YOUR ears won't stop ringing, you've lost your voice, you're slicked with sweat and you're swaying in exhaustion. The symptoms are all too familiar. But don't ring the doctor.

Ian McNabb's back in town. For three hours we've cheered, chanted and sung ourselves hoarse on a fix of high-octane rock'n'roll, superb songwriting and cheeky camaraderie.

The Icicle Works frontman is his own support act, serving up a solo semi-plugged set of mellow songs including "Nothin' But Time" and "Lady By Degrees" from his new album.

But entrée honours go to the folksy German Soldier's Helmet Circa 1943," a delightful tale of childhood yearning, and a bareback "Hollow Horse" stripped right to the bone.

But that's just the appetiser.

McNabb, you see, finally has a band to be reckoned with again. We always knew that bassist Roy Corkill and guitar and keyboardsman Mokka could do the business.

But the addition of powerhouse drummer Matthew Priest from Midland heroes Dodgy has added more punch than Lennox Lewis.

He can play with subtlety when required but works best in explosive Keith Moon mode, adding unexpected muscle and drive even to once gentle songs like "I'm A Genius."

A barnstorming headline set revisits hallmarks such as "Understanding Jane," "Evangeline" and "Great Dreams of Heaven," but bravely omits crowd-pleasers "Fire Inside My Soul" and "Liverpool Girl."

In their place is a powerful "You Must Be Prepared To Dream," leading into a distortion-drenched "Child Inside A Father," both from McNabb's Mercury-nominated Head Like A Rock album.

It's on the latter that Priest stumbles for his one and only time but Corkill plasters over the cracks. As the skinsman settles in, this band will grow into greatness.

A revised "Merseybeast" sounds like it's been on steroids with stop-start guitar from Mokka giving the song new tension and lifting it onto another new level in live performance.

The set remains that way throughout, a jokey Stars In Their Eyes interlude apart, before an extended "You Stone My Soul," which surprisingly falters during the onstage banter.

Never mind. A dynamic double whammy of covers—a Hendrix-styled "All Along The Watchtower" and Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World"—signal a rush for the mosh-pit before the close.

"I wish I could take you lot back to Liverpool to be the audience for our Christmas spectacular," McNabb tells the Midland faithful. Praise, indeed, from a Scouser—now who's booking the minibus?

Paul Cole

26 October 2002.
This review Copyright © 2002, Paul Cole. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission.