Stone Gods

Carling Academy 2, Birmingham

Stone Gods are going to have to carry the tag of “the band formerly known as The Darkness” for a while yet, but on this showing at the Academy it won’t be for long.

For Stone Gods are not the sequel to The Darkness, they are what that band could have been, and more, if only media-grabbing egos, sequinned catsuits and eccentricity hadn’t been allowed to run riot.

Check out our Stone Gods photo gallery below

Fronted by Richie Edwards, from Lichfield, who started off as a roadie with The Darkness, the Gods powered through most of their forthcoming Silver Spoons & Broken Bones debut album, an exhilarating mix of heads down metal, catchy, chart-friendly rock and, yes, still some wilfully eccentric moments.

To counter the thunder of songs like Burn The Witch, Defend or Die and Knight Of The Living Dead they pulled out the wistful, beautiful ballad Magdelene Street, the two-bar calypso twist in Don’t Drink The Water and the slightly bonkers Oh Where ‘O My Beero.

Dan Hawkins was always the no-nonsense guitar powerhouse of The Darkness and so it is here, with Richie Edwards proving to be a natural frontman, instantly engaging the audience and owning the stage from the off.

The singer and guitarist told how proud he was to play his “home town”, revealing he had been a regular visitor to the Academy in the past to see bands like Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Wasp.

Special mention must also go to Robin Goodridge, the former Bush drummer, who has stepped in to save the tour after the Gods’ drummer, Ed Graham was taken ill. He locked together seamlessly with bassist Toby Macfarlaine as if they had played together for years.

There are many bands who could claim to be “the next big thing”. For a while The Darkness were just that, but now the Stone Gods have defied the odds, done the impossible and created a whole new chapter.

As one of their songs says, “this is the start of something”. You’d better believe it!

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Earlier, support come from Londoners Big Linda, who, despite the name, are an all-male quartet, specialising in a rootsy blend of rock that references The Who, Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin among others.

Patrick Murdoch’s choppy, rhythmic guitar work is key to the Big Linda sound, with singer Rob Alder leading the band through songs like I Don’t Even Like You and Golden Girl, an energetic blend of the old and the new.

By Ian Harvey