Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
September 16th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: AXS TV and host Katie Daryl have returned with Season 4 of their World’s Greatest Tribute Bands series, and after kicking off the new season last week, they featured longstanding Def Leppard tribute act Pyromania for episode 2 last night, at Whisky-A-Go-Go, the same venue as the last season but at a new time slot of Tuesday 7 PM Pacific. Based out of Huntington Beach CA, Pyromania have been doing their tribute shows for 12 years now, and they performed here in a lively environment typical of these AXS tribute events. As for me, more than anything, after seeing Def Leppard last July and being largely unimpressed with their set list, I was curious to find out whether the tribute band delved a little deeper into the Def Leppard discography.
Performance-wise, each of the five members played their parts to perfection, singer Michael O’Mara fronting them with excellence in his role of Joe Elliott and all the instruments coming through crisp and clear. They played a 12-song set, Foolin’ turning out to the one of the few highlights and they saved the real rock for the last with an encore offering of two High ‘N Dry tunes ‘Let It Go’ and ‘Another Hit And Run’. Aside from these three tunes and the chorus harmonies of ‘Photograph’ and ‘Rock Of Ages’, the rest of the set was disappointing from my perspective as it was filled to the brim with generic Def Leppard hits that although glittered with the word ‘rock’ in their lyrics do not really rock, but with that said, I was actually glad they included ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ because I really needed a restroom break.
A tribute band is expected to present songs the real band wouldn’t normally play and that’s one of the main reasons I’d go see a tribute band. Pyromania have been around for a long time, are clearly great at the performance aspect, and may be they kept the set list ‘safe’ because it was for TV, but a better set list would make their show would a lot more enjoyable.
Nonetheless, it was still a pleasant outing at this AXS TV tribute show, and LA locals as well as national TV audiences should stay tuned for the other great tribute bands that are yet to be featured during the remainder of Season 4.
Check out a gallery of 39 Pyromania photos from the show below, and to view their downloadable versions or if you’re on a non-Flash device, click here:
Pyromania links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Set List:
01. Let’s Get Rocked
02. Photograph
03. Love Bites
04. Rock Of Ages
05. Armageddon It
06. Foolin’
07. Rocket
08. Hysteria
09. Animal
10. Pour Some Sugar On Me
Encore:
11. Let It Go
12. Another Hit And Run
AXS TV links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Remaining Season 4 shows:
Sept. 23 – Fortunate Son: a Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival
Sept. 30 – Billy Joel 2 Elton John: a Tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John (Extended Version)
Oct. 7 – Dog N Butterfly: a Tribute to Heart
Oct. 14 – Fan Halen: a Tribute to Van Halen
Oct. 28 – Ozzmania: a Tribute to Ozzy Osborne & Black Sabbath
Nov. 4 – Bostyx: a Tribute to Boston & Styx
Nov. 11 – The Ten Band: a Tribute to Pearl Jam
Nov. 18 – Southbound and Company: a Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd
Nov. 25 – Blonde Day: a Tribute to Blondie
Dec. 2 – Super Diamond: a Tribute to Neil Diamond
Katie Daryl links: facebook | twitter
The Whisky-A-Go-Go links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram