The Dead Daisies are what you’d call a collective project – high-caliber musicians rotate in and out of the band, held together by the one constant, Australian billionaire and founder David Lowy. A solid rhythm guitarist, Lowy started (and bankrolled) the band in 2012.  Despite a lack of steady band member cohesiveness, The Dead Daisies have consistently produced high quality albums and earned a reputation as a phenomenal band of all-stars that are a must see live.

I first saw The Dead Daisies two years ago with the legendary Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion) leading an amazing show singing lead and playing bass guitar.  It’s not an exact comparison, but watching these guys prompted my band tagline, “The Harlem Globetrotters of Rock n’ Roll”.  Each player had an incredible resume of accomplishments and watching them kick ass on stage was incredible.  Hughes had replaced singer John Corabi (Motley Crue, The Scream) in 2019 and had an extremely productive run with the Daisies.  However, Hughes left the band amicably earlier this year to focus on his solo career and launch a tour celebrating 50 years of Deep Purple’s album Burn.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!  Former Daisy John Corabi recently rejoined the group now with a current lineup consisting of fantastic lead guitarist Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio), monster drummer Brian Tichy (Lynch Mob, Billy Idol, Foreigner) and David Lowy on guitar.  Bassist Michael Devin (Whitesnake) was recently added for bass guitar duties left vacant by Hughes.

With the revamped lineup, The Dead Daisies took off on a short U.S. tour in August to promote their upcoming “Best of” album, which included a concert stop at Ramona Mainstage last week.  I was certainly ready to see Corabi at the helm and watch Tichy on drums for the first time, so I was hoping for another tasty rock n’ roll treat.

A few bars into the opener, their 2018 hit “Resurrected” (originally sung by Corabi during his first go-round) , it was immediately clear Corabi had recharged the band with his charisma, entertaining banter, and his outstanding diverse vocal abilities. Aldrich was on fire as usual, putting on a master clinic of fantastic guitar licks and solos.  Tichy is a great drummer, intense, hard hitting, always fun to watch.  Lowy can be somewhat low-key on stage, letting his select all-stars shine in the spotlight.  But even he seemed to have an extra pep in his step realizing he had once again successfully constructed another round of musician musical chairs into a fresh and fantastic new Daisies lineup.  Newcomer Devin fit right in, allowing the showmen Corabi and Aldrich to do their thing, but picking his spots selectively to come out front and interact with the guys.  Devin proved to be an incredible backing vocalist, harmonizing with Corabi throughout the night. 

To fit his vocal range, the setlist was understandably heavy on previous Corabi Daisies material:  as mentioned, the great opener “Resurrected”, “With You and I”, “Rise Up”, “Make Some Noise” and fan favorite “Long Way to Go”, all just kicking ass.  To his credit, Corabi also took on two songs from the Hughes era, “Unspoken” and “Bustle and Flow”, adding his more bluesy gravely style but staying true to the songs.  Corabi commanded the stage all night, bantering with the crowd, making it feel like we were all at his house at a backyard BBQ with an audience full of his friends.  With a band of three Whitesnake alumni, the final tune was very appropriate – the classic “Slide It In”.  Oh yeah!  It was a perfect end to another incredible rock show.  If you want to see world class rock players in a classic old school 70’s/80’s rock style, make sure and catch The Dead Daisies when you can, you won’t be disappointed. 

Rock on and be well!

Greg Vitalich