Review: Nick Oliveri – Rock City – 9 June 2014

There is death metal, death punk and now there is death acoustic. Nick Oliveri concedes that he isn’t the best singer or guitar player but what he can do is get up on stage and “scream his fucking head off”. This set saw Nick Oliveri playing material from his days in Mondo Generator, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and also his more recent solo songs.

From the start it was quite evident that this artist was never quite comfortable playing a solo acoustic set; thus at times he struggled to get the crowd on side; one attempt to invoke a sing along falling short. Despite this there was no reason for Nick Oliveri to feel down-heartened, he would have understood better than anyone that the crowd in attendance are used to something a little heavier; for this reason he was clearly appreciative that people had turned up.

The highlight of the set was undoubtedly when members of the audience were invited on to the stage to sing the Queens of the Stone Age classic ‘Feel Good Hit of the Summer’. Nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol, with cocaine. These are the words to the song; the repetition of which meant that even those who were unfamiliar were able to participate. Further high points in the set included the Kyuss song ‘Green Machine’ and the opening track ‘Bloody Hammer’.

The biggest criticism I can make of this performance is that there was little to differentiate this show from what you would expect to hear from a standard open mic night performance. Limited usage of bar and power chords coupled with impassioned vocals was entertaining yet lacked in any real wow factor. Perhaps this wow factor will appear when Oliveri returns with his band and the tracks can be filled out to reveal their full potential.

Review by James Kellett