They finished with Hellhound On My Trail – very apt, as I was thinking throughout the show, this man is possessed, he has definitely been down to the crossroads at midnight. And I’m sure his face turned the pale blue/grey of the living dead a couple of times, or maybe it was just the lights, as next minute he finished the song, and immediately turned into the cheeky boy next door who you watched grow up.

But man can he play guitar. Fast and accurate, with unexpected stops like a starter pistol, the band with him all the way every time, tight as a Cumberland sausage skin. And yet humble and gracious that the sold out crowd had come see him and his Gang.

Delivering their firecracker brand of punky blues, they blazed their way through originals including High Roller and Ballyshannon Blues, and a new one played for the first time which was introduced as more punk rocking, with covers such as Rufus Thomas’ Walking The Dog, Rory Gallagher’s Bad Penny Dr Feelgood’s She Does It Right, Peter Green’s Oh Well, and Ten Years After’s Goin’ Home, a feat for any guitarist but he didn’t drop a note, perhaps even playing it faster than Alvin Lee.

He asked if anybody remembered Woodstock, to an audience largely old enough to have been at Woodstock if not many more festivals around that time. And they were the people showing their appreciation of Zac by saying comments like he is amazing, he is so good, he is brilliant, throughout the show.

But let’s not forget the lieutenants of the gang – brother Ben laying down a solid, tight rhythm on drums and BV’s and Ant Greenwood throwing some John Entwistle kind of fluid runs on bass and vocals. These three boys are master musicians and make for a tight and symbiotic unit.

A young vibrant cohesive three piece blues rock band carrying the torch for bands such as Taste and The Groundhogs, The Zac Shulze Gang are definitely in the ascendancy and gave us all a night to remember.

They were supported by local Manchester indie band Flok, who had a quite a large contingent with them. We also had UK Blues Challenge winners, The Whiskey Flowers, whose guitarist had a great tone on his Les Paul guitar, and the whole band gave an energetic and entertaining performance.

Review by Andy Sharrocks

Pictures by Mark Powell and David Beech

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

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Josh now hosts “Taerk’s Tracks” as part of the Singer Songwriter Sunday sequence on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.

This is the second show broadcast on 25 October Josh presents some of his inspirational artists and tracks.

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 18 October 2026.

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Power Plays w/c 9 November 2026

ZETRA Adrena (Nuclear Blast Records)
THE HARBOURS Breathe (indie)
SUM SUN Worth The Wait (indie)
SKERRYVORE Second Chance (indie)
WASTED WIZARDS WTF (Dalapop)
BLACKTOP MOJO Time The Killer (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 9 November 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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