Extreme, Living Colour, London 2023 – Review by Dawn Osborne

With just an eight song set, time is short for openers Living Colour, I was, therefore, surprised that they started with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock and Roll’, but there are so few rock bands of colour and, given that they started in the eighties, maybe they were afraid people might not realise they were a Rock band and, therefore, might leave for the outdoor smoking area at first sight. But, not at all, the London crowd are well aware of this band and know all their material. Accordingly they get a great reception.

The crowd go wild when lead singer Corey starts to ad lib a capella in ‘Open Letter (To A Landlord)’ to show off his versatility and gospel influences. The band are proud of their musical diversity doing a homage to hip hop in the middle pointing out that Doug Wimbish bassist was involved with that genre and, since I know little about hip hop, I was surprised to find that the crowd were singing all the words. R ‘n’ B, funk and punk influences also abound. ‘Cult of Personality’ came around far too quickly, the band’s anthem and best known track, going out on a high, there’s a real feeling that this is a double headlining gig and that the band could easily be back on their own account some time soon.

Kicking off with ‘It’s a Monster’ and ‘Decadence Dance’ it’s a strong start from Extreme’s landmark release ‘Pornograffiti’. Gary Cherone is a man born to be a frontman with an extraordinary range of poses for the front and back of the stage and so limber for his age he literally looks the same as he did forty years ago. Nuno Bettencourt who has stayed in the limelight for his extraordinary guitar playing and stints with Beyoncé is the hero of the crowd and can do no wrong in their eyes. He had a much publicised knee injury playing basketball on the Monsters of Rock Cruise, but other than the brace on his right leg there’s no evidence of that as he pirouetted on it and lifted his left leg high. He too has dodged the middle aged bullet somehow and still has the frame of a teenager. Until I was editing my photographs I didn’t even notice the leg brace, only Nuno could make a leg brace look like a cool stage outfit.

 #Rebel from the new album makes an early appearance proving that the new material stands up to the old stuff as the crowd remained just as enthusiastic with no lull as, so often happens, when bands roll out new stuff. Indeed there are a lot of tracks from the new album tonight showing justified confidence in their new release.

 There’s a nod to Queen with a splash of ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ (and a later in the set reference to ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ “What’s the buzz” and Elvis ‘That’s Alright’) and a dive back to nineties single ‘Hip Today’ with it’s insistent and ironic refrain “You’ll Be Gone Tomorrow”. Nuno payed tribute to the UK for cottoning on to the band before anywhere else saying “It’s good to be home”. Cherone steals bassist Pat Badger’s Stetson and climbs onto the amps. He’s so thin he reminds me of the cowboy from ‘Toy Story’. As soon as there is a lull in the music there’s a football like chant of “Nu—-no——oh”. Bettencourt tries to discourage them. I find the Boston accent a little challenging, but I think he said “save that for the ladies”, it did indeed sound a little worryingly demonically deep. There’s no putting the crowd off though, it happens repeatedly throughout the set. Pat Badger takes the good natured mickey by throwing Nuno’s pics into the audience rather than his own.

 But enough of the hi-jinks it’s all about the music and massive ballad from the new album ‘Other Side of The Rainbow’ preceded their biggest classic ballad ‘Hole Hearted’ a full electric version with the whole band at the front of the stage (recently they have been doing that one acoustically just Nuno and Cherone a lot). Again it just serves to show that they continue to produce material that stands up to their finest. Also the crowd are singing so hard they could be left to do all the work! Nuno and Cherone’s duet, in fact, comes later in the form of ‘Hurricane’ and ‘More Than Words’ another massive crowd participation moment.

 Nuno gets his customary flamenco inspired solo spot and later performed ‘Flight of The Wounded Bumblebee’ both confirming he’s lost none of his consummate speed or skill. His much lauded solo showcased in final encore song ‘Rise’ shows he’s still no slouch on innovation either.

 ‘Get The Funk Out’ finished the main set as probably the band’s biggest anthem. But as well as ‘Rise’, ‘Song For Love’ and ‘Small Town Beautiful’ make it into the encore. In my interview with Nuno I told him that the latter was the song I was treated my neighbours to at full blast with my Whitney Houston impression, and it has massive potential for longevity if there’s any justice in this world.

 During the set Nuno referred to the band as a dysfunctional family “isn’t everyone?” And there’s no doubt Nuno and Cherone are both larger than life characters. Tonight demonstrated, however, that they can work effectively as a team and that any spice in the relationship can be used to keep life interesting.

Dawn Osborne