By Lisa Burke
October 23rd 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Supergroups are popping up all over the map lately and usually when various members from various groups come together to make something new the end, result is fairly exciting although mostly it seems to go unnoticed because instead of paying attention to band members, most people only pay attention to band names, so when I say I went to go see Last In Line headline a show at Whisky-A-Go-Go on Sunday October 23rd 2016 no one knows what the hell I’m talking about. If I said I went to see a headlining band with members from Dio, Def Leppard, The Offspring, and Black Sabbath, then may be you cared for a minute.
They played with a hodgepodge of openers where the first group, The Continual Crysis, was of rock n’ roll youngsters which I caught playing mostly covers with any notes and keys they wanted to throw in. To play a good cover one must first master the original the way it was actually played and then it can be tampered with to fit the band’s style, and this band clearly fails to do so.
Thankfully, after them was a decently skilled band called Michael Baja and The Band which features lead singer and guitarist Michael Baja. They played a few riff-happy rock songs with a side of culture and keyboards, and included a well-played cover of ‘Knockin On Heavens Door’ originally by Bob Dylan but I’m going with this version being more of a Guns N’ Roses style cover. Towards the end of the set they had a guest female singer with a very pretty melodic vocal range who also dabbled on the drums and the progression of songs in general seemed to get more soft and colorful in the vein of ‘The Rainbow Connection’ but more Hollywood style. The front man was joking with the audience for a bit during the set which was a fun and friendly experience, but then stating his nervousness to the audience was a slight step over the edge when no one would have noticed it. Overall, a fun and skilled set of musicians that deserved a much better set time based on what appeared on stage after them.
Of all the amazing, good, bad, or mediocre bands I’ve seen live there has never been a band I saw live on stage at Whisky or anywhere for that matter that I felt did not deserve to be called a band, let alone be on stage right before a headliner of professional and extremely experienced musicians, until this night. So basically, Röli Angels comprises four young Japanese girls in different colored wigs with stage names that are color names danced and hair whipped to cheesy ’80s hair metal songs that are just played as backing tracks. They also attempted to sing and it is unclear whether or not they were lip synching, but I wouldn’t put it past them. The problem is Babymetal is a great band with talent and an actual live backing band that should not be so lamely copied in style. For these girls to try to create a lame attempt at that style by basically only being cute but totally untalented and boring, I felt they needed to just get off the stage and go to a karaoke bar. They would be a hit there, but with no instruments on stage whatsoever and a lame attempt at dancing and singing to ‘Youth Gone Wild’, ‘Paradise City’, and the ever popular ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ by Motley Crue, I quickly looked for something sharp to slit my wrists with.
Moving onto something that matters because it’s another actual band with structure, talent, skill, and experience, Last In Line, who formed a mere four years ago took the stage and played a great set. With Vivian Campbell on guitar, Vinny Appice on drums, and Andrew Freeman as the lead vocalist playing mostly Dio hits such as ‘Holy Diver’, ‘The Last In Line’, and ‘Rainbow In The Dark’ you really can’t go wrong. I must say, however, it was a touch depressing to feel the energy of the band play the Dio songs without the man himself. That said, Andrew Freeman did a wonderful job as vocalist and they even busted out the Catwalk for extra stage presence. His vocals were strong and heavy and he commanded the stage well while still giving off that humble vibe. I hope they continue on with this band and that even more people catch on and support it. Why let the legend die when you can at least pay a solid tribute to it? They also have their own songs on an album called ‘Heavy Crown’ released this year, and it’s worthy of a good listen.
Overall, it has been my experience that Sunday nights at Whisky are always full of strange surprises that you really can never be prepared for, and this night took the cake and threw it in my face with the placement and addition of Roli Angels. If I were the band before them or the band after, I would be highly insulted by the dance break they deemed worthy of being a part of this line up. I have no sympathy for cheap gimmicks when others pour their heart and soul into everything they do. Booking the right line up is not always an easy task, but it is definitely not a place to compromise or bring totally out-of-place acts into the middle of. Any rock band with real instruments would have sufficed and half the crowd might have stayed as well.
Set List:
01. Stand Up and Shout
02. Straight Through the Heart
03. Devil in Me
04. Don’t Talk to Strangers
05. Evil Eyes
06. Holy Diver
07. Egypt (The Chains Are On)
08. Already Dead
09. The Last in Line
10. Martyr
11. Invisible
12. Rainbow in the Dark
Encore:
13. Starmaker
14. I Am Revolution
15. We Rock