The second song that Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts play tonight is “Glorybound” – a song on their utterly phenomenal new album “Rouge To Redemption”.
One of its lyrics seems to have such resonance tonight: “How are we supposed to know what’s real and fake anymore?”
It’s easy. There’s no AI-augmented, ChatGPT fugazi stuff here; rather, this is four blokes playing the most real rock n roll you’ll ever hear – or, in this case, see.
The Nashville-based mob is here to kick off their UK tour ostensibly, but it’s more. It’s a celebration of the music they all – hell, we all – love.
They’d arrived on stage with no fanfare, plugged in, and crackled with energy with “Little Renegade”.
And they are everything a real rock n roll band should be. They look like a gang, and they look like they’re loving being on the road. You can’t fake (to use that word again) the camaraderie.
None of which would matter if the songs they play weren’t brilliant. But they are. ‘”Same Old You” goes right back to the start for them (as does “What Kinda Love” a little later), and “Shadow On The Street” is one of the best from his debut.
He loves what he does and isn’t shy about recognising his heroes, saying before “Girls On The East Side of Town,” “Thin Lizzy didn’t write this, but I did.” Given that he turns it into a singalong, he’s proud of it too.
The title track of the aforementioned debut album, “Ballad Of The Misspent Youth,” shines like a gem, but they’ve all got something special. Whether it’s “Ain’t for the Feint” or “Running with the Wild Ones” (“one for the superfans, it’s unreleased,” says Smith).
He saves the best for last. The first track on “…Redemption,” “Take the Long Way,” is exactly the sort of thing Bon Jovi should be writing, but they gave up writing exciting rock n roll decades ago.
Whatever it’s a beauty, and it’s another that makes good on Smith’s claim that “When I wrote these, they were for stadiums.” And look, I know this gig was in the upstairs area of a rock pub in Wolverhampton in front of 100 people, but I’ve never changed my mind about Tuk. In 2017, I saw him front his old band, Biters, and said he “looks like a star and was born to be one”.
He still is. He and The Restless Hearts are far, far too good to be an underground band.
TUK SMITH AND THE RESTLESS HEARTS @ THE GIFFARD ARMS 29/08/2024
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