L.A. Guns have been acting as direct support for KK’s Priest on The Return Of The Sinner Tour. Led by Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns, this killer ’80s melodic rock band continue to impress old and new fans on the tour. Along with Burning Witches, this made for an exciting and attractive package.
L.A. Guns – Burning Witches
Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, New York – 23 March 2024
Words And Photography:Â Shannon Wilk
At this point in the evening, the theatre has filled, and the lights go down. Diary Of A Madman by Ozzy Osbourne begins to play. As the song goes on, the lights go up, and the band takes the stage. Guitarist Tracii Guns, summoning his inner Randy Rhoads, plays along.
Diary ends and L.A. Guns kicks into Cannonball, from their Checkered Past album. With a 45 minute set, I was interested to see which songs would make the cut and I was surprised to see them open with that.
Guns motions for the crowd to get on their feet, with no success. In response, he motions for his tech, who grabs him and grabs him a chair. Tracii mockingly sits down for a few moments while still playing. In no time, the crowd was on their feet as the band moved into old-school material.
Original vocalist Phil Lewis has managed to keep his voice not only intact, but he has continued to improve it. He can scream like nobody’s business and has an intangible rock ‘n’ roll swagger about him.
Bassist Johnny Martin and guitarist Ace Von Johnson not only play their respective instruments tremendously, but they also contribute stellar backing vocals to the band, giving the group a much more full sound.
Through intros and outros of their songs, L.A. Guns gives a nod to different classic rock songs like Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones and Hells Bells by AC/DC. It’s a cool nine-song set that finished on Rip And Tear, the third song of the evening from their ’89 sophomore Cocked & Loaded.
While being an interesting addition to this tour genre-wise, L.A. Guns held their own and, indeed, did a fantastic job getting the audience going for KK’s Priest to take the stage.
Burning Witches
Burning Witches are opening the tour package and come out of the gate with energy-high and technical prowess. All the way from Switzerland, the band are certainly making their mark on North America this tour.
The band have a sound that is very reminiscent of ’80s Heavy Metal and old-school thrash stylings, making Burning Witches a perfect fit for the tour.
They’ve got an impressive guitar duo with new blood, Courtney Cox and founding guitarist Romana Kalkuhl. Laura Guldemond has a soaring vocal range and grit that seem almost effortless for her.
Setting the speedy tempo and groove are Jay Grob on bass and Lala Frischknecht on drums, both of whom constantly headbang in time with the music.
Despite only having a six-song set, Burning Witches brought an incredible kick-off to the show.
