Between two American gigs early June, Night Ranger had a six day gap that was filled with two European concerts. Having missed them last year, this time I was determined to see them, so off to London it was.

While a few miles further thousands of people celebrated the Queen jubilee concert with a.o. Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard, the Islington Academy was nearly packed to witness these Frisco based rockers. First up though were English rockers Dante Fox with a short but solid set. It’s been a while since I last saw them, but singer Sue Willetts looked better than ever and still has a rocking voice that reminds me of Heart’s Ann Wilson. Next to her guitarist Tim Manford fired away some great riffs, but was sometimes mixed too loud. With only a half-hour set they served us mainly old favourites such as ‘Under The City Lights’, ‘Lonely Heart’ and ‘Firing My Heart’. The band are currently mixing their long awaited release ‘Lost Man's Ground’ at Mad Hat Studio's. It should be out when they’ll play the Firefest in Nottingham later this year.

After a short break and to the strains of AC/DC, Night Ranger took the stage, opening with ‘Lay It On Me’ from the new album ‘Growin’ Up In California’. That saw them return to their original sound and evidently fitted perfectly in with tonight’s set list, which contained a best-of of their repertoire.
Their energetic start immediately blew the fans away and Night Ranger played with an energy and enthusiasm of a bunch of teenagers hitting the stage for the first time. Original members Jack Blades, Brad Gillis and Kelly Keagy are approaching sixty, but they don’t mind exhausting themselves from the very first minute to the last. Seeing this joyful quintet playing definitely reflected on the audience, who responded massively and were singing along to every song. Jack Blades is a natural born entertainer and Joel Hoekstra, who replaced Jeff Watson in 2007, looked and acted like a true rock star. His energetic playing and the many twin guitar duels with Brad Gillis proved this new guitar God is a perfect match for Night Ranger. He recently did a cameo in the new ‘Rock of Ages’ movie by the way.
The excellent harmony backing vocals during all songs was another aspect that displayed the professional musicianship of these talented guys. But of course the classics were what we wanted and what they gave us with ‘Seven Wishes’, ‘The Secret Of My Success’, ‘Touch Of Madness’, ‘When You Close Your Eyes’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’.
Besides Blades also Keagy took his share of lead vocals during ‘Sing Me Away’, ‘Goodbye’ and of course ‘Sister Christian’, where the crowd sang along massively. A nice surprise was the inclusion of two Damn Yankees songs - ‘Coming of Age’ and personal favorite ‘High Enough’ - both from this amazing band’s debut. It made me wonder if this line-up that, besides Blades, also included Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw, will ever make a reunion. Let’s hope so!
Although the Ozzy cover ‘Crazy Train’ (in reference to Brad Gillis who toured with the madman in ’83 as replacement for the late Randy Rhoads) was well received, although I would have preferred another song from their huge catalogue instead. They could have played a song from the ‘Man In Motion’ album for example, which now was sadly overlooked. Another minor letdown were the keyboards of Eric Levy - who replaced the departed Christian Cullen last year - which were mostly buried in the mix. Still his skills came undoubtedly clear during encore ‘Sister Christian’.
These were just small details however that didn’t compromise the fantastic show, which ended with climax ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America’. Why this talented band have been waiting so long to play our shores is beyond me. Fans came travelling from all over Europe just to see them and everybody had a great time. Next year again please!