Myles Kennedy / Rock City / Nottingham

A fourth show at Rock City this week, and maybe the pick of the bunch as Myles Kennedy comes to town touring his latest album “The Art of Letting Go”.

Touring with Myles is special guest Devin Townsend. The Canadian singer / songwriter / producer was the founder of extreme metal band Strapping Young, before forming the Devin Townsend Project. Over the years, and across his various projects, Devin has released an incredible 23 studio albums.

I’ve seen Devin’s full band experience and it’s a truly amazing show, but tonight he performs alone in an acoustic set. Well known for his unique sense of humour, Devin delivered a performance that out Tenacious’d Tenacious D lol.

Playing for around 30 minutes, Devin delivered a truly memorable show. Chatting and interacting at will with the crowd, this continued through the songs, merging music and comedy into one glorious creation. His guitar playing is simply stunning and he has a stupidly wide vocal range from deep and growling to operatic highs. and guitar playing all while mixing in his signature humour.

With one particularly vocal audience member, Devin pauses and passes him the mic and duly he complies and Devin supports on guitar to the delight of the crowd.

Skillful, fun and highly entertaining, it’s a fantastic experience and has the audience smiling from ear to ear ready for Myles.

Setlist

Let It Roll

Love? (Strapping Young Lad song)

Bring Him Home (Claude‐Michel Schönberg cover)

Deadhead

Hyperdrive

Ih-Ah!

Lightworker

Life (Intro only)

US born singer / songwriter and guitarist Myles Kennedy is perhaps best known as the singer and guitarist with rock band Alter Bridge, but he also performs with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and has a strong solo career as well. A former guitar instructor, he plays hard rock but with influences from blues, jazz and the likes of post-grunge to create a unique style.

Starting off with the new albums title track The Art of Letting Go and backed by Tim Tournier on bass and Zia Uddin on drums, Myles hits the road running, turning the volume to 11. Its hard rock, and glorious !

The mix of fan favourites and new material works well, with the newer stuff fitting in well, with the likes of Behind The Veil going down a treat with the packed Rock City crowd, especially ts extended guitar solo, which shows Myles’s skills perfectly. He’s a very visual guitarist, wearing his emotions on his expressive face as he makes his guitar ‘sing’. But its not all about the guitar work, Myles has a stunning voice with a great range, and its on fine form tonight, sounding crisp and clear through the mix.

My favourite was one of the new tracks from the latest album, Miss You When You’re Gone, which starts off with just his guitar, before Uddin’s drums kick in and build the temp as the beat develops into a rousing anthem packed with emotion. Great stuff that has the crowd rocking along. But it’s closely followed in the favourite stakes by the wonderful In Stride taken from the “The Ides of March” album. This one has a real blues feel as Kennedy gets out the bottle slide and uses it to great effect. The atmosphere is brilliant through this one, and the crowd join in the chorus with ‘whoas’ much to Myles’ s delight.

There are fan favourites aplenty, with Love Can Only Heal and Year Of The Tiger providing the crowd with the opportunity to sing along with gusto, as did the final track of the night Say What You Will, for which Uddin bangs out a fast tempo beat, to back up the sharp riffs which has the crowd up and arms in the air loving every note.

I love listening to Alter Bridge, but Myles live is a show not to miss. Some of the best blues rock sound you could get, delivered with great emotion. Its perhaps more stiped back that the big shows, but you know what?....... its more intimate, and simply unmissable !

Setlist

The Art of Letting Go

Nothing More to Gain

Devil on the Wall

A Thousand Words

Mr. Downside

Tell It Like It Is

Behind the Veil

Haunted by Design

Love Can Only Heal

Wake Me When It's Over

Miss You When You’re Gone