Why oh why is Michael Monroe still playing small club gigs? This is an artist who is still very much at the top of his game. He knows what the people want, and he constantly delivers. Tonight, at Chalk in Brighton, was no exception.
Michael Monroe
Chalk, Brighton – 8 March 2026
Words: Adrian Stonley
Photography: Robert Sutton
From the moment Michael Monroe leapt on stage, we were in for a head-down, great show. The man is a great songwriter, musician and entertainer. For over forty years, he has been extolling the joys of rock ‘n’ roll.
There are so many what if’s relating to Hanoi Rocks which have been gone over a million times, yet here he still is, performing as though he is still twenty years old.
The scarf entwined microphone, a-la Steve Tyler, is swung around, he is on and off the stage, careering along the bar as he cannot climb the speaker stacks due to the low ceiling. He is a man full of abundant energy and enthusiasm.
With a new album currently out, it seemed as though we may get a few new tracks, but no, only a couple. The rest of the set was pure greatest hits, be it from his solo material, Demolition 23 material or the very best of Hanoi Rocks.
The flying Fin is at home on the stage. He lives every minute up there, and though, because of the nature of the co-headliner scenario, the time playable is reduced, he makes every single minute count.
Quite simply, he blows the club away. It is also quite clear that most of the audience is here to see Michael as the space grows on the floor once he has performed, which made Buckcherry’s job that much harder.
Whether it was because tonight was the last night of the tour or not, Michael was not going out without a bang and a great glam punk flourish.
Dead, Jail, or Rock ‘n’ Roll, the song sums up everything about the man. The audience is already enthused, and once Motorvatin’, the first of the Hanoi classics, blasts out, we know where we stand.
With old time compatriot Sammi Jaffa on Bass, and prowling the stage behind Michael it is as though we were back in 1982 once again.
The songs themselves even seem to detail his life history. Whether it’s revisiting the Old King’s Road or off to the Hammersmith Palais, or visiting the Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, or even having a Malibu Beach Nightmare, tonight is a consummate exhibition of good time glam and glitz.
The new songs are just as catchy and energising as the older classics. Shinola and Disconnected are perfect sing-along material. They fit well in the set, and tonight it is quite impossible not to have a good time.
The band are tight and unforgiving in their approach. They attack the songs with glee and gusto, and Michael provides the perfect foil for them.
A cover of the UK Subs Endangered Species is thrown in, and Charlie Harper from the Subs joins them onstage to stir matters up even more.
Unfortunately, the seventy-five minutes are over far too quickly, although there is still time for Hanoi’s cover of the Creedence classic Up Around The Bend to see us through.
What a night, what a performance. The adrenaline is still running through the veins.
