The Crypt Magazine

Back in November 1983 (the 27th to be exact), I was lucky enough to catch a band that was fairly unknown in Britain at the time.
The venue was the much missed Glasgow Apollo and I was in the stalls, as it was the only part of the hall open. Told you they were fairly unknown at the time.
The band was the incredible Y&T .

Years later, I managed to catch them at the SECC in Glasgow as openers for the Monsters of Rock 2003 tour featuring Whitesnake and Gary Moore.
I felt that night that they were incredible, much the same as that first night in the Apollo.

I discovered they were playing at the Cathouse in Glasgow on the 6th October.
I didn't have much option, did I?
Standing in the rain outside the venue that night, I wondered how time had handled the guys.
Truth be told, I've followed Y&T's career with interest over the years, and Meniketti's as well.
Meniketti blew me away that first night. This guy is a literel guitar god. As founder, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the band, he is a supreme axe man.
That first night, he played solos behind his head.
He and the rhythm guitarist played each other parts on their guitars, standing together with each playing the frets on the others guitars.
This was one tight, loud, down and dirty band.
I was hoping they hadn't lost that spark.
The band had changed over the years.
The rhythm guitarist, drummer had been replaced a few times, came back, left again and now tonight the lineup was Menikitti, Mike Vanderhule, Kennemore (original bassist) and
John Nymann.

This was my first visit to the Cathouse.
It is an upstairs venue and rather small.
The capacity figure on the wall said over 700, but I think they may have been stating that for the entire building.
The walls are painted black and chains adorn the doors and most of the fitments.
A very small stage accommodates the bands and a bar is in the middle allowing people either to watch the band or sit at tables behind the bar and just drink.
You can tell it's Glasgow.........
The support band was GPS.

GPS are the follow-up to Asia, which was one of the really big names in soft, progressive rock a few years ago.
OK, it might have been more than a few years ago.

The band consists of John Payne on bass, vocals, Guthrie Govan on guitar, Jay Schellen on drums and Ryo Okumoto on keyboards.
I found the band quite interesting.
They were tight and played their music well.
Payne is a nice singer and some of the crowd obviously knew the band's material.

Since I wasn't into Asia, I couldn't really tell if they were playing some of the older songs.
They did introduce some of the songs as off the new CD and the crowd reacted favourably to them.

They weren't helped by a bad sound mix (the guitarist had to constantly avoid the mike in front of him or risk killing half the audience with feedback).
For more information about GPS (and a freely downloadable track of theirs), click on the link.
http://www.musicbygps.com/

The pictures are particularly bad this time.
The lighting varied between whiting out everybody or leaving you in the dark.

The pictures are the best I could manage and I eventually switched to video which did manage to capture the bands a bit better.
Using video, I had the chance to take the frames where the lights didn't destroy the effect.

The venue had filled up nicely and the heat was rising.
You always know a good concert when the temperature in the venue rises dramatically.

After a short interval as the roadies stripped down GPS gear and replaced it with Y&T's, and the band appeared.

The band has aged mostly gracefully and nobody looked too decrepit.
They played some firm favourites.
Never let it be said that this band doesn't know what the audience wants.

Open fire, Rescue me, Barroom boogie, Mean Streak, Lipstick 'n' Leather, Keep on running, Forever, Hang 'em high all got an outing.
The band is older which may explain the lack of theatrics this time, but they still know how to rock.
Meniketti was in blistering form, showing the virtuosity he is renowned for, while Nymann contributed well.

The crowd sang to the band while they stopped to draw breath. Winter Wonderland will never be the same for me now.

The band was enjoying themselves and Meniketti was even asking for requests.
Needless to say, there was a barrage of noise at that and it was a wonder he could pick any of them out.

Just to prove the bands' songs longevity, I looked around to see how many people were singing along.
Most of the audience!
Surprisingly enough, as well as folk in my age group (old and decrepit), there were more than a smattering of early 20's with the occasional under 20.
A compliment to the fact that the West of Scotland was always known for their penchant for hard rock.

The band played for over an hour and half . I believe they would have played longer, but, as Meniketti put it, they were told they had to be offstage for a particular time.
Even so, the crowd refused to move until they had an encore.

Meniketti promised the crowd that they'd return soon.

I'd like to think, he meant it.
Y&T certainly showed how class an act they are, despite the poor lighting and woeful sound.
Hopefully next time, both of these will be rectified.

More information about Y&T can be had by following the link.

http://www.meniketti.com/