Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders

Tonight we're here to Witness Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders' first U.K gig. For his work with the Foos he's quite rightly lauded as one of the best rock drummers around, but as a frontman? There's a lot of questions to be answered.....Can he step out from behind Dave Grohl's immense shadow and pull it off as an artist and songwriter in his own right ?......... Can a drummer really be a lead singer and make it work?.........Will any of 'Queen' show up ? ( May + Taylor guested on the new album )

Before the band come on stage it's good to see Taylor's drum kit positioned right at the front of the stage, we know we're gonna get to analyse the man in action.

The band come on to rapturous applause from the packed in Scala crowd, and kick straight in to new album ('Red Light Fever') opener 'Not Bad Luck'. After just one song it's clear to see that Taylor is a natural frontman and any fears of his singing suffering due to the effort expelled from drumming are lost.

By the time we've heard a few more songs, including first album highlights 'Louise' and 'Drive Me Insane' it's clear that not only can Taylor cut it at multi-tasking extremely well, he's picked a few good mates to help him pummel out the classic rock sound of his tunes.

The Coattail Riders are all awesome musicians and their tight playing is evidence of years of experience on the rock n roll circuit. Ex Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney drives songs along with his inventive bass riffs, and lead guitarist Gannon Arnold shows us what he's made of with a smokin' drawn out solo on 'Get Up I Want To Get Down'

Taylor can't quite put the Foos out of his head and squeezes in the only song Dave has let him write for the band - 'Cold Day In The Sun' into the set.Yes bass legend Chris Squire comes on to guest on the track. On sight of him I was expecting acrobatics up and down the fret board prog rock style, but he rather disappointingly seemed to just play a standard simple bass line throughout the song, then swiftly buggered off.....ah well, someone a bit more famous might pop in later......

The massive drum shaped pile covered in black sheets has stood ominously (and rather obviously) at the back of the stage all night. After the band finish the main set with a soaring version of 'It's Over' and leave the stage we're all hoping they return to the with a couple of certain men from a certain band....

Not quite, but almost. Roger Taylor comes on with his son Rufus in Tow. Rufus picks up the sticks on the newly unveiled kit and Roger provides back up vocals on 'Your Shoes'. Rufus is a chip off the old block and his drumming in tandem with Hawkins' beefs up the song nicely.

Wherever Roger Taylor goes, Brian May isn't far behind, and as Rufus leaves, he joins his Queen buddy onstage. Now we're thinking! what are they gonna play??? half of queen with Taylor on vocals, awesome!! Dual drums from Taylor and Taylor,fantastic! Some early classic, rockier tracks maybe? 'Tie Your Mother Down' surely? (Hawkins sang it when they joined the Foos on stage at Hyde Park), 'Now I'm Here'?, 'Seven Seas of Rhye'? 'Keep Yourself Alive'...the options are endless....

.....Nope, we get renditions of four of the lesser known, and to be honest , more unremarkable tracks from Queen's massive back catalogue, two of Rog's and two of Bri's. Each taking up vocals on their respective songs, One of which ( 'Long Away ') Hawkins informs us has never been played live before, I can't imagine why! Don't get me wrong, It was enjoyable and exciting to see them perform, but, oh, what a wasted opportunity!

After all leaving the stage, the baying crowd gets one final encore from the band and their royal guests, new single and album highlight 'Way Down'. With it's chorus still ringing round our heads as we leave the venue it's fair to say it's been a cracking night, the band completely rocked, the special guests were about as high profile as it comes, but I'm still a bit disappointed ( and hard to please I hear you cry?!).

Type "Tie Your Mother Down Foo Fighters" into Youtube to have a look at what you could've won.......

Setlist -

Not Bad Luck
Louise
Hole In My Shoe
Drive Me Insane
Running In Place
Get Up I Wanna Get Down
Never Enough
Cold Day In The Sun (with Chris Squire)
I Don't Trust You Anymore
Sunshine
It's Over

In Your Shoes (with Rufus Taylor & Roger Taylor)
I'm In Love With My Car (with Brian May & Roger Taylor)
Sleeping on the Sidewalk (with Brian May & Roger Taylor)
Long Away (with Brian May and Roger Taylor)
Tenement Funster (with Brian May and Roger Taylor)

Way Down (with Brian May)