26/5/2010 Dave Evans @ The Gaff

Subject	Dave Evans @ The Gaff
PostedDate	5/26/2010
	An interesting night at The Gaff. First band is Monsters In The Attic. This is the second time I've seen them, and although they are sadly lacking in the image department they are a good band and perform well. Plenty of heavy riffing and a tight powerful sound - worth catching. The following band are pretty much the opposite. Falling Red are musically forgettable and a classic example of image over substance. To be fair, they do put plenty of effort into their show - but they have no spark of individuality to distinguish them from the other 50 virtually indentical bands on this 'scene'. This band sum up all that is bad and cliched with the dwindling Camden 'sleaze rock' scene - including the awful fake accents which only underline how fake most bands of this type really are.  Tonight's final act is far more the 'real deal'. If you were to mention Aussie legends AC/DC's original singer a lot of people would think you were talking about the late Bon Scott. In actual fact, the man headlining this small London venue tonight is AC/DC's first singer. I wasn't sure what to expect from Dave Evans - would we get a set full of AC/DC songs? Would the music be completely different in style? Would it even be any good? Seeing as the price on the door was £12 - normally around twice what you'd pay to get into this venue I thought he'd better be good! I needn't have worried. He was good, he had a great band, and not that surprisingly the music was pretty similar in style to AC/DC. This was the first time Dave Evans has toured outside of Australia, and for the British gigs he had a band of UK musicians - and they were bloody good! This was a full-on rock show, but unlike the previous band this was a stripped back to basics no-bullshit performance - and all the better for it. Fortunately Dave didn't spend much of the show going on about his former band and trading on their reputation, although to be fair that connection was the reason most of us had coughed up £12 on the door. It was worth it though and this man can still cut it. He looks the part, and is a good performer as well. He has a solo album of his own material out and most of the set featured songs from this. It's certainly not a million miles from AC/DC in style, but not similar enough to warrant any charges of blatantly ripping off the Aussie legends. I'll make no mention of Airbourne or The Darkness....  I know some of the people present would have been happy with a set of AC/DC songs tonight, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay £12 to see what was essentially a tribute band. In the end we only got a couple of AkkaDakka songs - the band's first ever single 'Can I Sit Next To You' back from when Dave was in the band. The set was closed with 'Whole Lotta Rosie' as a 'tribute' to Bon Scott. I was expecting a little more from Dave's time with the band like maybe 'Rockin' In The Parlour', but maybe he didn't want to be accused of milking it? Dave Evans and his band were certainly worth the money and a trip down Holloway Road on a Wednesday night.

PS: This venue has now shut.