John Waite Lancaster April 26th Show Review

Rainmaker

This article was written by on Monday, May 9th, 2011 | has written 19 articles

Kyle Cook plays with John Waite

Kyle Cook

April 26th, Grand Theatre, Lancaster. This was the night John Waite played his home town for the first time..ever! And, it was as intimate as it gets. On a 20 foot wide stage, the old theatre was full of Waite’s family and friends…and myself and Ben (who was touring with the band, if you can believe it!).

It was a modest tour, but from all I can gather, a good one, and the hometown show was no disappointment. With great support acts; Thirteen Stars and John Amor we were treated to two new acts that most of us had never heard of. After snapping strings and stories about losing your girl to your best friend, it was time for John and Kyle to hit the stage.

The band are a motley crew to be sure; John with his slim frame and long hair; the drummer, who looks like the guy from that pop group Aqua; the bassist who looks like one of The Ramones; and Kyle, skinny jeans, check shirt and ‘50s quiff. But don’t let it fool you, they can really play.

The show covered all the bases; it was a mix of all the songs written with Kyle (‘Evil’; ‘Better Off Gone’; ‘Love’s Goin’ Out of Style’, with a great performance of the albums highlight ‘If You Ever Get Lonely’) and John Waite classics. There were great performances of the monster hit ‘Missing You’, ‘Suicide Life’, ‘Downtown’ and ‘Back on My Feet Again’. After a bunch of other stuff I didn’t know, a cover of Vince Gill’s ‘Whenever You Come Around’ popped up and the show closed out with Rough & Tumbles title track and an incredible performance of the Ike and Tina Turner song ‘Sweet Rhode Island Red’. After a standing ovation, they hit the stage again for a small encore.

John Waite

John Waite

It was an intimate show and it was obvious John was moved to play his hometown and although John hasn’t been an obvious presence in the mainstream charts for some time, there is no doubt that John has the same great voice he’s always had. In fact, the whole band played great. And although we’re gonna be a little bias, Kyle did stand out and not just because he’s about three feet taller than the rest of the band.

Anyone, who’s seen this tour will tell you, it’s a little bit strange seeing Kyle play this small venues after watching him play the biggest rooms around. But, it was great watching him rock out and there’s no doubt that it’s got me revved up for the new Matchbox Twenty album and Tour!

[Images used on this page from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccawgomets]