Rick Brewster's Angelsfeaturing Dave Gleeson @ TheNorwood Hotel, Adelaide(01/07/11)

Mon 4th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

When you’re part of an iconic Aussie rock band with years worth of classic original material to your credit, but your equally iconic lead singer is off doing the solo thing, it can hard for a band to get out and still get the big crowds at the gigs. In the case of The Angels, they have been doing some quiet shows as The Brewster Brothers, lead by original guitarist Rick Brewster and his brother John. It was at one of these gigs that Screaming Jets frontman Dave Gleeson was invited on stage to belt out a few Angels classics with the band. It was from this encounter that the band has now momentarily been transformed and renamed Rick Brewster’s Angels featuring Dave Gleeson.

I was pretty excited when this gig, only their second with this line-up, was announced. I’ve always been very familiar with The Angels back catalogue and a big fan of The Screaming Jets, so I did not want to miss hearing how these classic Oz rock songs sounded with Dave behind the mic.

The Norwood Hotel is a nice and cosy venue which manages to have an old school pub feel about the place while still looking quite upmarket. It seemed to be the perfect venue for this gig.

When I arrived, I was relieved to see there were no tables and chairs set up in the room. The last few Norwood gigs that I have been to have had the ‘dinner and a show’ format with the dining tables taking up precious space once the headlining act has hit the stage. The room did look a little bit quieter than I was expecting when I walked in, but thankfully, by the time the support act Hills and Trains started their set, the room was quite packed. The support act started their set well with a very catchy radio friendly song and got the crowd’s attention early. They played their set well but for this particular gig, their set was probably a bit mellow for this crowd. With a couple of anthemic rock songs thrown into their set, they certainly would have held the crowd’s attention much longer. By the time they were finished, you could tell everyone was ready to hear some classic Aussie rock.

Right from the start of the headliner’s set; the Norwood was transported back to the good old Oz pub rock days of the 1980s. Angels hit after Angels hit, Rick Brewster’s version of The Angels with Dave Gleeson had the crowd singing and chanting along for the remainder of the night. The idea of this combination of musos on stage together had sounded appealing in theory but it wasn’t until actually seeing this gig that I realised just how clever an idea it actually is. The members of The Angels have been around the block a few times now and are certainly looking their age, maybe even older, but they sound as tight as can be musically. The songs sounded as good as they ever have but as The Angels without frontman Doc Neeson, they just wouldn’t have had a lot going on, stage presence wise. So with the added element of The Jet’s frontman Dave Gleeson, they have more than made up for being without their usual frontman. As the vocalist for The Screaming Jets, it is Dave’s high energy stage antics that have been a real drawing card for the Jets as a live act and they have always been able to get people to their gigs over the years because of this reputation for putting on a great live show.

Adding Dave’s high energy youthful rock presence to The Angels tight and solid set of classics was a match made in heaven. The band blitzed through all of the biggest Angels hits including No Secrets, Take a Long line, and possibly the biggest hit of the night, Am I Ever Gonna See your Face Again and even did a couple of new songs the band has been working on with Dave.

Although The Angels with Doc Neeson are supposedly only taking a break until Doc is done with his solo shows, it could be a while before we see that line-up performing together again. If Rick Brewster’s Angels featuring Dave Gleeson continue to perform, write and record songs together, I can certainly see this building momentum and being very hard to stop anytime soon.