Friday 29 December 2023 saw the return of Derby’s own Adam Slack, lead guitarist for the Struts and Frontman for his own band The Bangers. The venue was Derby’s “The Hairy Dog” on Becket Street and the band have made this their end of year performance an annual event for the last few years….one that is widely anticipated, with fans traveling from far and wide.
Kelsy Karter and The Heroines – Mesmerising performance, Talented Songwriter … The epitome of a Rock Star.
In support of Adam Slack and the Bangers was New Zealand born Rocker Kelsy Karter and her band The Heroines.
Kelsy happens to be Adams partner and quite frankly they are one of the coolest couples in the world of rock today. She moved from New Zealand to The Gold Coast of Austraila when she was very young and grew up with her family of Jazz Musicians, living between The Gold Coast and Los Angeles as she grew up/ Los Angeles is where she began song writing at the age of about 16.
This lady has a background in Musical Theatre, Motown and Jazz but her prowess in the genre on Rock and Roll and Punk is truly something to behold. An extremely talented songwriter, her performance at Derby’s Hairy Dog was mesmerising, with the stage presence of a true rock superstar …. this lady is going places and I look forward to following her progress.
The band just did a tour of the USA in support of Billy Idol and are back in the US next year. With great songs like “Devil on my Shoulder”, “Stick to your Guns”, and the brilliant “God Only Knows I’ve Tried” …. she is not only a great performer but brilliant lyricist. Her new single “Wild” is just brilliant, great lyrics, superb musical arrangements, brilliant guitar solos, and a lovely voice to match. As a photographer concentrating all my efforts into capturing live rock music, I can’t think of a better act to photograph at the end a fantastic year. Good luck with the USA tour guys, you will smash it for sure.
Adam Slack and The Bangers – Derby’s own Rockers: Exciting, great Fun … Really talented Rock n Roll band !!
Next up were headliners – The brilliant Adam Slack and The Bangers. Adam is Derby born and bred, hailing from Shardlow just down the road from my own home. I first saw Adam play with The Struts at Rock City earlier this year and knew he was a fantastic guitarist and singer / songwriter. His stage presence was a match the supremely talented Struts frontman Luke Spiller.
Adams own band attracts a strong following and I spoke to fans who had travelled from far and wide to catch this gig at the Hairy Dog. It’s easy to see why they have such a strong following, with a performance that was polished, full of fun and intermate with great interaction with the fans. We even had snow with the song “Rock Roll Xmas” !!!
The bands cover of the Oasis hit “Rock n Roll Star” was better than the original in my opinion. Other songs covered were “Think we’re Alone Now”, :When you were young” and “Stacy Mom”.
And as for Guitarist Matt Peach – he was just brilliant with his covers of “Common People” by The Pulp and “Parklife” by Blur – he even dragged out the glasses and jacket for the dressing up box! The crowd went mad for Adams finale’ of “Could Have Been Me” by the Struts (which he co-wrote with Luke), and finally the brilliant Green Day song “Basket Case” – apparently one of Adams favourite bands and one I’ve enjoyed listening to for many years.
The whole night was just superb from start to finish, great rock n roll, lovely atmosphere and for me personally it was a fantastic end to a brilliant year of my step into the world of concert photography. This is one gig that is right on top of my list for next year …. thanks guys and Happy New Year to you all.
If you haven’t experienced either of the acts before then you are missing out and to have the opportunity to catch them in an intimate venue like the Hairy Dog, with its friendly staff and location close to the centre of Derby.
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