The Sweet / Troy Redfern – The Apex, Bury St Edmunds

Written by Paul Monkhouse

Photos by Dawn Osborne

There were always two sides to Sweet. On one hand you had the chart filling bubble gum Glam Rockers, their every release adding to a string of hits that filled the airwaves, but those who’d witnessed the band live or had flipped over the singles to the B sides or bought any albums knew there was a much darker, heavier beast at play. Seeing the band now, some four decades after their seemingly weekly appearances on Top of the Pops, you can do nothing but appreciate how they’ve never lost their edge, that visceral thrill of those airtight harmonies mixed with guitars to don’t just crunch but hit like a wrecking ball.

First up though are the undoubted charms of opening act Troy Redfern. Shorn of his two usual compatriots, instead of his power trio this solo outing was a fearsome display of stripped back blues power. It’s a staggering display of just how much noise one man and a guitar can make but Redfern is here to raise Hell and you can’t do that quietly. An incendiary ‘Scorpio’ kicks of the set, a welter of slide playing and growling vocals roaring from the speakers as the tagline “now the tables are turned” is punched home. Tipping his wide brim hat to his idol, Stevie Ray Vaughn, ‘John the Revelator’ is an exercise in down and dirty swampy blues, the extended solo so otherworldly that you wonder whether it’s from the darkest Gothic recesses of Carolina or somewhere in outer space.

Strapping on his ancient and battered National guitar, ‘Waiting for Your Love’ is a strident cry, Redfern’s vocals taking a rough edged and sensual hoarseness to its tale of longing whilst he turns into a fire and brimstone preacher on the passionate ‘Sanctify’, the solo truly scorching. The short set closes with an individual take of the Marc Bolan classic ‘Get It On’, feline sensuality replaced with an earthy and huge barrage of wasted blues rock. With a schedule of constant touring under his belt, Troy Redfern is a one-man blues typhoon and has gained ground the hard way. As this opening slot proves, he’s well on course to make even bigger waves in the future.

After a career spanning over fifty years, Sweet have nothing to prove anymore other than to themselves and focus on pure entertainment for the gathered masses. The fact they do this with such attack shows that the hunger has seemingly never left them, the material still standing up against anything around at the time or since. Sure, some of their output over the years may have waivered in quality compared to the highs of the halcyon 70’s heights but tonight’s cherry-picked greatest hits effortlessly sidestepping the need to play new album tracks, instead focussing on fan favourites and one or two deeper cuts.

An ass kicking ‘Action’ opens the show, Andy Scott’s guitarwork and the vocal harmonies revealing exactly where Queen got huge chunks of their influences from, the glam slam heaviness majestic. The chugging groove and stomp of ‘New York Groove’ sees a sea of arms aloft, hands clapping as bodies move, needing no invitation to dance as singer Paul Manzi grins, caught up in the euphoria. ‘Burn on the Flame’ sees a feedback drenched solo wrung from Scott’s guitar and ‘Hellraiser’ is turned into a rampant monster, its heavy duty and hard-hitting momentum like being hit by a truck.

Taking a breath after this, Scott steps up to the mic and warns, with a laugh, that due to Covid no-one will be able to go backstage to sleep with the band and introduces his guitar tech, Adam, who’s standing in for the ill Bruce Bisland on drums. This isn’t the only difference with tonight’s show as bass player Lee Small is left unable to sing, having lost his voice a few days ago and the guitarist advises that due to a trapped nerve, his plectrums have to be glued to his fingers at present. Determined for the show to go on though, Sweet overcome these challenges like the seasoned troupers they are, determined to complete the whole tour whilst others are dropping around them. It’s a hugely admirable trait given the additional challenges of these times.

Desolation Boulevard’s prime slice of nostalgia ‘The Six Teens’ shimmers with some fantastic four-part harmonies before the joyous melody of ‘Defender’ soars, Manzi’s vocals riding the bright, positive feel of the song. Putting the hammer down again, ‘Windy City’ drives along on its sledgehammer rhythm and filthy riffs and ‘Set Me Free’ is so fast and heavy that it borders on speed metal.

From proto thrash to a modern classic, latest single ‘Everything’, currently “Number One in the Heritage Charts” according to Scott, adding as a tongue in cheek aside “take that Slade!”, sounds like something from their 70’s peak. With its spiralling verses, tasty solo and huge chorus, it’s a piece of sophisticated pop rock with hooks big enough to catch the shark in ‘Jaws’ and shows that the band are still capable of writing material that’s the envy of any pretenders to their crown.

Encouraged by Mansi to step back in time to the chant “We want Sweet”, the audience were once again transported back to their youth with the suitably rebel rousing ‘Teenage Rampage’, still sounding great as when most there first heard it on a Thursday nights Top of the Pops. The archly saucily titled ‘Wig Wam Bam’ and ‘Little Willy’ are run together, singalong throwaway gems from their canon, before a teased out ‘Love is Like Oxygen’ raises things to boiling point, its gorgeous mix of staccato riffing and dreamily smooth vocals a highlight of the set. Stretched out to a ten-minute, split version, the band broke into a rocked-up version of ELP’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ as a bridge between two halves, keys and guitar player Tom Corey, drafted in from the Novateens, able to show off his not inconsiderable chops.

It was just down to a pneumatic ‘Fox on the Run’ to close the set, Small constantly bobbing and weaving as his bass brought the pulsing heartbeat, before the double whammy encore of perfect Glam roof raiser ‘Blockbuster’ and the barely controlled madness of ‘Ballroom Blitz’ finished the night. Battered by some current health issues and circumstances but never defeated, it was a doubtless triumphant finish to their fiftieth anniversary tour. Tonight proved once and for all who the Kings of Glam are, often imitated but never bettered, Sweet still hold their glittering crown high and for that reason alone, the world is a much better place.