The New Roses have become a fixture on the UK circuit, this being their fourth autumn jaunt in a row, and yet the success they have had in Germany still eludes them here despite all that roadwork. I did wonder if the rave reviews at this summer’s Stonedead festival would add some new fans, but on a night with a lot of competition for gigs the attendance was if anything down on previous years.

They had their best matched support act for a long while in The Mercury Riots, an LA quartet who have high octane rock and roll coursing through their veins. It was just a shame that not only was the sound rather muddy, but they seemed to play in near darkness. I don’t think I ever made out the face of singer Justin Walker, only his cowboy hat, though his strong roar impressed, with a touch of Noddy Holder to it.

Songs to make a mark on me included ‘Light It Up’, ‘Good Time Overload’, ‘Keep Walking’ and ‘Make Love’. Guitarist Felipe Rodrigo had a great tone and I was entertained by his skyward guitar tilts and a venture into the crowd during set closer and probably their best known song ‘Save Me a Drink’. Their sound, pitched somewhere between AC/DC and the sleaze bands, may not be original but they carried it off with great stage presence and panache.

Anyone coming fresh to The New Roses would have been struck quite how American they sounded and not at all typically Germanic. For the rest of us, especially those who had seen them at Stonedead, there were few surprises in the set and they opened with a trio from excellent last album ‘Attracted to Danger’ in the title track, ‘Bring the Thunder’ and ‘When You Fall in Love’, each all out rockers yet showing their hook-filled songwriting qualities.

Singer Timmy Rough, in his near faultless English, joked that they had gone against advice that ballads were passe, before he donned acoustic for ‘All I Ever Needed’ and asked us to wave our phone lights. A bit like Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, his raspy voice was equally suited to the heavier songs as more melodic ones such as this, while it was one of many to feature short but sweet solos from Norman Bites, and let’s face it the image of a German crouched over his Flying V with long fair hair flowing is an iconic one.

‘Lion In You’ was altogether heavier while ‘Forever Never Comes’ boasted big ‘who-oahs’ and ‘heys’ not seen since Bon Jovi’s peak years, then in a move which might have sat better as an encore than mid-set, The Mercury Riots marked the end of the tour by coming on for a hugely entertaining cover of ‘Rocking in the Free World’ with sundry members of both bands bouncing around together.

Going way back to earlier in their career, ‘Dead Man’s Voice’ was another heavier one with solos for once from both Norman and his lower key guitar partner Dizzy Daniels, before an outstanding trio of memorable choruses in ‘Natural Born Vagabonds’, ‘1st Time For Everything’ with more ‘who-oahs’ and the glam rock-like ‘Nothing But Wild’.

‘It’s A Long Way’ was more raw and dated back to their very first album, before a solo slot from Norman in a set otherwise devoid of any padding. Indeed from then on classics came thick and fast in the speedy power pop feel of ‘This Heart’, the anthemic mid-tempo strains of ‘Glory Road’, and big chorus of ‘Every Wild Heart’, before ending with the faithful roaring along to ‘Thirsty’.

With the curfew looming, they dispensed with the pretence of going off and instead tore back into a pair of encores, ‘The Usual Suspects’, another with a chorus made for punching the air, then the anthemic youthful tale of ‘Down By the River’, Bryan Adams via Wiesbaden rather than Vancouver. Norman sortied into the crowd, and was joined by the watching Felipe, something of a bromance blossoming between the two extrovert guitarists.

In an hour and a half set, it was hard to complain at an excellent choice of songs. The band cover a lot of musical bases, rocking hard but with some insanely catchy songs, and put on a hard working show, so it remains one of life’s injustices that somehow they are still not bigger in the UK.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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