It’s been a year since I last saw Florence Black, and here’s the thing you always forget: Christ on a bike, they’ve got groove.
“Start Again” is one thing, but the way they thunder through “Bed of Nails” makes me more certain than ever that this band is destined for arenas.
Then there’s a simple “Get your fists in the air” (it’s an order) to usher in “The Deep End”—and by the time Tristan Thomas has played the solo, if there’s anyone left in here who doesn’t love them, they’re at the wrong gig.
Early last year, they released the best rock album of 2024 with Bed of Nails, and “Look Up” proves why all over again.
Here’s something else that needs saying: every time MV sees them, they’re somehow even better than before. It’s a trick they always pull off. “Rockin’ Ring” is ferocious, and somehow, there’s even more confidence and swagger.
Their debut was a cracker too, and “Zulu” roars—it used to be a set opener, but now it’s another step in the crescendo.
With only half an hour here, it falls to one of the older tracks, “Sun and the Moon,” to bring the curtain down. Bluesier, slower, and less primal than the rest, it nonetheless shows a band that never fails to leave MV thinking they’ve got the world in their hands.
Put simply: Florence Black are sensational.
You’d be tempted to say “follow that” if you weren’t ending the sentence with “Tremonti.”
Look, from the second “Wish You Well” kicks in, it feels like a runaway train. There’s nothing you can do except get swept along.
Heavy—my god, is it heavy—and coursing with energy, the likes of “Cauterize” shake this gorgeous old building to its foundations.
Quite honestly, this is modern hard rock delivered by masters. “You Waste Your Time” soars, and it kind of goes without saying that the solos rip.
Their new album, The End Will Show Us How, was a cracker, and “Tomorrow We Will Fail”—on which drummer Ryan Bennett excels—is a standout both here and on the record.
And as if to emphasize the band aspect of this, Mark Tremonti’s friend of thirty years, Eric Friedman, gets to shine on the slower “Things I’ve Seen.” But things pick up (in the words of the frontman) with “Throw Them to the Lions,” which has an intent bigger than this room.
To be fair, given Tremonti’s history, it’s hardly surprising that he can knock out an arena-ready tune when he needs to in his solo band. “Another Heart” is one, as well as being an excuse to bang heads.
By contrast, “It’s Not Over” sounds almost stripped down at the start. A slow burner, it broods brilliantly before unleashing itself.
From new, it goes back to old, and “So You’re Afraid”—14 years on—hasn’t lost an ounce of its power.
“Flying Monkeys,” “written about a man who couldn’t forgive or forget” (and we can all debate who), is delivered with real feeling—so much so that a crowd surfer appears.
So it is that “Dust” provides a contrast. The sky is lit with phone lights, it’s a moment of tenderness—albeit with a tough edge. It simply isn’t in Tremonti’s DNA to do fragile.
But the fact is that when they let it all go, as they do on “Catching Fire,” they’re as good as it gets—and the small mosh pit down the front agrees.
Pacing a show is almost effortless when you get to this level, and “My Last Mistake” edges things up. But when English guitar player Sophie Burrell joins them on “Marching in Time,” there’s an almost prog-metal feel. And ever the people’s band, they added “Decay” because fans had repeatedly requested it at meet-and-greets. It’s a fitting set closer.
They deserve massive credit for not indulging in long-winded jams—after all, both Tremonti and Friedman are gifted—but instead, they recognize that the show needs to be a tight (very) hard rock gig. Even the encore, the new song “All the Wicked Things,” bristles with energy. The whole show did—none more so, actually, than “Dying Machine,” which closed it. Dream Theater would be proud of it if we’re being honest.
As much as I’ve tried to avoid the cliché of regurgitating his career achievements, we all know what bands Mark Tremonti has been and is in. The fact is, though, the one that bears his name is his best—perhaps because this is the music he needs to play, as opposed to has to play. That matters, and it did here.
