Mike Tramp and Rob Wylde 2023

It’s a train strike night and Mike Tramp’s Facebook has reports of people who have tickets for tonight, but can’t get there, however, Camden Assembly is still full and packed, especially at the front.

I have never seen Rob Wylde except as a dynamic frontman of Midnite City and Tigertailz running around the stage never seeming to stop, so it is a novel experience to see him sitting down solo with an acoustic guitar. However, it is a fantastic experience, the pared back format showing off his pitch perfect vocals despite the fact that his in-ear pieces are not working. Not put off by this he just went for it and the strength and intensity of his voice is plain for all to see cutting the air like a very sharp knife providing truly great versions of Midnite City songs like ‘Heaven’s Fallin’ and showing off the vibrato in his voice which I noticed in ‘Hard To Get Over You’. There’s a lot of emotional content in Wylde’s material and he has amazing eyebrows which seem to go almost vertical and meet in the center when he gets most expressive. He’s not a lead guitarist, but can play the guitar well enough to negotiate key changes and include little touches such as a flamenco style flourish at the end of ‘One Step Away’. During ‘Summer Of Our Lives’ I find myself contemplating whether the songs sound better like this, or it is just the newness of hearing them like this, a tribute in itself. He can croon as smoothly as silk in lower registers and slip easily into higher registers when needed.

If we are hearing acoustic versions of songs we are used to hearing electrically from the support, we are hearing electric versions of songs we had got used to hearing acoustically live from Mike Tramp, albeit that we all know and love the originals with Vito Bratta.

It is not a full live band, but Mike has Marcus Nand on lead guitar and electronic trickery to provide the syncopation and bass. It apparently took Nand a couple of years to crack the challenge pose to him by Mike to produce versions of the White Lion songs in a key that Mike is comfortable singing (not just an issue of a maturing voice, the original album always had Mike singing in a wildly high key that arguably was not his comfort zone from the off), but still doing justice to the original solos. Privately Mike thought it may not be possible, but Nand managed this so effectively he has reportedly managed to strike up a personal friendship with Bratta during the process.

And it is an easy sell to this crowd who know and love these songs from their youth. ‘Lonely Nights’, ‘Hungry’ and ‘Tell Me’ get things off to a Rockin start. The guys do not sit down, but remain animated throughout pointing their guitars at the audience and providing a dynamic experience. The songs sound great, but as I have alluded the crowd have been waiting for an opportunity to sing these songs and are already unpromptedly singing their hearts out. As well as providing pretty good backing vocals Nand is providing all the appropriately flashy eighties techniques like finger tapping and whammy to provide the frills as well as the substance of the Bratta solos and I am reminded of Steve Vai a little in his techniques for ‘Cry For Freedom’. He has a huge effects pedal board and his tone at times also reminded me of Brian May and the ease with which his fingers flowed across the frets like water reminded me of watching greats like Richie Kotzen. It is certainly enough to overlook the tapes that provide the back end and rides easily the territory between honouring the style of the Eighties while providing enough heart, craft and skill to satisfy a modern ear. It’s tricky to follow a master into songs like ‘Little Fighter’ with limited gear in front of aficionados, but the number of people wanting to meet and have pictures with Nand after the show was testament to a job well done.

However, Tramp is aware that this is still not the full live experience (he explains this is a toe in the water and that he is hoping to bring a full electric band to the UK to perform the White Lion material if this works in a tour he is planning soon in the US). As such, as well as delivering vocally, he does everything he can to make the experience a special one in a few different ways. Firstly, he tells stories about the White Lion days and, it is clear that his attitude has changed. Instead of only remembering the challenges of those days he spoke warmly of them and Vito with whom he now has a good relationship. His stories also explained the way certain things went for the band and why he believes they happened which is good Rock history fare. That’s not to say the modest and measured side of his character has disappeared and we are treated to funny stories such as his account of the experience of unpacking all his stuff from the eighties when he finally got a big enough house to recall them from store. Perhaps inevitably he gently takes the mickey out of the excesses of eighties bands including the fashions and hair. The vibe is very much, however, that having worked alone for a long time, he is ready now to go on an adventure with a full band and to take the White Lion story into a new chapter. Ultimately as he points out explicitly it’s about honouring the songs. He makes an important point that AI can never replace the humanity of a lone human struggling with emotions and the vicissitudes of life, and the blood, sweat and tears involved in creating works that truly reflect human experience. Without ego he merely states the facts that no one can deny that songs like ‘When The Children Cry’ were ahead of their time and are even more relevant now for the grave challenges of today’s world.

Mike told us this was not the full electric White Lion experience that with his instincts for perfection he would like to bring to us, but it was heart warming enabling us to tap into a little of the Mike Tramp heart and soul and fulfilling, allowing us to enjoy songs that we love. And we did get some really great versions of songs like ‘Wait’ and ‘Broken Heart’ following which he raised his fists in triumph. Although the rooms had to be vacated quickly for a club, Mike waited, signed records and posed for photos with the crowd, something that people couldn’t have in the old days and is certainly highly valued for all those who got to meet their hero and find that he is really a remarkable human being.

Dawn Osborne