Review: Extreme, Special Guests: Living Colour

O2 Forum Kentish Town (December 4^th, 2023)

Reviewer/Photographer: Manuela Langotsch

It’s not often that I get to photograph a band I listened to as a teenager/young adult in the 80s/90s and I couldn’t wait to get my camera out of my bag and shoot the one and only Extreme. Mostly known for the popular ballad ‘More Than Words’, die-hard rock fans also know that there is much more to them than an acoustic song with a black and white video.

The sold out show started with special guests Living Colour, a rock band formed in 1984 in New York City. The group currently consists of lead vocalist Corey Clover, English-born guitarist Vernon Reid (he formed the band, hence the British spelling of ‘colour’), bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992) and drummer Will Calhoun. Their music is a creative fusion influenced by heavy metal, funk, jazz, hip hop, punk, and alternative rock. Corey Glover (he also acted in ‘Platoon’) who delighted the audience with flipping his hip long white & red dreadlocks at every opportunity, has a unique vocal style, which contains at times melodic singing, growling, screaming, shouting and rapping. Sadly their set was a short one but ended with their signature hit ‘Cult of Personality’. Too short to really showcase Vernon Reid’s guitar skills, but nevertheless it was an amazing rock show that had the packed place wanting for more.

A quick break to change the stage and let’s get this party started. The show began with John Barry’s ‘Sacrifice – Hail to the King’ from the movie King Kong (1976) being played from the PA and once Nuno & co appeared from behind the curtain, they went straight into ‘It’s A Monster’. How fitting! The 2300 strong audience – mainly made up by rock fans from the 80s/90s – erupted into applause and the roof was raised. You could be forgiven for thinking men in their 50s/60s slow down at their age. But not so with this band. Lead singer Gary Cherone’s energetic showmanship is amazing to watch and it’s obvious that he is heavily influenced by the likes of Steven Tyler and Freddie Mercury. His voice is powerful and he can still find those higher notes, a couple might have sounded a bit flat, but it was still impressive with the amount of running around that clearly didn’t slow him down at the slightest.

With Nuno Bettencourt on guitar, Pat Badger on bass and Kevin Figueiredo on drums, the band have an incredible stage chemistry which they showed whenever possible by sharing microphones or just lining up for us photographers. Something you don’t get to see with every group. You could tell that they still enjoy each other’s company after all these years and are so humble and grateful that people still come to see them and sell out venues.

You could hear fans shouting Nuno’s name whenever there was an opportunity which he of course appreciated but was a little bit embarrassed I think. Not sure this only happens in the UK but the audience was clearly delighted whenever he came to the front for one of his guitar solos. I spotted a few professional guitarists in the crowd (i.e. Aaron Bond of When Rivers Meet) who were just in awe of what this guy can do with a 6 string instrument. I guess being in the presence of a highly talented guitar player does that to you.

Asked by Nuno who was around for the first album, he caught out a few for ‘being too young’. Maybe they were listening to them in the womb. Who knows! There were quite a few raised hands when asked who bought the new album and also a significant part of the crowd had never seen them perform live. It is great to see that they gained new followers and fans while playing their classic material and also recording new songs.

While bass player Pat and drummer Kevin might appear a bit in the background, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are a fantastic rhythm section and a great team. With Pat also providing backing vocals & harmonies and joining in on the comedy fun of the show, they are evidently the yin to Gary & Nuno’s yang.

The set list featured the old classics from their 80s/90s albums of course but also material from their new album ‘Six’ with the Gorilla from the cover showing on the stage backdrop and the bass drum head. To give Gary a bit of a breather, Nuno announced his favourite part of the show where he gets to sit down and play ‘Midnight Express’, a magnificent solo acoustic piece. The favourite part being the sitting down not the playing by himself bit. Nuno isn’t just an accomplished guitarist but also does most of the harmonies and is quite capable of singing lead himself. Gary returned for ‘Hurricane’ followed by the masterpiece ‘More Than Words’. It still sounded exactly the same as it did 30 years ago. Absolutely incredible! Gary gave the audience numerous opportunities to take over singing duties and these were goosebumps moments when the whole crowd did just that. Something I won’t forget in a hurry.

The 2 hour show was over far too quickly and in my head I can still see them touring when they are in their 80s. If the Stones can do it, so can they. See you all in 2043!

Set list – Living Colour:

Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)

Ignorance Is Bliss

Type

Open Letter (To A Landlord)

White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) / Apache / The Message

Time’s Up

Cult Of Personality

Set list – Extreme:

It (‘s a monster)

Decadence Dance (shortened)

#REBEL

Hip Today

Teacher’s Pet / Flesh ‘n’ Blood / Wind Me Up / Kid Ego

Play With Me (with Queen’s ‘We will Rock you’ intro)

Rain

Other Side Of The Rainbow

Hole Hearted

Cupid’s Dead (with Sam Cooke’s ‘Cupid’ intro)

Am I Ever Gonna Change / Guitar solo

Thicker Than Blood

Midnight Express

More Than Words

Banshee (with Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ intro)

Take Us Alive

Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee

Get The Funk Out

Encore:

Small Town Beautiful / Song For Love

Rise