Cactus is often referred to as The American Led Zeppelin, and the band that found drummer Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert as their core membership was once again doing their thing at NYC’s favorite venue. PiercingMetal’s Joe Kaufman was on point to deliver the scoop in images and words so to learn more just click their logo below to see the item on the main site.
Artist: Cactus
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Date: 5/2/2008
Label: Escapi Music
Those classic 70’s rockers, Cactus returned once again to kick off the summer at B.B. King Blues Club in NYC with their brand of hard rocking classics in front of an eager hometown fan base. If you had attended any of the bands earlier appearances at this venue then tonight would be a little bit of a surprise to you as there is a slight lineup change to be aware of. Original guitarist Jim McCarty is no longer playing with the band and in his place is the talented Werner Fitzschings. Werner had replaced Jim McCarty back in 1972 for Cactus’s ’Ot ‘N’ Sweaty” album so he is really no stranger to the material and he brought an additional amount of enthusiastic vitality to the band. Another last minute switch in the lineup would be the presence of Pete Bremy who was apparently filling in on bass for Tim Bogert who was not able to perform due to illness. Pete’s bass playing was right on the money and I caught how he was throwing in specific “Tim Bogert-isims” to make it sound more authentic.
Carmine Appice was of course the foundation of the group and was slamming the skins behind his leopard print kit as they attacked the set that was loaded to the hilt with Cactus classics. Among these was “Bro Bill” which had the crowd singing along with Jimmy Kunes, who laid down some powerful blues infused vocals on this and many other Cactus rockers like “One Way or Another”, “Rock and Roll Children” and “Evil”. Werner even got a chance to feel at home revisiting the song “Bad Stuff” from “Ot ‘N’ Sweaty” but he seemed more comfortable when he was able to summon up the Les Paul/Marshall roar on the songs that they had in their archive as well as from the latest studio release “Cactus V”. Throughout the fiery set, Randy Pratt added some tasty blues harp to the numbers which really put the icing on the cake for everyone in attendance.
This was definitely another kick ass night of Rock & Roll and it was surely one that will keep the Cactus legend growing.
Werner Fritzschings
Jimmy Kunes
Tim Bogert
Carmine Appice
Peter Bremy
“‘Ot ‘N’ Sweaty” (1972)