Monster Truck W/ Royal Tusk @ Birmingham O2 19/04/2019

The period around Easter is not supposed to be this hot. Indeed, a traditional bank holiday is best observed in pouring rain, a surprise snowstorm or a howling gale, but for once we’ve been lucky. Standing in one of two queues outside Birmingham’s O2 academy (the other being for Manowar) in a sea of denim and leather, there’s an air of expectation for Monster Truck that is underlined by the huge number of True Rocker patches and t shirts on display. It does little, however, to prepare us for just how combustibly crowded the oddly-proportioned O2-2 actually is. Even before opening act (the excellent Royal Tusk) take to the stage, it’s hard to get in the door, let alone work your way to the front and the venue only continues to fill up as the evening wears on.

When Royal Tusk take to the stage, it’s fair to say that the crowd noticeably contracts as the opening riff causes a mammoth surge towards the stage. Drawing on a range of influences from Tool to Altar bridge, the band deal in spectacularly meaty riffs and harmony vocals, and their explosive entry (set to the score from A Clockwork Orange) sets the venue afire as the band peel out riffs worthy of the mighty Clutch. With the bassist clad in a Municipal Waste Tshirt and headbanging for all he’s worth, the energy levels on stage go up to eleven and stay there (at least until an enforced break after an unwary fan is knocked unconscious) with tracks like the Pumpkins-y reflections and the Tool-play-the-blues revelation that is stowaway from Tusk II proving to be hugely infectious. The band’s deft pairing of melodic, layered vocals and pile-driving riffs is a rare treat and they even pay tribute to the late Chris Cornell with a sinus-clearing (albeit truncated) Cochise from Audioslave’s audacious debut album. If the band lose a touch of momentum having had to leave the stage, that’s only to be expected, but they’re so good natured about it all, that they soon have the crowd back on side and a potentially set-killing event in lesser hands is soon forgotten. Royal Tusk may be the support act on this tour, but they’re destined for bigger things and it’d be a surprise if they don’t return soon as headliners in their own right such is the confidence and power of their performance.

Returning to UK shores following the rapturously received true rockers album, Monster Truck are flying high, and the size of the crowd implies that the band are not destined for venues this size for much longer. Whilst it is arguable that true rockers erred on the over-produced, Monster Truck never fail to bring it on stage, and from the moment they unleash The Lion (from debut album, furiosity), the audience are straining at the barrier for one of the biggest rock ‘n’ roll shows this side of an arena. Like AC/DC, Monster Truck understand the value of not trying to over analyse the formula, relying on gargantuan riffs bookending equally gargantuan hooks. This is nowhere clearer than on second track don’t tell me how to live (from 2016’s sittin’ Heavy) which triggers the evening’s first major singalong, whilst the devil don’t care is the sort of heavy blues that feels like an explosive event. Airing almost all of the singles over the course of the evening, along with a hefty portion of the new album, the band smash through the enforcer, the aptly-titled thundertruck and evolution with an unstoppable energy that sees the temperature levels soaring as people escape to the back of the venue to get a little air and space (over-spilling into the corridor to avoid getting caught up with the never-ending queue for the bar). The new tracks are greeted like old friends, the audience hanging on every word (not to mentioning singing the majority back to the band) as the sweat flows and the riffs reverberate around the room.

With oxygen levels plummeting and a large portion of the audience urgently seeking to refill their beers in a vain effort to slake the ever-increasing thirst, Monster Truck deploy riff after riff with reckless abandon. Tracks from their furiosity debut are received like the old friends they are, especially sweet mountain river, but it’s to finest moment, sittin’ heavy, that the band return to close the night, with monstrous single (sorry!) why are you not rocking? posing a somewhat redundant question given the state of the crowd and new soul bringing the night to a glorious, bluesy close. With the band already having declared that the audience are out-rocking the band’s Canadian fans (an announcement that nearly brought the roof down), it’s fair to say that no one stumbled out into the still-warm night air feeling disappointed.

Three albums in and Monster Truck are just getting started. More than capable of dialling things down to embrace the blues, the band have tapped into the same well that provided for the likes of AC/DC for so long, understanding that to truly rock, you’ve got to have those soulful underpinnings present and correct. Truly a live force with which to reckon, Monster Truck pretty much demolished the O2 tonight, although the real surprise was Royal Tusk, who matched Monster Truck almost every step of the way in both riffs and energy. Monster Truck are set for greater things, of that there is no doubt, but if there’s any justice, Royal Tusk will be right there along with them. At any event, tonight was a fantastic example of the power of rock ‘n’ roll.

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