CHRIS SLADE TIMELINE @Roadhouse, Birmingham 23/8/13

Chris Slade is, in drumming circles, a seriously big deal. Since 1965 he has played with people such as Tom Jones, Manfred Mann, Jimmy Page, Michael Schenker, Gary Moore and Paul Rodgers to name just a few.  He also played the drums on arguably one of the most iconic rock songs of the modern era in the form of “Thunderstruck” the opening track on AC/DC’s “The Razor’s Edge” album – the only studio album he played on in his spell with the band.

By anyone’s standards it’s a blinking impressive CV. The fact he is in a suburb of Birmingham playing to about 30 punters on a Friday night probably says more about the fact he just loves to play music than it does about anything else. You hope so anyway, given that is the situation he finds himself in.

He has brought with him a fairly large troupe of musicians for this, albeit many of them are not the ones that were promised on the website. Chris Glen, from Sensational Alex Harvey Band isn’t here, neither are one or two others that were trailed.

Still, given the back catalogue that is on offer this cannot go wrong can it?

The answer to that question is in actuality not as simple as a yes or no. It begins with AC/DCs “Are You Ready” which rather sets the tone for the evening in that it is ok, and you sing along, but you do wonder rather what the point is. The song was one that Slade didn’t play on originally, although he did appear on live versions and play it around the world, but still, calling it part of the Chris Slade timeline does seem a little bit of stretch.

Songs by Manfred Mann and The Firm follow, as does one by Judas Priest and a fine version of “Parisienne Walkways” but ultimately there is just too much AC/DC. For every “Blinded By The Light” and “Delilah” there are two DC tracks and when these are being sung by “Slammin Dave” and “Frisky Frank” who are doing their best Brian Johnson impressions, it does lose a little something.

There are a few things that save this two hour show though. James Cornford is superb on lead guitar and not least among them is Slade himself. In between songs he tells stories of his career and he tops it off with a quite brilliant drum solo.

RTM does not want anyone to doubt the fact that we love AC/DC around here and we love the record that Slade played on, our quibble here is simple, with a past like the Welshman has he does seem rather too fixated with one period of his life – there is nothing from his five years in Asia for example.

The fact they choose to finish with “Back In Black” tells you everything you need to know. At times this feels less like a celebration of the career of Chris Slade than a run of the mill AC/DC tribute band.