar from Ginger and Conte. They bring Ginger’s young son on to play tambourine and from that point it’s just like a huge party up to the finish.
The encore features a cover of The Stooges ‘1970’ during which Monroe climbs up the rigging at the side of the stage, swinging and hanging off it as he carries on singing before climbing down, walking over to the front rows and launching himself into the pit! It’s all great entertainment and a fantastic finish to the set, it’s just unfortunate that he didn’t get a more high profile slot without such major set clashes.