On June 2, The Rival Sons will be releasing their 7th studio effort titled ‘Darkfighter.’ A few days before this release the band graced the stage at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo. This is the 4th time overall the band has played the venue and it seems like it’s becoming their 2nd home.
The band took the stage at around 9:15pm and went into a brand-new track called “Mirrors.” This was the first of 6 tracks that would be played from their upcoming release. The band still consists of Jay Buchanan on lead vocals, Scott Holiday on lead guitar, Michael Miley on drums, Dave Beste on bass and touring musician Todd Ögren on keyboards. Buchannan is a beast on vocals. In my opinion, he is the quintessential rock singer. He has power, range and delivery that most singers can only dream of. If you are not sure who the Rivals Sons are or have never seen them perform live, I would capture their performance of “Too Bad” and share it. After seeing and hearing Buchanan sing this song live, you will hands down agree with my take. Buchanan also handled acoustics on “Rapture,” “Bird in Hand, “Darkside” and “Shooting Stars,” where he performed this song solo. For the track “Where I’ve Been,” Buchanan stated he isn’t on social media. He did proceed to share two stories of people wanting to hear the song performed live. So, he said that they will gladly oblige. Buchanan’s right hand man Scott Holiday is a very underrated guitar player. His playing is almost like having two guitarists on stage. I can honestly say, I thoroughly enjoy his style of playing. He didn’t disappoint when the spotlight came to him as he had a few solo opportunities in both “Darkside” and “Face of Light.” The band wouldn’t sound as tight as it does without the consistency of both Miley and Beste holding down the rhythm section. The hour and 45 minuet set had everything. These guys have the talent and songs to be headlining arena shows. There are few bands in rock that match what Rivals Sons currently brings to the table.
Opening the show was band from Los Angeles called The Record Company. Their 45-minute set consisted of 8 tracks from all 3 of their studio efforts. Led by the talented Chris Vos, who handles guitars, lap steel, pedal steel and harmonica, it seemed like there wasn’t much he couldn’t do. In fact, for the songs “On the Move,” and “I’m Getting Better,” Vos didn’t even play the guitar. He was able to fill the sound with just playing his harmonica. I believe their band and style of music will be something to watch out for in the months and years ahead.
Rival Sons setlist:
Mirrors
Nobody Wants to Die
Pressure and Time
Electric Man
Rapture
Bird in Hand
Where I’ve Been
Open my Eyes
Darkside
Feral Roots
Too Bad
Shooting Stars
Face of Light
Encore:
Do Your Worst
Keep on Swinging
We would like to thank Justin Ciccone from Big Hassle Media for the credentials to review the show.
