Gig review: SWEET – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 5 April 2025

April 11th, 2025 by andynathan

Sweet’s late career resurgence is a heartening one. With Andy Scott the sole survivor of their classic line up, their support slot to his hero Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow at Stone Free festival in 2017 seemed to mark a turning point. Since then they have pivoted away from the seventies nostalgia bills on the ‘chicken in a basket’ circuit and regularly performed their own tours, re-establishing their rock credibility, aided by a number of shrewd line up changes.

However Andy has faced more existential challenges such as an ongoing battle with prostate cancer, and more recently a back injury which caused him to miss several shows. Fortunately he was present for what must have been their largest London headline show since the early eighties, if not longer, with all but the top balcony filled in the Shepherds Bush Empire, where as he reminded us Sweet also performed on ‘Crackerjack’ back in the day!

There was a risk that having T Rextasy as support would be a step back to that glam rock nostalgia, but actually they proved an inspired choice. Many of us are rather sniffy about tribute bands, but you would need to be well into your sixties to have seen Marc Bolan himself, and for well over 30 years ‘Danielz’ has faithfully and lovingly recreated his sound and look to be one of the most enduringly successful tribute acts on the circuit.

He came on stage in the feather boa, spangly jacket, bold primary colours and frizzy hair of the master, though the thought occurred that it must get ever harder to carry off that youthful Bolan image that is preserved in aspic. A line up completed by a low key but very solid trio of musicians opened with ‘New York City’, and massive hits such as ‘Telegram Sam’ – where I could not resist singing along to the ‘I ain’t no square with my corkscrew hair’ lyric, ‘Metal Guru’ and ‘Children of the Revolution’ were brilliantly delivered, in a slightly rockier fashion than the originals.

Without resorting to gimmick or mimickry, Danielz did tell a few short stories about the genesis of some of the songs that enriched the occasion, such as that The Ramones were fans of ‘Solid Gold Easy Action’, which was easy to see with its proto-punk sound.

Of necessity in a support slot, ‘Zip Gun Boogie’ was the closest to an obscurity, but the last 25 minutes was one instantly catchy hit after another including ‘Jeepster’, ‘20^th Century Boy’ with that killer riff and ‘I Love To Boogie’ which had the crowd doing just that, before the inevitable closers of ‘Get It On (Bang a Gong)’ and ‘Hot Love’ with a joyous singalong to the ‘na na nas’. It was an excellent set which had me wondering why it has taken me over 30 years to see them live.

After a very short turnover, Sweet arrived with a newer and younger drummer since I last saw them in Adam Booth, but also a sixth member, standing behind his bandmates, in Andy’s recent deputy, Jim Kirkpatrick, a man well known to me as post-reunion FM’s guitarist. Fortunately the man himself was still very much there resplendent in a red military style jacket and with trademark silver mane, though just to add to the confusion the closing solo on ‘Action’ was played by the second guitarist Tom Cory. Another glam classic followed in ‘Hellraiser’, Andy delivering the mama you don’t understand’ lines, and it was immediately apparent that Paul Manzi, with his commanding stage manner and ability to hit the notes effortlessly, has been an inspired recruit.

However most of the first half of the set was a step away from those early seventies glam hits, no bad thing in my book. We even got a pair of new songs from recent album ‘Full Circle’ in ‘Circus’ and the particularly impressive ‘Don’t Bring Me Water’ with Paul’s bluesy roar like the young David Coverdale, either side of one of my all-time Sweet favourites in the story song of ‘The Six Teens’. In the hands of this line up it seemed even better than usual, in particular the high pitched lines before the chorus about making it brilliantly delivered by bassist Lee Small, unrecognisable from last time with his long hair.

But even better was to follow with a trio that were the highlight of this, or indeed virtually any other, night. I don’t think I’d ever heard them play ‘Lost Angels’ before but the lush arrangements, big harmonies and guitars were perfectly executed and a reminder that in that more mature phase Sweet were more than a match for the likes of 10cc, Wings and, yes, Queen. Andy’s unmistakable ‘Woman From Tokyo’-inspired riff then heralded a full-length jam to ‘Windy City’ and ‘Set Me Free’ riffed like a demon and he performed his party piece, playing the solo using a tin can as a slide.

At that point he took a well-deserved mid-set break but the band continued with a medley of their first three big hits in the calypso-inspired pair of ‘Co-Co’ and ‘Poppa Joe’ either side of ‘Funny Funny’. I’ve never even liked any of them yet the band played well and I still found myself singing along. Thankfully ‘Burn On The Flame’ soon followed, Jim taking centre stage and jamming with Tom, while Paul was very much at home as his old band Cats in Space (themselves influenced by Sweet’s later seventies sounds) covered it in their early days.

Andy returned for a storming ‘Teenage Rampage’, for me the best combination of the harder sound they hankered after and the Chinn/Chapman approach, talking of which, the over the top kitsch of a medley of ‘Wig Wam Bam’ and ‘Little Willy’ was great fun. In contrast ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’, with Tom’s keyboards prominent, showed off the band’s later songwriting maturity, and was all the better for the absence of the ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’ insert they played for so long.

Andy gave a lengthy speech in that stentorian North Wales voice, with some witty unfiltered comments, and bigging up the contributions of his band members in the manner of a proud parent, before unexpectedly an American record label executive came on to present him with a gold disc.

There was just time for the classics that always seem to end a Sweet set, beginning with ‘Fox On The Run’ with some guitar harmonies before a pair of encores. Paul had the crowd bouncing to the intro of ‘Blockbuster’, Andy contributing those vocal interjections, before a riotous ‘Ballroom Blitz’, again benefiting from Lee’s ability to reach those highest notes.

It was an emotional occasion for those who feared we might not see Andy Scott again on a London stage. With a perfect sound and even more impressive band and wide-ranging setlist, it was a contender not only for the best Sweet show I’ve seen, but for my gig of the year so far. Andy’s health permitting, long may their unlikely renaissance continue.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 7 April 2025

SEVEN BLOOD To The Unknown (indie)
FROM FALL TO SPRING Incomplete (Arising Empire)
POP EVIL Side Effects (MNRK Heavy)
ERJA LYYTINEN Abyss (Tuohi Records)
SKY VALLEY MISTRESS Too Many Ghosts (New Heavy Sounds)
RED GIANT Free Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 7 April 2025

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

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