There will always be that one concert where you said it could have been better or I wish they would have played this song. Thursday night at the Fillmore wasn’t one of them. Rival Sons brought their Darkfighter tour to downtown Detroit and delivered ever so nicely for the very well packed house. The band is promoting their latest album Darkfighter out now for purchase. Walking into the venue the crowds were small in size, people buying merch or paying a visit to the local rock n roll radio station in town WRIF which by the way announced that Rival Sons will be joining this year’s RIFF fest lineup at Pine Knob. After watching the first two openers the crowd grew in size getting closer to the 9-clock hour. The first opener of the night was a band out of LA named Starcrawler. The glam punk band kicked some ass in a very short amount of time. It was definitely one electrifying set in such a small area making it even more unbelievable. The next band to shine their light on the Fillmore was Black Angel the psychedelic band out of Austin, Texas. The set was your chilled laid-back kind of a vibe the Fillmore crowd easily connected with.
The chants of Rival – Sons – Rival – Sons grew louder with the 9-clock hour upon us. The Fillmore went dark, silhouettes appeared and walked across and on to the stage taking their place, lights up, let’s rock. Opening up the night with “Mirrors” a track off their latest album Darkfighter drew rounding cheers and the horns up sign you could see for miles, and we just started the night off. During one of Scott’s many guitar rips in the opening song his rig went down and took a little time to correct. Need not worry folks out comes frontman Jay Buchanan with acoustic guitar in hand and treats all in attendance with “Shooting Stars” can you say bonus time all while saying thank you Jay. Just like that the rig was fixed and Rival Sons launched right back in to “Mirrors” The noise level could be heard by our neighbors in Canada which is just a bridge away over the Detroit River.
Scott Holiday’s guitar rips were a treat in itself all night the man in the suit just absolutely captivated his fans in attendance and yes even me, I was like damn Scott. Having covered Rival Sons now three times they just keep getting better every time no shocker there. What can you say about Jay Buchanan nothing, absolutely nothing just sit back and take in his soulful voice and be awed. The rest of the band consist of bassist Dave Beste, drummer Michael Miley, and Todd Ogren on keyboards. There will always be highlights the standout from a set that highlight was the killer drum solo by Miley during “Open My Eyes” holy hell those sticks were feeling it after that. The 16-song set was so well balanced enjoyed by everyone in attendance but came with another delay at the end of the night during “Darkside” when Jay’s guitar was having feedback issues. Need not worry folks a poll was taken and the song was restarted. A true class act by the band tonight who could have easily gone right to the next song. Thank you for the love Rival Sons.
The band is currently on tour and rolling through a city near you get your tickets while you can and checkout the Darfighter album out for purchase now you. Below is my gallery. Horns up America and keep rocking!
Rival Sons delights the Fillmore in downtown Detroit.
