by Marija Brettle
— Senior Columnist —
09 June 2024 at the Oxford’s O2 Academy Venue in Oxford, England
Californian blues-rockers Rival Sons, open their UK tour with intimate show at Oxford’s O2 Academy Venue and tonight’s is one of only two headline shows in the country.
There are no frills, no stage projections, no backing tapes, not even a backdrop. Just simple lighting and two hours of scintillating rock n’ roll from a band at the peak of their powers. Rival Sons eschew frills and big production values; they’re a live act who thrive on their musicianship, stage presence, songwriting and the energy they generate.
It’s been just over a year since the release of LP Darkfighter and it’s companion album Lightbringer, but unlike last year’s tour to promote both albums, this time around the set is more varied, featuring much of their back catalogue.
As the house lights dim, Rival Sons take the stage with Darkfighter’s opening track ‘Mirror’, as they did last year, makes for a powerful opener. Given its atmospheric intro, it’s a fitting way to welcome the band onto the stage and kick off the night!
The pipe organ building up and then the way frontman Jay Buchanan’s vocals come in, not forgetting the Scott Holiday’s acoustic guitar, there are so many different layers, and yet it blends together seamlessly.
Jay’s in a talkative mood tonight, a man with something to say, something close to his heart… “How y’all doing? Can you see anything from the back there…,” asks Buchanan of his audience, and we scream back in the affirmative.
Later, he introduces the ‘Face of Light’, song from the Rival Sons second studio album, Pressure and Time. The song clearly means a lot to him, harkens back to his pre-Rival Sons time as a soul singer. The gospel-infused ‘Shooting Stars is always a live highlight. Prefaced by a heartfelt plea for victims in war, Jay delivers a stripped-down rendition. It’s just him and an acoustic guitar. Always powerful, the song’s elevated to a higher plane in this spartan form. For the crowd it’s an emotional, spiritual experience, culminating in thunderous applause.
Then they power straight into career highlight with ferocious groove of ‘Electric Man’; pure raw, riff-laden rock n’ roll!
The Long Beach, California-hailing quartet go on to play a great rendition of ‘Feral Roots’, the title track from their 2019 LP. It kicks off with Buchanan on his acoustic guitar and continues with a fantastic solo from lead guitarist Scott Holiday. ‘Open My Eyes’ from 2014’s Great Western Valkyrie LP has the crowd singing along with the band lead in great voice while for ‘Pressure & Time’, drummer Mike Miley delivers a mesmerising solo while Holiday and bass man Dave Beste add a little extra with what look like jingle bells.
The audience are there with the band, singing along lyrics at every opportunity they can and adding their dimension to the chorus of ‘Do Your Worst’, but for the best singalong of the night they help Buchanan out with ‘Shooting Stars’. It really is fantastic to hear a band and the audience in harmony together.
After the romp of ‘Darkside’ brings both the band and the energy back,‘Keep On Swinging’ and ‘Secret’, brings the set to a rapturous close with one of the most iconic riffs in modern rock! An incredible talented band that are clearly on top of their game.
As the Academy audience ‘march’(file) out, I hear some fabulous comments from people, perhaps the best was; “they were on fire, best live band” and I couldn’t agree more!
Setlist:
• Mirrors
• Nobody Wants to Die
• Tied Up
• Too Bad
• Feral Roots
• Open My Eyes
• Pressure and Time
• Manifest Destiny, Part 1
• Do Your Worst
• Nanda-Nandana
• Thundering Voices
• Darkside
• Shooting Stars
• Mosaic
• Electric Man
• Keep On Swinging
• Secret
All photos appear courtesy of Jadranka Jade.
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