Artist: The Lynch Mob
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Sonic Bliss, Willie Basse
Date: 1/31/2011
Label: Frontiers Records

It was exactly six months to the day when I last caught a once again touring Lynch Mob and that was when the band was acting as direct support for the Michael Schenker Group back in July. The show was great but Lynch and his merry mates only played about seven songs which left the fans that were excited to see him up there again leaving slightly disappointed with the short set. That made tonight’s appearance at B.B. King’s something that they were looking forward to because it was announced that he would be performing a combined “Best Of” set of both Lynch Mob and Dokken material with his band. I had to admit that this interested me very much especially when you considered how drummer “Wild” Mick Brown was once again working with the axe slinger. That made this particular configuration of the group as close to the original as possible with the exception of original bassist Anthony Esposito. The second change in the lineup for tonight would be on bass, as Robbie Crane from Ratt was in place for this go round. The openers listed for the show would be both Sonic Bliss and Wille Basse but I would not catch them and only focus my attention on Mr. Lynch.

The Lynch Mob hit the stage about 9:30-10pm unless I was mistaken and that was a little longer than expected since the doors had been open for so long already. Perhaps there was an issue in the guitars that kept them but when they hit it was on. They opened up with “She’s Evil But She Is Mine” which was the same as the last time I saw them so this is clearly their opening number. The band sounded tight but I knew that already and I was happy to report that there was a very good crowd in place on this Monday night. It was icy cold outside but down here in the confines of the B.B. King’s venue it was molten hot. It was great to see this reaction for the band and I will admit that I was never more than the casual fan of their stuff. I had the debut “Wicked Sensation” when it came out but honestly back in the day I would have preferred that Lynch stuck with Dokken. Despite my own feelings the crowd that had assembled appeared to be made up of a lot of guitar players and all of them were taking in the incredible talents that Lynch possesses on the guitar. I did always like singer Oni Logan’s voice and the solid drumming of “Wild” Mick Brown so this was working out on being a very entertaining evening. It took the band three songs to hit us with any of the classic Dokken that was expected and we got “Into The Fire” which found the whole crowd singing along with the chorus parts. Clearly this one went over well.

Another Lynch Mob tune would come with “Where Do You Sleep At Night” from their most recent “Smoke And Mirrors” album which came out in 2009. It was interesting to find the band calling this their “Smoke and Mirrors” tour since 50% of the tour was material from the bands debut while two full Dokken songs and two instrumental parts made up another 25% of what was being done this evening. They kept the venue on the dark side tonight which surprised me just a little bit since you want to see George play more than you do not. Sometimes that happens in this space but oh well. Lynch is still clearly a top notch player and while he had everyone’s attention up in the front some of the people I was speaking to were anxious to hear some more Dokken and all we would actually get was the song “Tooth And Nail”. Yes he would deliver two instrumental pieces, well one with “Mr. Scary” and then the intro portion of “Kiss Of Death” but that would be it. So much for an evening of Dokken and Lynch Mob classics. This was more like an evening of the first Lynch Mob album and some other stuff. Like I said, I was one of the small portion that found issue with that. When it was added together we ended up with seven tunes from the “Wicked Sensation” debut album by the band. Oni would also state that since they were playing a Blues club that a little of that was in order. Yes it was cool to see George jamming on some Blues riffs but I really would have preferred songs as opposed to freestyle displays. If he had done this “in addition to” other material instead of “as opposed to” I might have been cooler with it.

They would close the night with “Wicked Sensation” and its pretty much my favorite track from the band ever since it’s the most notable. Compared to the last time that I saw them play, six of the seven songs that were performed with that MSG show were the same and only “Revolution Hero” was omitted. To sum it up I can say that I had a better time than I thought I would and there were a good 500 other Hard Rock fans in the crowd that seemed to agree with me. I still would prefer a full on original Dokken lineup tour instead of this but I am sure that many of the classic era fans want that as well.

Thus started a new week in Rock and Roll adventuring and as I walked out into the cold NYC air I realized that the snow had already begun to fall upon us once again. Man do I hate Gamma Ray………..oh wait, wrong show 

Set List:
1. She’s Evil But She’s Mine
2. River Of Love
3. Hell Child
4. 21st Century Man
5. Into The Fire
6. Where Do You Sleep At Night
7. Mr. Scary
8. Rain
9. All I Want
10. Street Fighting Man
11. Let The Music Be Your Master
12. Tooth And Nail
13. Kiss Of Death (Intro)
14. Wicked Sensation

Longtime readers of the blog lead ins to our concert reports know that whenever possible we try to feature the marquee for the show that we are giving you a review of.   Here now are the bright lights in the super cold city as they invite all to come inside to get hot with the Hard Rock and Roll of The Lynch Mob.

It’s even better when you get this visual with the attraction’s main man himself.  Ladies and Gentlemen, the guitar guru, Mr. George Lynch m/ – He was on his way to be interviewed by Eddie Trunk and was anxious to get out of the cold since it was brutal this evening.  Much different from what he is normally used to.

Here’s a shot of the poster that the venue had available for tonight’s show.  According to advance reports, Lynch was going to be holding a signing after the show that every fan in attendance could participate in.  This was vastly different from the venues that charge an added premium to the price of a ticket for the same purposes.

PiercingMetal.com was able to get a bit of a backstage glimpse of the goings on tonight which we love sharing with the curious eye because the general public cannot get back there on their own.  As you’ve seen in past reports its not the most glamorous place to be and is more about preparation for the show and catching up with quick hellos from their friends.  Here is the front of the dressing room door.

I caught glimpse of a really cool road travel case and not only does it bring ones implements of guitar destruction along with the band but it also offers some wardrobe space.

These are some really awesome leather duds I will say that much.

The other traveling case we caught sight of was loaded with guitars for George to get his hands on during the show.  Check out these lethal weapons of musical destruction.

 

Hanging out backstage with friends was a surprise to our eyes in the lovely Miss Cheyenne Silver.  Cheyenne is a former adult actress who now works in mainstream film.  She is the co-producer of a Science Fiction movie called “The Villikon Chronicles”.  I’ve yet to see it but it was still fun to talk to Cheyenne and make her visit as memorable as we could.

I always try to get the band members to pose in front of this banner that hangs backstage and for this shot let Cheyenne enjoy the honor for herself as well.

I learned that Miss Silver was not the biggest Metal fan per se, but that would not stop her from tossing us the horns for the next photo.  Thanks Cheyenne.

It was after the show when all of these were taken so everyone was trying to catch up and say “nice job” before the band got involved with the signing.

Here’s Cheyenne with bassist Greg Smith.  If you have seen some of the recent Ted Nugent DVD’s you will recognize him as he was playing bass along with Mick Brown in Uncle Ted’s band.

“Wild” Mick Brown soon made an appearance and we snapped another shot of the rhythm section and the lovely Miss Silver.

And one more just with Mick Brown for good measure.

I wanted to snare a solo shot of Greg Smith near the backstage banner of B.B. King’s, and he didn’t mind at all.  A wise man once said, any promotion is good promotion.  Maybe it was Gene Simmons.  I dunno.

At one point I caught up with Greg talking with a gent who introduced himself as Mike from Trixter.  Having never followed the band during their heyday I had to look up the fact that he did drums and backing vocals in 1995 for the band.  Seemed like a nice chap just the same.

Our own Joe Kaufman helped make Miss Silver’s NYC Rock and Roll experience a little more memorable, and here we catch them showing off the amazing B.B. King’s tortilla chips.  I usually make short work of them when I see them.  They are SO good.

Joe obliged me with a shot with Cheyenne, and she kindly indulged me with the sporting of the Metal horns.  It was such a pleasure to talk to her this evening and I hope she visits NYC for shows again sometime soon.

Oh yeah, my mistake, she tossed up the horns in this next one.   My bad.

Official Website: http://www.georgelynch.com