When Pete K Mally introduces A’priori as “the hardest working band in the UK” and says they are “going from strength to strength,” it might sound like pre-match hype. A few songs in, though, it is obvious he is simply telling the truth.
This is a lean outfit, but they make one hell of a noise. A three-piece with a keyboard player should not really sound this big, and yet A’priori do, all punch, melody and no little swagger. “Fear” lands with real force, while “Made For Hell” suggests the 80s never really went away at all. “Nah Nah Nah Nah” is already thinking in terms of stadiums, full of the sort of hook that refuses to leave your head.
“Live Today” feels like a mission statement, the kind of song that tells you exactly what this band are about. There is such a confidence about them, and “Wasted Years” only underlines it. “Voodoo Love,” their most recent single, fits perfectly into a set that never lets up, while frontman Tony looks every inch the guitar hero throughout. “Shotgun Blues” has the feel of a proper cult favourite too, and “Making Love To The Devil” is as sleazy as rock and roll gets.
And that is the thing. You will be seeing a lot more of A’priori, not just because they graft, but because they are merely extremely good.
Even with a cold, Dave McPherson is not here to take it easy. Quite the opposite, in fact. He means business from the off, prowling the stage, determined to get his steps in and then some, and what follows is a set that feels like both a reckoning and a celebration.
“7 Weeks” and “So You Know” are a reminder of what InMe always did so well: angular guitars, words that feel like catharsis, and choruses big enough to lift the whole thing somewhere else entirely. “This Town” eases the pace a touch, but never the intensity, and that balance has always been one of McPherson’s great strengths as a writer. He can make you lean in just as easily as he can make a room erupt.
There is, too, a sense here of a man who knows exactly what it means to still be standing. McPherson says he is 1007 days sober, and when he introduces “Confession” as the first song he wrote after coming out of rehab, it lands with real weight. These are not just songs being played because they have to be. They are songs that have been lived through.
A lot of the set draws from “White Butterfly”, and rightly so. It is impossible not to be reminded just how good that record was. “Safe in a Room”, in particular, is still a gem, and if that is your favourite from that album you would have left happy. “All Terrain Vehicle”, thrown in as a last-minute change, gives the set another jolt, while “Just a Glimpse” is all hard rock riff and sharp edges.
Then there is “Underdose”, the song that started it all, still carrying that sense of purpose all these years later. “Fireflies” brings melody and a slightly slower moment, but never drifts, and by the time “Faster The Chase” soars into view, you are reminded exactly why some of us have been following this band for 25 years.
McPherson says there is nothing better than playing stages with this incarnation of InMe, even after 30 years of doing it. On this evidence, he is right. This is a band still finding fresh purpose in songs that have already meant everything to people. That is not nostalgia. That is survival.
“Let Us Prey” was the perfect way to begin, all go-go dancer energy and dark glamour, and from there South Of Salem seized control. “Jet Black Eyes” followed and, somehow, managed to feel like an explosion of colour despite its title, while “The Hate In Me” had that dangerous, sleazy swing that made you think of Guns N’ Roses at their filthiest. This lot understand that rock’n’roll is supposed to be larger than life, and they play like it. “Made To Be Mine,” meanwhile, was full of Danzig-like menace, but wrapped it all in a singalong chorus that made it impossible not to get dragged in.
By the time “Demons Are Forever” rolled around, lit up by phone torches across the venue, it already felt arena-ready. We say that a lot about bands with ambition, but with South Of Salem it never sounds forced. They have that knack of making everything seem bigger than the stage they are actually standing on.
There is personality all through the set too. Joey Draper, introducing their cover of Savage Garden’s “To The Moon And Back,” grinned: “We don’t do many covers – we can barely remember our own.” It was a cracking moment, unexpected and a little daft in the best possible way, but they carried it off because confidence is all over this band now. “Static” came in on a thunderous groove, all weight and purpose, and “Bad Habits Die Hard” only served to underline what is becoming increasingly obvious: they really are becoming one of the best rock bands in the UK.
“Vultures” soared, plain and simple, while “Pretty Little Nightmare,” introduced with “this one’s for the ladies,” had exactly the right mix of mischief and bite. “Left For Dead” pushed things further towards metal, sending heads banging, before a lovely touch saw Will from Black Lakes, who had appeared earlier in the day, come out for the mellifluous “Hellbound Heart.”
Then, aware time was against them, South Of Salem did what bands with proper songs do: they simply raced through the closing stretch without losing an ounce of impact. “Death Of The Party” was all attitude, “No Plague Like Home” was thrown out with real urgency, and there was only ever going to be one end point after that. “Cold Day In Hell” closed it, with Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right To Party” pumped through the PA afterwards like the perfect final wink.
They have come from rock’s underground, but because they treat every show like it is Wembley Arena, who knows where this can go. One of the most promising rock’n’roll bands in Britain are now one of the best. South Of Salem looked and sounded like a band refusing to accept there is any ceiling on how far this can go.
