I'm the first to admit, there's a whole list of mostly-American-but-some-non-American bands that I've never really heard (or even heard of), and Y&T fall into that list. Those eighties-ish rock bands that I know many of you adore: Motley Crue, Guns'N'Roses, Poison, Night Ranger, Great White, and others. Not that I don't like or appreciate the music; I do. It's just that they didn't make it onto my personal playlist at the time, or they weren't big in the UK or Europe, or I was simply listening to something else, instead.
Y&T have been around since the seventies, and Dave Meniketti is still front and centre.
Been doing some catching-up recently. Great White, Night Ranger, Bret Michaels... and last night, Y&T, at the Ace of Spades, who are arguably the keystone to many of these bands, and a big influence to many others.
The venue was packed and it was easy to see how strong Y&T's fan base is. Mostly hard-core, long-time fans, really really happy and enjoying the show--which was excellent. Big fan favourites, like "Mean Streak" and "Lipstick and Leather", the room was alive!
Great relationship with the fans, both on-stage and off--it's what makes all the difference. No matter how great the musicianship, how wonderful the lyrics, how perfect the sound, if you can't generate that kind of rapport, it doesn't work. Y&T proved last night that they know exactly how.
(For the photographers: Y&T allow still photos to be taken by anyone, and from anywhere in the venue, but no pit photos, and of course, no video or sound recording, though that message doesn't get across to all the folks with cell phones...)
The majority of the fans were happy, smiling, having fun. A very-small minority were rowdy, overly-inebriated and rather obnoxious. I'm putting it down to overindulgence on a late-August night...
Full set of photos: http://alisontoon.com/yandt
More info and tour dates for Y&T (they are off to Italy soon): http://www.yandtrocks.com/
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