Before the very ‘eavy, very ‘umble headliners Uriah Heep hit The London Palladium stage, there was no small matter of two top tier bands to well and truly warm up the audience in the shape of Tyketto and April Wine.
April Wine – Tyketto
The London Palladium – 26 February 2025
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Robert Sutton
April Wine
Playing their first shows over here in many decades, Canadian legends April Wine were determined to make up for any time lost since they first appeared on these shores at the inaugural Monsters Of Rock in 1980.
With the passing of singer/guitarist/songwriter Myles Goodwyn two years ago, guitarist/vocalist Brian Greenway stands as the only surviving member of the halcyon days, leading the band in this fulsome reemergence into the UK scene.
With new singer/guitarist Marc Parent joining him along with drummer Roy Nichol and bass player Richard Lanthier, Greenway makes the most of their set, their long-awaited and much-anticipated return proving that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Cherry-picking some of their greatest moments, it is a set that ticks all the boxes, and the snatch of The Beatles grooving Day Tripper in pneumatic opener I Like To Rock is a nice nod to the host country.
All Over Town rocked, the touches of new wave elements adding some different flavours to the sound with a punchy Before The Dawn and the heavy chicken scratch boogie of Crash And Burn, shows the band at their sizzling best.
After a titanic Big City Girls, the ballad Just Between You And Me was a welcome chance to catch a breath before things ramped up again with a race to finish of the huge Sign Of The Gypsy Queen and city block flattening Roller.
Happy and smiling as they chatted to fans in the interval, this brief return to this side of the Atlantic had shown there is still a lot of love for the Canadians, and hopefully, it will be a few years before they are back and laying down even more solid gold hard rock for the masses.
Tyketto
Having burst onto the scene in 1987 and producing one of the best hard rock debut albums of all time four years later in the shape of Don’t Come Easy, Tyketto have been one of the most consistently thrilling bands on the scene since.
With a set leaning heavily on that first record, Danny Vaughn and Co proved yet again that in a fair world, they would be huge, taking the same space as Bon Jovi and their ilk in the stadiums of the world.
There are few frontmen to match either the vocal prowess or bonhomie charisma of Vaughn, and numbers like Wings and Burning Down Inside show just how good their catalogue is. The beefy Strength In Numbers still sounds as titanic as it always has been.
With Harry Scott Elliott tearing out the first gonzoid solo of the night on Lay Your Body Down, and ballad Standing Alone melting even the stoniest of hearts, it was just down to the unbeatable Forever Young to close their set in total triumph.
With their stock rising again, maybe they will reach those stadiums they so richly deserve. Let’s hope so.
