The recent gig in the Black Country was fabulous - very much a 'home turf' concert for Glenn; he was very chatty and clearly in a good mood (and GREAT voice).

With a band that is surely the strongest solo band he has thus far assembled (twin lead guitarists the 'old-faithful' JJ Marsh and new boy the impossibly young-looking Luis Maldonado, are joined by the keyboard player from the last tour - Anders Olinder and new drummer Matt Goom) Glenn sailed through a set based around his new album 'First Underground Nuclear Kitchen' wringing every drop of emotion from the material. The

set-list then: Crave - First Underground Nuclear Kitchen - Never Say Never - Oil and Water - Mistreated - You Got Soul - We Shall Be Free - Don't Let Me Bleed - Love Communion - Steppin' On - Soul Mover - Burn. Having seen Glenn on every UK tour since 1994, this concert is definitely in the top 3 - it may well be the best I've seen from him, with a performance in which he was clearly giving his all. The packed venue was treated to many highlights finishing off with a very lively version of Burn which had a nice guitar dual in the solos and also saw Matt the drummer incorporating a nice Paicey-swing with seeming-ease. With the whole band clearly enjoying themselves, it was difficult not to get caught-up in their enthusiasm. There was a moving moment where Glenn got the audience to send their love to Mel Galley, saying

that he would be watching a video of the show the next day (audience-shot footage, presumably - sadly I didn't see any sign of professional filming...). After the gig Glenn did a lengthy meet-and-greet, happily signing everything that was shoved under his nose - even including somebody's old shoe!

review: Tim Summers

A very different gig to the one at the same venue 3 months previously - this one was to celebrate The Robin's 10th birthday. Glenn played an acoustic set, followed by a Q&A session and rounded off with an electric set. It was great to hear a few songs I'd not heard done live before and to witness a pretty unique gig - the set list went something like this (not necessarily quite in the right order!)

Acoustic set: - Black Cloud (just Glenn & acoustic guitar) - Anders Olinder then joined in on keys for the rest: - I Found A Woman
- It's About Time - Satellite - Will Our Love End - Imperfection - Seafull - This Time Around - It's Only A Dream (from 1st Trapeze album) - Holy Man

Each song was followed or proceeded by an often quite lengthy chat from Glenn about its origins

Then there was a Q&A session where a microphone was passed into the audience - it was limited to 10 questions overall (although I'm not convinced we got the full 10!) - some interesting snippets emerged, including Glenn's thoughts on growing up in a working class family in Cannock...

There then followed the electric set with new guitarist Tony Remy & drummer Matt Goom joining the fun(k).

Glenn played lead guitar for the first 2 songs - and was remarkably good, doing a great solo on 'Coast To Coast' - maybe he was channeling Mel, as he was playing his 'Black Beauty' guitar - the only one Mel played throughout Trapeze & Whitesnake, apparently. Glenn brought Mel's widow on stage too, to introduce her and present her with a bouquet of flowers. The electric set then

- Superstition (great funky version & great for me to see it done live at last!) - Coast To Coast (Glenn reverts to bass) - Mistreated - Gettin' Tighter (extended version) - Both good versions, although there were a few technical issues with Glenn's delay and bass lead - luckily he just shrugged then off and let the technicians deal with it rather than getting mad! The songs did gain a few added lyrics though, such as 'It's gone again' and 'I'm back'!) - You Keep On Moving

There was a meet and greet afterwards, but it had been a l-o-n-g gig & I knew there was a 2 hour drive home, so I gave it a miss. All in all a very nice and unique gig.

review: Tim Summers . photos: Tim (Moth) Clark

DPAS Photo Gallery: Glenn Hughes / Wolverhampton, Septemebr 22nd 2008