Y & T/The Jokers

The Brook, Souhampton

Y&T bought their unique brand of classic rock back once again to the Brook on a rainy October evening. Opening the show were hard rock Merseyside outfit The Jokers.

They did a superb job of warming up the crowd, belting out high energy rock delivered with a cheeky grin. The manic guitarist runs around like Sammy Hager on speed, jumping of the stage at one point to gee up the audience, with frenetic hand clapping. Good classic hard rock delivered with aplomb.

The Jokers 1–2–3–4–5–6

This seems to be an annual event now, Y&T playing the Brook; it’s definitely down on my calendar as one not to miss. They seem to be one of rocks strange mysteries, they have been touring and releasing Albums for over 30 years and yet still aren’t as well-known as they should be. The mind boggles as to why Dave Meniketti doesn’t consistently make the top ten guitarists pols. For starters not only do they put on a top class show but they generally play for over two and a half hours! That is awesome bang for buck and they have a back catalogue is splitting at the sides with classic tracks.

Y & T 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13

They kick off with Black Tiger as itís the anniversary tour of the album of the same name and proceeded to blitz us with Dirty Girl, Meanstreak and even add Summertime to the selist. Midnight In Tokyo tears the crowd a new one. Blind Patriot (see video) and Iím Coming Home are standouts. With a fantastic guitar and drum solo thrown in the audience are in seventh heaven. They are one of the best live bands around and I suppose that the selfish part of me wants them to stay as they are and keep on returning to the Brook rather than the BIC. But another side thinks that they deserve to be playing to bigger crowds than this. Anyway as you can guess I thought this was as first class gig and if they make a date for next year, go, check ’em out and if you havenít heard them before add some Y&T to your Spotify playlist! Thanks to the Brook for booking them again.

Setlist
1. Black Tiger
2. Hard Times
3. Dirty Girl
4. Rock & Roll’s Gonna Save the World
5. Mean Streak
6. Rhythm or Not
7. Summertime
8. Midnight in Tokyo
9. Shine On
10. Blind Patriot
11. Winds of Change
12. 25 Hours a Day
13. I’m Coming Home
14. I’ll Cry for You
15. Contagious
16. Hurricane
Drum Solo
17. Gimme the Beat
18. Squeeze
19. I Believe in You
20. Forever
Encore
21. Rescue Me

Words and photos by Dan O’Gara.