Hollywood Vampires don’t really do subtle. When a band is built around three of rock’s biggest personalities and a setlist packed with songs from the history books, you know you’re in for something loud, excessive and a little unpredictable. The O2 Arena gets exactly that.
‘I Want My Now’ and ‘Raise the Dead’ kick things off before ‘My Dead Drunk Friends’ brings the band’s own material into focus. Then the covers start flying. ‘I’m Eighteen’ gets the Alice Cooper treatment, while Johnny Depp takes the microphone for ‘Venus in Furs’ and ‘People Who Died’, adding a rougher, more theatrical edge to both.
Joe Perry gets his moment with ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Round a Memory’, before ‘Who’s Laughing Now’ and the live debut of Aerosmith’s ‘Livin’ on the Edge’ keep things moving. ‘Baba O’Riley’, ‘Roadhouse Blues’ and ‘Beck’s Bolero’ follow, turning the O2 into something resembling the world’s biggest rock’n’roll jukebox.
The closing stretch is pure excess. ‘Heroes’, ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Walk This Way’ lead into ‘School’s Out / Another Brick in the Wall’, before Ronnie Wood joins the band for ‘The Train Kept A-Rollin” and ‘Brown Sugar’. Ending with ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ feels almost absurdly fitting, particularly given the band’s connection to Jeff Beck.
Hollywood Vampires aren’t interested in rewriting rock history. They want to crank it up, play it loud and keep the songs alive. At the O2, they did exactly that.
Review & Photos By Nick Davarias – https://www.instagram.com/nick.davarias
