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Danko Jones is a hard rocking man. His live performances are known for its energy and amount of songs that he fires up. He was playing in Paradiso with not one but two support acts: Die Mannequin and El Guapo Stunt Team. They proved to be just as hard rocking.

Danko Jones at Paradiso Amsterdam, 24 April 2008
First up were Die Mannequin who had the questionable honour to entertain the few people that made it to Paradiso early. It didn’t really hold them back. Female Singer Care Failure explored the space of Paradiso’s main hall by running, crawling and rolling across the stage and even briefly jumped off the stage with her guitar. The music was okay. Sometimes a bit sloppy and not always tight. Now and then it was hard to hear Ms Failure singing because she was so busy jumping up and down. All and all it was a pretty cool performance.

Next up were the Belgian band El Guapo Stuntteam. One guitar player isn’t enough, two is only half of the fun so they play with three! And it never sounds too much. They play good old rock heavenly inspired by the 70s. Influences of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Guns ‘n Roses can be heard. Nice guitar riffs, plenty of drum fills (is that a John Bonham acrylic drum kit?) and a high dose of energy are the ingredients of their performance. They set the place on fire (and I heard they sometimes literally like to set things on fire like themselves). I was pleasantly suprised and bought their latest CD “Accussation Blues” that turned out to be just as good. Hard rocking songs mixed with some blues rock songs that reminded me of the Black Crowes. Check them out if you get the chance.

After this warm up it was time for Mr. Jones himself. By the time he and his band climbed the stage the place was packed and ready for some more. I didn’t really like his latest album “Never Too Loud”. It sounds a bit flat and there aren’t a lot of songs that stick out. On stage this wasn’t a problem at all. He will only leave the stage when he’s sweaty to the bone. At one point he asked if the AC could be switched off because he was drying up. The other two band members did their job well and put down a solid base for Danko to go crazy. He talks to the audience now and then cracking jokes (”I’m the funny guy here”) and firing everyone up. He asked us to tear the place down (fortunately this didn’t happen) and I think in the end everyone was pretty excited. He has studied all the rock poses very well. This makes his performance a bit over the top and forced from time to time. Still it makes a live performance worth while although I can imagine it may get a bit old in the end. Forget about the album. This is the real stuff. Rock brought back to its sweaty rough basics. Just the way I like it.