Photos and review by Ilya Mirman
Show Photos HERE
On a cold and rainy winter night in Hartford, Buckcherry warmed up the sold-out crowd with a fiery set featuring fan favorites along with tracks from their most recent album, Confessions.
I’ve seen Buckcherry multiple times, and the band never disappoints.  Start to finish, it’s an amazingly entertaining show by consummate rock professionals, delivering riff after riff, song after song, in a style reminiscent of a slightly out-of-control train – with a lit up engineer, and a crew all too happy to stoke the fire.
The band is tight, and the guys clearly enjoy each other and their fans.  There’s great chemistry and camaraderie between the members (e.g., exchanging hugs just before commencing the set), and a sincere appreciation for the opportunity they have to perform night after night. Founded nearly two decades ago, this band is clearly in their prime – delivering original, full-throttle rock-n-roll, not afraid to take chances, while also tipping a hat to their influences.
Josh Todd is a unique frontman – energetic, fun, mischevious, passionate, sincere, enigmatic.  Keith Nelson and Stevie D deftly and stylishly execute their duties on guitar.  And Xavier Muriel (drums) and Kelly LeMiuex (bass) provide the classic hard rock foundation the set demands.
As a photographer in the pit, I love when Buckcherry opens up with Lit Up (a little ditty about cocaine), for a couple reasons.  First, it’s a fun, addictive song (no pun intended).  And second, because the mid-song ad-lib banter extends my shooting time by a couple more minutes, providing an opportunity to experiment (this time, the experiment consisted of shooting with a Mamiya C330S medium format film camera – in a few weeks I’ll know whether the shots came out!).
Confessions is a great album, and it was a real treat to hear so many songs from it.  If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen!  And hey – check out the Gluttony video: 

 

Show Photos

Set List

Lit Up

Rescue Me

All Night Long

Broken Glass

Everything

Sorry

Dead

Porno Star

Tired Of You

Gluttony

Greed

Borderline

Crazy Bitch

Say Fuck It

Wrath