Even though this was supposed to be an opening act stint on the MONSTER MAGNET tour for LA rockers BUCKCHERRY, it was very clear who the people in the audience were there to see. For an opening act, there sure were a TON of people packed into the Vanderbilt in Plainview, Long Island on a Monday night.
The band hit the stage around 9:30 to a reasonably-filled room. The only reason I say that is because I have never seen the Vanderbilt at its fullest. There were probably a good 900 to 1000 people there. The set opener was "Frontslide" of the new disc, Timebomb, and these guys delivered it with a ton of energy. Frontman JOSH TODD, despite the fact that he looks like his body's been ravaged by disease, is hands-down the most animated rock frontman since Axl Rose. This guy knows how to work a crowd.
However, by the fourth song in, you realize that Todd's stage persona isn't quite enough to drive the band through an hour-long set. The rest of the band, while suberb musicians, were a little lean on the "rock star" side... and for a band with a frontman that looks like he just leaped out of a back alley in some fururistic John Carpenter film, that's a real downer. Guitarists Keith Nelson and Yogi both need to develop their stage presence so that there isn't just one larger-than-life character up on the stage.
They continued with a pretty equal sampling from both their debut disc and Timebomb, including show closer, "Lit Up", which got the whole crowd more than a little nuts... and man, do I LOVE the way rocker chicks in 2001 look. There is nothing finer than some little girlie in tight leather...or vinyl pants, high-heeled boots, and a belly shirt, shaking her ass and singing "I like the cocaine...." Sweet Jesus, I could have abducted a number of those lovelies last night.
Buckcherry gave a solid performance, but they need to step up their stage show and their songwriting. Mark my words folks, if this band could write songs that were just a touch hookier, and get more of that larger-than-life thing going on onstage, Buckcherry will be the next GUNS N' ROSES... However, if they can't pull that off, for whatever drug-induced reason, you're going to be looking at another L.A. GUNS... and they'll be about fifteen years too late to latch on to any of the classy groupie chicks.
When the last chord rang out, and Buckcherry had left the stage, the bulk of the crowd had cleared out, and about half the room was left to see Dave Wyndorf and MONSTER MAGNET. Since I have to get my ass up for work in the morning I was one of those people.
Also, the security was a tad harsh on some of the moshing members of the crowd. Granted, there were signs all about which read "No Crowd Surfing"...but some of these zealots were ripping people out of the air and planting them onto the wood floor. Easy Tarzan...he's not a serial killer... it's just crowd-surfing.
All in all, it was a solid show. The crowd was into it, and the band held up pretty well. Buckcherry aren't superstars... yet. They could be though... and we could use another supergroup.
