Enuff Z'Nuff / Three Great Dreamers - Camden Underworld, London (UK) - 02 September 2019
Support came tonight from the Three Great Dreamers, or three of the Last Great Dreamers. I have to say without Marc Valentine they did sound completely different and I think had perhaps designed it that way to avoid direct comparison. They were jolly enough, but I did miss Marc, so look forward to seeing him back at the helm soon.
Having been at HRH Sleaze I had an inkling of what to expect in this show from Enuff Znuff, although I think at the Underworld the sound was better, at least on the vocals. 'Metal Heart', the excellent track from the new album, was first. It's one of my favorites and a great choice.
Alex Kane played with the band in the early days although he was not on the first album and has now joined as rhythm guitarist. He is a firecracker, there's no doubt, bringing all of his Punk heritage to bear. He wasted no time making friends with the Japanese girl at the front and getting her to play his guitar. He never seemed to run out of inventive things to do, which tonight included balancing his guitar on its end like a circus perfomer and jumping with a scissor kick so high and fast he actually looked like a five pointed star in mid-air on the photo I took at that moment, something to behold.
Chip Z Nuff meanwhile takes everything in his stride, smiling, hitting all the notes and taking the time to tell stories to the audience as we went along. He's been around so long and seen and done it all I can't imagine anything phasing him and knocking him off his stride. There were plenty of vintage tracks to keep fans happy like 'Heaven And Hell' and 'Baby Loves You', but also new tracks like 'Diamond Boy' in the mix. Tory the lead guitarist took five to drink a whole bottle of wine while Chip reached around his waist to play some faultless guitar as a party trick. During the cover of 'Jean Genie' Alex got to contribute a screeching Metal solo and hopped from one leg to another like a mad leprechaun.
While we did get 'Fly High Michelle' (with the Three Great Dreamers and Arno of Generation Graveyard jumping on stage for backing vocals) and 'New Thing', they made some effort to change the set up with tracks like 'Wheels' (during which Alex did pirouettes under his mike) 'The World Is A Gutter' and a new track they said they had never played before, closing with another track from the latest album, 'Dog On A Bone'.
Since they were the main attraction it's perhaps not surprising that they actually played even better than at HRH Sleaze. I wonder if that girl came all the way from Japan to see them? I don't think she regretted it.
Review and photos by Dawn Osborne