Review: Jared James Nichols & Mr Big

Rock City, Nottingham (March 19^th 2024)

Reviewer / Photographer: Dan Mann

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Jared James Nichols quite a few times over the last few years, and if you had to choose a few ‘quotes’ to describe him, they’d be ‘never disappoints’, ‘full on performance’, ‘arms like a tug boat captain’, ‘the blues rock BFG’. In short Jared always delivers an intense performance.

Never dialled in, his love and appreciation of an audience is always evident, and he feeds off that energy, backed up by the engine room of Ryan Rice on drums and bassist Brian Weaver.

For those in the packed crowd, Jared grabbed them squarely by the lapels and took them along for the ride. I have to say, it was certainly one of the best performances I’ve seen him deliver!

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Setlist:

Easy Come, Easy Go

Down the Drain

Hard Wired

Threw Me to the Wolves

Skin ‘n Bone

Bad Roots

Good Time Girl

Honey Forgive Me

Mississippi Queen (Mountain cover)

Tonight’s appearance by Mr Big was of course part of their ‘Big Finish World Tour‘. With 22 songs on the setlist, this was not going to be a wham, bam, thank you ma’am performance. We were all in for the long haul. The last time I saw Mr Big was back in the early 90’s at the Forum in Kentish Town, so it was a buzz getting to photograph, as well as watch them in action.

Alas there was one glaring negative, and that was Eric Martin‘s voice. Whether this tour is taking it’s toll I don’t know, I saw him perform an acoustic set last year at The Musician in Leicester and he sounded incredible. But he was obviously struggling with guitarist Paul Gilbert and bassist Billy Sheehan covering parts of the vocals to help. My heart went out to him as this is not what any vocalist, especially one of Eric’s calibre, wants.

Whilst it did disappoint, the overall performance of the band was incredible. Well let’s face it, Messers Sheehan & Gilbert are no ordinary musicians, both World renowned in their respective instruments. Drum duty was ably fore filled by Nick D’Virgilio, who upheld the legacy of the late Pat Torpey admirably.

Thankfully I get to see Mr Big again this Summer when they headline the Sunday night of Maid Of Stone Festival at Mote Park, Maidstone.

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Setlist:

Addicted to That Rush

Take Cover

Price You Gotta Pay

Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)

Alive and Kickin’

Green-Tinted Sixties Mind

Lucky This Time

Voodoo Kiss

Never Say Never

Just Take My Heart

My Kinda Woman

A Little Too Loose

Road to Ruin

To Be With You

Wild World (Cat Stevens cover) (Happy Birthday Billy)

Guitar Solo

Colorado Bulldog

Bass Solo

Shy Boy (Talas cover)

30 Days in the Hole (Humble Pie cover)

Good Lovin’ (The Olympics cover)

Baba O’Riley (The Who cover)

© All photographs are copyright of Dan Mann/RPR Photography. They may not be altered or used without express permission.