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MITCH MALLOY/Sacred Heart
Stripes bar, Brentford 13 September 2004

A gig I was personally looking forward to as it features one of the best voices around in Mitch Malloy (what a year seeing both MM and Jeff Scott Soto playing live!) and Sacred Heart, a rising UK melodic hard rock band who were playing acoustic for the first time. Now acoustic is not as easy as just grabbing an acoustic guitar as songs change radically in sound and structure plus you can’t hide an average vocalist behind a wall of sound. Sacred Heart - or a duo as it was - played a fine set. Yes there were a few errors but they had fun and for a first acoustic gig I thought they did very well.

Good versions of ‘Crazy World’, the acoustic ballad on their new album ‘Forever’ obviously suited the acoustic setting well and my personal favourite track ‘Lost’, which normally ahs a crunching guitar riff to accompany it, sounded good as well. If Sacred Heart play near you go see them as they are a quality, classic Brit hard rock band like Lost Weekend, FM, etc.

Now Mitch Malloy, who not only possesses a superb set of vocal chords but writes a great tunes as well. A couple of Mitch Malloy fans I know questioned acoustic gigs saying they wanted a full band but - hey - reality check as it costs too much and when you have a voice suited to acoustic numbers why hide the talent? First two songs? ‘You Lift Me’ and ‘Forever’ (one of the best melodic rock songs ever IMHO) had the crowd on his side straight away.

There was a Bonnie Rait cover, ‘Love Me’ (I think that was the title) plus the title track form the underrated ‘Ceilings & Walls’ album. The better-than-Bon Jovi ‘Cowboy & the Ballerina’ was a set highlight and you just had to sit and marvel at this man’s sheer talent. Mitch wanted us to join in but to be honest I wanted to hear him such was the clearness of the vocals and guitar chords. A Fluid Sol track got an airing ‘I Am On Your Radio’, an upbeat radio friendly number. Fluid Sol is out in October on Atenzia and is basically Mitch M Encore time saw a simply jaw-dropping performance of Journey’s ‘Open Arms’ - current Journey singer Steve Augeri better watch out as Mitch nailed this to a tee and it was real heartfelt delivery. ‘Love Made Me A Liar’ rounded of a superb gig and one enjoyed by all there. Good to meet some fellow fans and the man himself, who stayed long after the gig to sign CD’s and talk to fans - that’s what it’s all about in my book.

There are still some dates left to go including Brighton, Z Rock in Liverpool and Norwich. Get on the car/bus/boat/plane/bike and go see him as it really is a treat for all lovers of rock music - not just the melodic rock/AOR fanbase.

Review: Jason Ritchie