Review by Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Joe Dolan]
May 8th 2014, The Canyon, Agoura Hills CA: Oakland CA hard rock veterans Y&T are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion they’ve been on an extensive North American touring run which brought them to Southern California for a headline gig at the Canyon in Agoura Hills, wherein they went on to play a full two-hour career retrospective set comprising their greatest hits as well as deeper cuts.
The diversity of atmospheres and landscapes within Southern California is such that even at a distance of a mere 30 miles northward from downtown Los Angeles, it felt like being an alien in a completely new city for a first-time visitor like myself. Perched in a secluded location along the interstate 101 freeway at the foothill, the venue itself looked like a tourist lodge from the outside and upon entering, I was in for an amusing culture shock of sorts as the vibe was entirely different from any and all LA/Hollywood venues. Although capacity-wise it’s none larger than clubs like the House Of Blues Sunset Strip, it felt like an incredibly spacious room, clearly an upscale place catering to an older-aged demographic. You know it’s an old crowd when I feel like a total kid even at 28 years of age. The setting for the live music itself was interesting, to say the least. Dinner tables were laid out through the front row facing the stage, and a bunch of tables on either side took up a majority of the space but a small general admission standing area was available for those here to ROCK, and thankfully so, because I personally could never imagine sitting down to watch a band like Y&T. But strange as this club looked on first impression, its spaciousness was definitely refreshing and most importantly, the sound quality was top-notch.
Y&T were supposed to go on at 9 PM, and even as we were a few minutes away from the clock to strike 9, to me it felt really early in the evening and I wasn’t even ‘feeling’ it yet. But all that changed once Dave Meniketti and his bandmates graced the stage, and it took no time to get into the mood. They started all guns blazing with ‘Open Fire’, followed by the classic ‘Mean Streak’ which set the tone for the rest of the set. The band was sounding excellent right from the moment they hit the stage, and they never let their guard down at any point during their two-hour set. Hundreds of hard rock bands popped up in the 70s and 80s, a few achieving the success they deserved, many achieving too much of it, and then there were some who weren’t quite served justice to and didn’t get the level of recognition they deserved, due to a variety of reasons. Y&T is one such band, but instead of focusing on what could have been, they continue to march on, fighting the good fight and delivering a genuine hard rock show focused on music, not on the costumes or the bells and whistles.
I had seen Y&T once previously, at the Key Club in the summer of 2010, and in all honesty, this show was several notches better in every aspect imaginable. Frontman Dave Meniketti was even more brilliant with his performance on both guitar and vocals than I remembered it from that Key Club show, and for anyone who’s been seeing Y&T in recent years, it’s clear that Meniketti gets better with age. He’s got to be one of the most underrated guitarists/vocalists in all of rock music, as the manner in which he combines the two aspects of his musicianship is second to none. His vocal delivery here was greatly reminiscent of Ronnie James Dio and the smoothess and ‘feel’ in his guitar-playing came across as if it was channeling the talents of legends like Ritchie Blackmore, Gary Moore and Michael Schenker. Meniketti’s eyes remained closed all the while he sang and played his guitar, as he was truly in the moment, delivering each song with the passion and expression it required.
After a strong start, tunes such as ‘Dirty Girl’, ‘Midnight In Tokyo’ and ‘Winds Of Change’ together formed a delightful middle portion of the set, and towards the end came a spine-chilling rendition of the power ballad ‘I Believe In You’. That type of song used to be prevalent in rock back in the day but has largely gone out of the genre now, and it’s heartening to see bands like Y&T throw positive light on it, specially in the live setting where the choruses sound that much heavier and more powerful. They made their faux exit from the stage after this song, and came back out for an encore consisting of ‘Barroom Boogie’ and ‘Forever’. Meniketti lent his midas touch to everything he sang and played, the tone emanating from his Fender Strat being my favorite part of his sound, and he was well-assisted by his band mates John Nymann on guitar, Brad Lang on bass and Mike Vanderhule, all three also playing an important role with backing vocals.
Overall, Y&T’s 40th anniversary set here at the Canyon proved why the band has been going strong for all these years, because they clearly still possess what it takes to bring pure, good-hearted rock ‘n roll to the masses.
Check out more great photos from the show below, or view them here if you’re on a non-Flash device:
Y&T links:
YandTrocks.com
facebook.com/YandTrocks
twitter.com/YandTrocks
Set List:
01. Open Fire
02. Mean Streak
03. Lipstick And Leather
04. Don’t Stop Running
05. Afraid Of The Dark
06. Dirty Girl
07. Midnight In Tokyo
08. Black Tiger
09. Winds Of Change
10. I’m Coming Home
11. I Want Your Money
12. Contagious
13. I’ll Cry
14. Rock & Roll’s Gonna Save The World
15. Rescue Me
16. Summertime Girls
17. I Believe In You
Encore:
18. Barroom Boogie
19. Forever
Remaining US tour dates:
5/09 – San Juan Capistrano CA – Coach House
5/10 – Hermosa Beach CA – Saint Rocke
5/17 – Santa Cruz CA – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
6/14 – Elko NV – Elko Motorcyle Jamboree @ Rumble In The Rubies
8/01 – Santa Cruz CA – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
8/22 – Reno NV – Knitting Factory
8/23 – Sacramento CA – Ace Of Spades
The Canyon links:
CanyonClub.net
facebook.com/TheCanyonClubAgouraHills
twitter.com/CanyonClub