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Review: Extreme/Living Colour, O2 Academy
When ace Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid founded the Black Rock Coalition in New York back in 1985 to combat racial stereotyping in music, the US’s handful of black rock acts were used to not seeing their photographs on album sleeves because of the assumption that black musicians play soul and rap while it’s left to whitey to do the rockin’. Mercifully, things have moved on since then. Perhaps more surprisingly, Living Colour are still with us after nearly 40 years, with just the one line-up change (Doug Wimbish replacing Muzz Skillings on bass in 1992), having reunited after a brief split in the late ’90s.
They open with the first of several covers – Led Zep’s Rock and Roll, driven by Will Calhoun’s authentic Bonham-esque drumming. But rather than going full Jimmy Page on our asses, Vernon’s in default shredding mode. It’s a different take on the song, which could easily alarm pesky purists, but they pull it off in style.
is needed now More than ever
Sporting his most extravagant dreadlocks to date, frontman Corey Glover appears to be seasonally dressed as a Christmas tree and is in fine voice as the band romp through Love Rears Its Ugly Head and the ever-sunny, upbeat Glamour Boys.
You might be forgiven for thinking this is the wrong audience for a celebration of half a century of hip-hop, but Living Colour have always enjoyed testing those boundaries. And in Doug Wimbish they have one of the founding fathers of the genre on stage.
Wimbish gives a shout-out to Bristol’s late Mark Stewart, though only a minority of punters seem to have the faintest idea who he was, and the band launch into a brief medley, taking in White Lines (Don’t Do It) and The Message.
Inevitably, they wrap things up with the timeless Cult of Personality – during which Corey goes for a lengthy, high-fiving walkabout in the crowd, crossing the balcony and returning to the opposite side of the stage – leaving us yearning for their return on a headlining tour.
A bunch of remarkably well-preserved gents in their late fifties and early sixties, Extreme have succeeded not only in transcending their era but in thriving during the 21st century, with yet another sold out UK tour. They open the show just as they did at the Bristol Bierkeller back in May 1991 with It(‘s a Monster) from breakthrough album Pornograffitti. (Trivia note: that show came on the day More Than Words hit number one on the US Billboard chart.) Later, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt will ask how many of us saw them back then. Surveying the sea of hands, he picks out members of the audience: “Bullshit! Bullshit! Too young! Bullshit!”
Lithe, whippet-thin frontman Gary Cherone has a huge voice, the moves of a Broadway star, and could probably enjoy a second career as a contortionist in the unlikely event that the bottom fell out of the rockin’ business. He leads the band through a set whose first half is packed with audience favourites, such as Decadence Dance and Hole Hearted as well as revived gems such as Extreme’s enjoyable takedown of those critic-courting acts who nobody in the real world actually likes, Hip Today (“You’ll be gone tomorrow!”).
Cupid’s Dead from the splendid if commercially unsuccessful III Sides to Every Story is also a welcome addition to the set, but it would be great to hear some more from that album, especially Tragic Comic.
Nuno is on fiery form throughout, clearly enjoying the opportunity to rock out in his break from the day job as popstrel Rihanna’s guitarist, while still comfortably nailing those great harmony vocals with Cherone and bassist Pat Badger.
We get to sing More Than Words for them after Nuno takes his seat (“After the age of 55, sitting down is like having an orgasm,” he quips) and they seem genuinely humbled by the positive response to new album Six. So much so that they play six songs from it. Rather than leaving big hit Get the Funk Out for the encore, they dispatch it at the end of the set, preceded by Nuno’s solo spot Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee.
So what’s left for the encore? Two more songs from Six, that’s what. And nobody’s complaining as Extreme rampage through the lovely Small Town Beautiful and Rise, featuring that extraordinary guitar solo. Looks like there’ll be an audience in Bristol for them for as long as they choose to keep rocking.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: December 2023
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