This article originally appeared on Boston Band Crush ). Saturday, 7/25/09
The Middle East UP
I’ve never been to see a cover band except for Halloween shows put on by local bands. Nor have I seen a touring tribute act that’s making a living out of it, and I can’t imagine that there is one better than Hell’s Belles – an all female AC/DC cover band that rolled into town just three days before the actual AC/DC made their appearance at Gillette Stadium. The real treat of the band, beyond having an amazing vocalist who does an awesome job with these songs – her voice is gritty, dirty, and raw; is the lead guitar player, Adrian “Angus” Conner. She spent the entire set making devil horns, doing that rocker “little steps” running, and dropping to the floor and spinning around on their filthy carpet (and towards the end of the night, doing so with no top on) all the while hitting these mad solos. She even did a finger-tapping solo with one arm in the air the whole time. These girls have incredible stage presence and worked the crowd in a way that is rare to see. The bass player and rhythm guitar mostly hung out towards the back of the stage, letting “Angus” and Jamie run wild- only stepping up to the mic for back-up vocals—but their breathing on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was spot-on awesome. They cruised through about an hours worth of material, playing every AC/DC song you’d want to hear, and some I’d forgotten about (like Thunderstruck!) They are not to be missed if they swing through your town.
I will admit, being a local original music devotee, that I spent a good portion of their set day dreaming that they would be the most awesome chick rock band ever if they played originals. It turns out that they all have their “real” projects and do the AC/DC thing to keep those afloat. Adrian’s (the amazing guitar player) band is Adrian and The Sickness, and Jamie’s (the singer) band is the hard-rocking, Witchburn. Check those out too!
Many, many more photos of Hell’s Belles here!
Video of Hell’s Belles:
Despite some technical difficulties with a pesky bass amp, Township totally rocked. They’re style is not at all what I’m into (all I hear is Ram Jam filtered through some Zeppelin and ZZ Top) BUT there is no denying their power to own a stage and put on a great performance.
Video of Township:
See more photos of Township here!
Noble Rot – Singer, Rich Hoss wore a Motorhead shirt and his vocals definitely paid some tribute to Lemmy. These boys played tight riff-heavy rock that I’m sure makes their bandmates in Bang Camaro proud.
Video of Noble Rot:
See more photos of Noble Rot here.
Cleveland, OH band, The Suede Brothers opened up the night, we caught only their last song–it struck me as heavy stoner rock.