.: FuryRocks :: live_review :: Adam_Bomb__Gives_it_all

Published: 18 June 2009

Adam Bomb - Gives it all

Adam Bomb is someone that keeps his promises! When he says that he will come back to play, no more than a year later he does. Last time Adam Bomb played in Paris was in December 2008, and now he was back, this time at La Scène Bastille.

Before talking about the Adam Bomb show, just a few words about his venue. La Scène Bastille looks like a cool place, but it isn't that cool. I've seen a few concerts here (Death Angel, Volbeat...) and most of the times it's OK, but I've never been fully satisfied by the venue. This time, before and after the show the DJ played rap... what a cool way to welcome you to a rock concert. At least it's effective to make people go home right after the show. Beer is awfully expensive: € 5 for 0,2L, and € 9 for a pint. OK, Beer is always expensive in Paris, but this is robbery. Moreover... it's not good bier! I'd say OK if it was Guinness or Franziskaner... but it's just poor Kronenburg. Another crappy thing about La Scène Bastille tonight: the sound. Sometimes it's good, but sometimes sound engineers there are quite amateur. And the last thing, and this one is another good reason to get angry: Bands have limited time and sometimes they can't play their entire setlist. This happened to Volbeat, Death Angel, Beatallica, and again for Adam Bomb.

So, now let's talk about the show. The French hard rock band Aesthesia opened again for them. Unfortunately they had very few lights and a really awful sound, so I couldn't really enjoy their show.

Half an hour later it was time for Adam Bomb. He's been playing in Paris roughly every 6 months for the last 2 years, but he's a good fanbase that always get to see his band again. First surprise of the evening, the show didn't start as usual with the Van Halen cover Eruption. No, this time Adam Bomb started with King Of The Nighttime World from KISS. It was the first time I saw him play this song and he did a very good version. Except that the sound was quite bad. We almost couldn't hear the bass nor the vocals.

Maybe the sound engineer understood this, because after a few songs the sound went better. Still not perfect, but way better. The lights were OK. Not many, but they were alright. And as you know, Adam Bomb has his own personal pyrotechnical lightshow. Every few songs he lit some pyro’s from his guitar, and the visual effect is always great! Hey, how many bands you know that use pyro even in small venues, in front of less than a hundred people! That's some of the most amazing things of seeing Adam Bomb live!

By the middle of the show he did a tribute to KISS. Adam and his band played 3 songs. Surprisingly, bass player Paul Del Bello did the lead vocals on Deuce. He's got a nice voice, and it's the first time I see Adam invites him to share the microphone. The other two KISS songs were Got To Choose and Firehouse. At The end of the latter Adam talked about his audition for KISS back in the 80's. He ended his speech by saying "Well, I didn't get the job but that's alright, I'm playing in Paris tonight!"

The setlist included some songs that I'd never seen Adam play before, like Purple Haze and Baby Please Don't Go. Quite surprising, his French hit Je T'aime Baby came early in the set. He usually plays that one at the end. Adam usually plays some AC/DC covers, but tonight he didn't play any song from this band. That's probably because lack of time. About the performance of the band: it was as usual incredible. Adam Bomb is a man that gives it all, even if he plays in front of 20 people. That's something I love about his shows. He's totally rock ‘n' roll. Paul Del Bello is a very good performer too. He's got the rythm, the swing and the attitude. About the drummer, Bobby Reynolds was back in the band. Wookie was the drummer on Adam Bomb's last visit to Paris in december 2008.

Bobby Reynolds is amazing. He's got a unique way to hit the drumkit. He makes it sound like thunder, and he's got only one tom. Adam played a few songs with his Pink Les Paul guitar, but the strap kept falling down. So he played a song with his guitar on his right knee, and then came back with a Fender Stratocaster. After the song Rock Like F*** the band went backstage and we were all waiting for an encore... but the DJ put some techno instead. Hey, this is the first time that Adam Bomb doesn't play an encore! I've seen him playing for 2 hours, making two 20-minute encores... If this didn't happen tonight it's because of this lousy venue called La Scène Bastille!

To be honest it was the least good of the Adam Bomb shows I've seen. But not because of the band, because of the organisation at the venue. So thanks Adam for doing your best, and please... don't play at La Scène Bastille again!