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L.A. Guns
Cornerstone,
Berkeley CA
August 9, 2018
By Dan Wall
Set List: The Devil Made Me Do It, Electric Gypsy, No Mercy, Over the Edge, Kiss My Love Goodbye, Sex Action, I Wanna Be Your Man, The Flood’s The Fault of the Rain, Speed, One More Reason, Hell Raiser’s Ball, Malaria, Never Enough, The Ballad of Jane, Rip ‘N Tear. 80 minutes.
When L.A. Guns shut things down here on August 9 with the sleaze rock anthem “Rip N Tear,” it could have easily been the Sunset Strip in 1988 all over again. Unfortunately, it was Berkeley in 2018, which isn’t a bad thing, just not what the band expected when it stormed off the Strip in the late 80’s.
L.A. Guns probably didn’t expect to be playing clubs 30 years after it roared onto the scene in 1988. Unfortunately, the group never rivaled the fame that some of the other, bigger hairballs who came out of Hollywood did, like Guns N Roses or Motley Crue.
Too bad, because for 80 minutes, the band can still kick your ass really good.
The heavily tattooed quintet finally came back to the Bay Area proper for the first time in quite a while with original members Phil Lewis and Traci Guns onboard. Though the Cornerstone, an impressive new club near the university is a long way from the band’s early days of opening slots in arenas with the likes of AC/DC, the band proved that it has plenty of life left in it with a storming set of old rockers and a new songs that can easily match up to the groups classics.
Lewis, the band’s original singer and once a member of sleaze merchants Girl, still has the pipes and the charisma to lead the band onstage. Lewis sounded great while leading the crowd through a number of huge sing-alongs. He’s an engaging, personable bloke who once acted on shows such as “Melrose Place,” thus his comfortable and affable rapport with the crowd.
Guns is simply one of the best guitarists’ that this genre has ever produced. He should have been in Guns N Roses, but that didn’t happen for him. This band was a nice consolation prize, and despite his troubled history with Lewis, the two look like they have finally patched up old differences and look ready to keep this band on the road for as long as they can.
Guns’ solos provide many of the set’s highlights. Whenever the band breaks for Guns’ sure-fire pyrotechnics, you be assured that a flaming, multi-note solo will come flying off his very capable fingers.
Bassist Johnny Martin, drummer Shane Fitzgibbon and longtime band bassist Adam Hamilton (now playing rhythm guitar) provided capable support for the two original members, and virtually every song played was a highlight.
For my money, many bands went on to get bigger than L.A. Guns, but I still find the band’s original material from its first three records to be some of the finest melodic metal recorded in the period from 1987-91. Another in the long line of bands that was pushed aside by Nirvana and the whole grunge movement, L.A. Guns deserved a better fate, a point still proven every night it plays live. Don’t be afraid to go see this band when the guys come back your town.
Opening act The Butlers refuse to suck live. I’ve seen these guys four times in the past 16 months and the boys get better every time out. You’ve read about them here before, and its probably a shame that you’ll never get to see the act because the band only plays the Bay Area, but The Butlers are one of the best cover/tribute rock bands playing live today.
