Nick Oliveri - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds - June 11, 2014 (Live Review)
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Written by Daniel Lynch
By his own admission, Nick Oliveri can’t “sing too good or fingerpick the guitar too pretty”. But, as a small but noisy crowd at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club discovers, he can most certainly “scream my head off and play ‘til I bleed.”
Transferring a typically heavy sound to an acoustic setting can be a challenge but the former Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age man masters it through sheer enthusiasm and belief. He screams from the stage as though he has a full band behind him, with the biggest cheers of the night reserved for Green Machine, You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire and Six Shooter.
Oliveri also tells more than a few stories about his time in the music business, as well as friends lost in the process. Auto Pilot, a highlight from Queens’ classic ‘Rated R’, is one such song, written for someone lost to a heroin overdose. Moments before launching into the riff, without missing a beat, Oliveri says: “He would have loved to have been here and had a drink with every single one of you.”
Love Is A Fiction, a new song, is a step in a slightly different direction, but retains the fury of a classic Oliveri composition and is likely to be nothing short of explosive with a full band. Shortly after an especially throat-wrenching scream he pauses, only to pull out a bottle of tequila and top up the drinks of anyone who can reach far enough forward.
Oliveri doesn’t take himself too seriously and promises to meet with and speak with as many of the crowd as he can after the show; he even takes a request from a one brave volunteer, who ends up being invited onstage to sing along. Sensing hesitation, Oliveri recovers and coaxes half the audience up for an unforgettable rendition of Feel Good Hit Of The Summer.
Covers of Ramones and Dwarves songs slide seamlessly into the set - “There’s death metal and death punk. This is death acoustic.” - as well as Mondo Generator tunes, but it’s Kyuss and Queens that remain crowd favourites.
Twisted between screaming vocals and stripped-back acoustic arrangements they shouldn’t work, but Oliveri proves that the harder stuff can be played acoustically without compromising. He promises to be back in Leeds in November with a full band - not a day too soon.
Nick Oliveri Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu June 12 2014 - LIVERPOOL East Village Arts Club
Mon June 16 2014 - YORK York Duchess
Tue June 17 2014 - GLASGOW Stereo
Wed June 18 2014 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
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