ARTIST REVIEWS
Gods 2002: Eric Martin
Band Line up:
Vocals/Guitar: Eric Martin
Guitar: Mark Holley
Bass: Mark Chole
Drums: Denise Martin
Set List:
Lost In America
Rose Alone
My Disease
Who Am I Supposed To Be
Dancin` With My Devils
Free Of It
Superfantastic
Wild World
Marie
Spaceman
Take A Walk
Don't Stop
To Be With You
Review:
Eric Martin and band were making their UK debut. Eric of course had toured with Mr. Big, but had not performed solo in the UK. Nor had the rest of the guys.
I am sure they won't mind me sharing the fact that they were dead nervous before hand.
Needlessly so. They took to the stage with all the attitude of a band at it's peak.
This was a different sort of set than that last 2 or 3 acts.
The band for this tour was only a four piece. The keyboard player was left back in the USA. So the line up was bass, drum, guitar and vocal, with Eric playing the role of second guitarist.
This was very much a stripped back, rock n roll set. The guys were there to showcase their new album, which is coincidently a more stripped back punkish modern rock album.
The band opened with a new Mr. Big track Lost In America and ran through a stack of new tracks, interspersed with Eric's Mr. Big songs.
The crowd reaction didn't match that of Jeff Scott Soto or Honeymoon Suite, but that wasn't due to the band not going over well or a weak performance.
Eric, with wife Denise on drums, Mark Holley on guitar and Mark Chole on bass were good fun to watch and even better fun to hear.
They rocked hard and fast, but in a looser more laid back way than the acts preceding them.
The people I spoke with were all impressed with Eric and I think had the Mr. Big and new solo albums already have been out in Europe, the response would have been even better.
But I saw a lot of heads bobbing up and down and I think the reaction to the new tracks was as good if not better than the Mr. Big tracks.
Things certainly heated up for a raw rocking version of Mr. Big's Take A Walk and the EMB classic Don't Stop.
To close out the set, Eric donned an acoustic guitar and the band welcomed a couple of friends to the stage.
Jeff Scott Soto and Bob Catley!
Bob took a little longer to appear than Jeff - he must have been at the bar. But the two of them joined Eric and band singing a rousing version of the #1 hit To Be With You.
This sent the crowd back into overdrive, with the applause ringing loud through the venue.
A great set with a rawer, harder stripped back feel that ultimately provided a cool difference in approach between the other acts.
