You can always tell how busy KK’s Steel Mill is going to be by the amount of available parking spaces near the venue. Tonight there are none. Not a one. Forget being able to swing a cat, inside KK’s tonight there’s barely enough room to swing a tardigrade.
By the time I arrive, Jared James Nichols is already impressing the hell out of everyone with his brand of plectrum-free, fingerpicked blues rock. Songs like “Down the Drain,” “Hardwired,” and “Bad Roots” get everyone moving, his set closing with a bluesier than usual cover of “War Pigs,” the Black Sabbath cover going down well with the locals despite a minor lyrical faux pas towards the end.
Due to recent health issues, there’s a slight change to the Mr. Big line-up for the next couple of nights. Frontman Eric Martin is joined from the back of the stage by Michele Luppi, an Italian singer who recently performed as a backing vocalist for hard rock legends Whitesnake, and who happened to start his career in a Mr. Big covers band called Mr. Pig.
Although clearly hampered by his ongoing throat problems, Martin still gives it everything he can as the band take to the stage to “Addicted to That Rush,” the opening track from their self-titled 1989 debut. With the stupidly talented Paul Gilbert to his left, flying-fingered bass legend Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs) to his right, and former Spock’s Beard drummer Nick D’Virgilio behind the kit, the band sound tighter than a pair of 1980s jeans as they smash into “Take Cover” from 1996’s dad joke album title Hey Man and “Price You Gotta Pay” from 1993’s Bump Ahead.
Apart from this sadly being the band’s farewell tour, the other main draw is the decision to go out playing their second album Lean Into It in order and in full, so when Martin ceremoniously hands over the electric drill for “Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy,” the crowd goes suitably wild. “Alive and Kickin” follows to even more rapturous applause before the lights turn a predictable shade of emerald for the classic “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind.”
Jeff Paris cover “CDFF-Lucky This Time” leads into “Voodoo Kiss” and “Never Say Never” and by the time “Just Take My Heart” and “My Kinda Woman” arrive, the crowd are pretty much singing over Martin and Luppi anyway. The sleazy crawl of “A Little Too Loose” and the uptempo swing of “Road to Ruin” are met with even louder voices but, not altogether unexpectedly, the volume level goes up to eleven for a rousing version of “To Be With You.”
By the time the band play another hit single and Cat Stevens cover “Wild World,” it’s clear that Martin is struggling. To allow for some recovery time, Paul Gilbert takes centre stage for an extended guitar solo which features snippets of the theme music to Rocky, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This segues nicely into the finger-breaking intro lick of “Colorado Bulldog,” Martin recovering well before Sheehan hogs the limelight for an equally lengthy bass solo which in turn leads into an absolutely belting cover of his Talas/David Lee Roth cut “Shy Boy.”
After Humble Pie‘s “30 Days in the Hole” it’s all change for The Olympics‘ “Good Lovin” with D’Virgilio playing guitar, Gilbert on drums, Martin on bass, and Sheehan taking the mic before everyone returns to their own instruments for The Who classic, “Baba O’Riley,” the band finishing their last ever show in Wolverhampton on a high note.
From the front to the back, from the youngest to the oldest (and there is a lot of grey hair on display tonight), it’s patently obvious that everyone has had an absolute blast. So long, Mr. Big. It’s been emotional.
Setlist (via Setlist.fm):
Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones song, on tape)
Addicted to That Rush
Take Cover
Price You Gotta Pay
Lean into It
Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)
Alive and Kickin’
Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
CDFF-Lucky This Time (Jeff Paris cover)
Voodoo Kiss
Never Say Never
Just Take My Heart
My Kinda Woman
A Little Too Loose
Road to Ruin
To Be With You
Wild World (Cat Stevens cover)
Guitar Solo
Colorado Bulldog
Bass Solo
Shy Boy (Talas cover)
30 Days in the Hole (Humble Pie cover)
Good Lovin’ (The Olympics cover)
Baba O’Riley (The Who cover)
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GARY ALCOCK