Black Stone Cherry 02 Academy Sheffield

The 02 Academy former home of the Roxy has witnessed many a classic rock night in the past and tonight is no exception. Blackstone Cherry are on a sell out tour and rightly so, Forget Kentucky fried chicken this is Kentucky rock cuisine of the finest order. BSC have some of their own tasty offerings with the likes of “Blind Man”, “White Trash Millionaire” and the outrageous “Blame It On The Boom Boom”. Front man Chris Robertson looked a little jaded and even had to cancel a few dates in Germany prior to the UK tour but he still gave a powerful performance on vocals and lead guitar. The fans filled in when needed and with Ben Wells-Guitar and John Lawhon –Bass adding some quality energetic vocal salad to the proceedings .Drummer John Fred Young really injects some power into the rhythm section and it’s the mix of hard riffs but really melodic hooks that set BSC apart from many other US imports. The upshot of the evening was a band benefiting from staying together since 2001 and growing as a band they are tight, confident and hard working. The fans were very supportive, loud and appreciative, the acoustic songs were class and the set well executed. It’s cool to see the old Roxy alive again under the new banner of 02 Academy having been threatened with being demolished not too long ago, one thing for sure Black Stone Cherry bull dozed their way through the UK and no doubt will be back bigger and better than ever in the near future but they need to give Chris Robertson time to rest or he could burn out and that would be a travesty.