Gig review: THE NEW ROSES- The Black Heart, Camden, London, 16 October 2024

On the very same day Thomas Tuchel was announced as the English football team’s new coach, some other Anglophiles from Germany were the musical attraction. The New Roses are on an extensive UK tour as they now seem to be most winters, but the London venues continue to get smaller, this time the Black Heart which is never my favourite, the upstairs room of this Camden rock pub little bigger than my kitchen, with a poorly lit and cramped stage which it is difficult to see if not right at the front.

There was a short acoustic support from a fellow German- albeit one that now lives in Liverpool and can mimic the accent- in Leonie Jakobi. I wasn’t so keen on her own folk-pop compositions but she was an engaging personality and covers of ‘Here I Go Again’ and ‘Anyway You Want It’ warmed people’s larynxes up nicely.

In the 11 months since they were last here, the New Roses set has had a revamp, not least with a brand new album in ‘Attracted To Danger’. Indeed the opening trio were new songs in the instantly catchy title track, ‘Bring The Thunder’ and ‘When I Fall In Love’ before a trip to a very early album in the rootsy ballad ‘For A While’.

Now a five piece with both of the guitarists to have passed through their ranks (Norman Bites and Dizzy Daniels) in the band, they fought for space on the cramped stage. Singer Timmy Rough, whose hair seems to get shorter on each visit, was for long periods the only figure I could make out as he stepped on the monitors to orchestrate crowd singalongs to the likes of ‘Dancing On A Razorblade’ and ‘The Lion In You’.

Their formula is simple and classic yet there was good variety from one song to the next, from ‘Forever Never Comes’ with its Jovi-esque ‘who oahs’ to the slightly southern sounding ‘Whiskey in the Backseat’. Timmy donned acoustic for ‘Natural Born Vagabonds’ but even their more melodic movements like that and ‘First Time For Everything’ are giving a sharper edge by his raspy voice- was a man ever better named?

Ironically the choice of venue played in their favour as a packed house meant for a more raucous atmosphere than at previous shows in larger places. After an oldie in ‘Its a Long Way’, the set built to an even better climax with a pair of fist-punching, good time anthems in ‘Nothing But Wild’ and ‘Every Wild Heart’ either side of the heartland-style ‘Glory Road’. Old favourite ‘Thirsty’ ended the main set, particularly delighting the person who had been constantly shouting for it.

The first encore saw the pace temporarily drop, Timmy going solo for ‘Hold Me Up’, mentioning the irony of Gill Montgomery being in tour in Germany and unable to reprise her duet on the album. However it soon reached boiling point with a pair of crowd pleasers in ‘The Usual Suspects’ (yet another where the who-oahs were made for a singalong) and ‘Down By the River’, an anthem to lost youth that would rank alongside Messrs Springsteen or Adams though I suspect neither of them have ever visited the subject of that hometown nostalgia, Wiesbaden, Hesse.

A trip to the merch stand to catch up on some of the missing albums (and be served by Leonie, doubling as their merch girl) ended a feel good evening as you would expect from the Roses, while the cramped venue I am usually so negative about actually ended up making the atmosphere quite special.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)