Meadowbrook Pavilion, Gilford, NH
September 3, 2012
Review by Bridgette
Photos by Micah Gummel.
To view the entire collection of photography from this event, visit the NECR photo gallery HERE.
Meet Buckcherry:
Josh Todd- Lead Vocals, Guitar
Xavier Muriel- Drums, Percussion
Keith Nelson- Rhythm Guitar and Lead, Backing Vocals
Jimmy “Two Fingers” Ashhurst- Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D-Rhythm Guitar and Lead, Backing Vocals
Waiting for Buckcherry to come on the stage at the Rise Above Fest was a rockadelic funk trip. Riffs were coming through during sound check. Sparkle lights of red, blue and purple, were circling around, as the house music had my all time favorite soul man, James Brown, blaring, then bleeding – into Aerosmith, with AC/DC coming on, no surprise there.
Buckcherry was out to get us and get us good. They set their guns on stun and kept firing away. “Tired of You,” had tall, tattoo’d timber man, Josh Todd, spinning the mic and the glam rock had begun.
“Rescue Me,” brought the guitar team of Keith Nelson and Stevie D. to a dead stop pause and all at once the band came together in a flash. Josh lead the crowd clapping, soaring to new heights, then he started jumping on the stage. During “All Night Long” he seemed to moon walk forward. He was crazy fun to watch. The other band members spinning off on their own planets, doing their own thing. It seemed to be a new performance on different parts of the stage, every time you turned your head.
“Broken Glass,” had swirling and bursting with red and blue patterns. Josh screamed, “How you all holding up? Strong crowd for a Monday!” A funky groove, a green stage set with heavy bass from Jimmy Ashhurst, hammered into, “I Want Everything,” Josh’s voice almost sounded like Axl Rose on this track. The timing was tight tonight, this was metal that penetrates and never stops. The lead riffs kept up, while the song took off. “All Night Long,” was the perfect song to follow and it started off with a strong lead of the crowd doing shout outs. Before I could blink, half the band was shirtless, showing off more of their tattoos.
But what really caught my eye was the flying v guitar in my face! “It’s A Party” pleased the crowd and pulled for ranting, rowdy, cathartic howls. This set off Josh to give us moves with footwork faster than a river-dance performer on hot coals, and by this point, Xavier Muriel’s drums were heading to replace our heartbeats. I noticed a fan had “It’s a party,” on the back of his t shirt. Screaming distortion solos from Steve and Keith, drums, all guitars blazing and stage command that never stops, what else did this crowd want??
Josh, “Who’s feeling sexy?” “Sexy is a state of mind, you know what I’m saying!”With all the band members singing backup to “Next To You,” jumping, running, pairing up, slam-jamming together, the flying v had taken off, while the crowd was hitting new emotional and physical heights!
What could be sexier than THAT?! This editor is a die hard helicopter Zeppelin fan, so what made me scream was to hear the guitarist hammer out a Jimmy Page riff from “In My Time of Dying,” and to take in a moan from Josh singing “well, well, well …” Yeah, THAT was SEXY!!!
“Ya’ll want to sing a song about forgiveness?” A song called “Sorry.” The crowd sang this ballad word for word. Ironically, a fight broke out in the row ahead of me because someone wouldn’t sit down during the song! Not sure who should have said they were ‘sorry’ about that one, but security settled it before the next track was up.
For Buckcherry’s last song, Josh asked for requests. He also suggested something that the crowd may want too. With the roof torn off of this Pavilion already, wild men and women riled up to the raw, “Crazy Bitch” ended their set, and Josh acted the part on stage coming as close to the edge as he could, both figuratively and literally. Hip action was going strong, and I looked around the venue, only to find that fans tried to copy this gyrating as well. After pulling the full throttle and forcing it all to escalate, Josh shouted out, “We love you guys!”‘”Do what you LOVE!” “Zero out!”
Buckcherry Set List:
Tired of You
Rescue Me
All Night Long
Broken Glass
Everything
It’s A Party
Next To You
Lit Up
Sorry
Crazy Bitch