Live | The New Roses [& Moon Shot] – De Nieuwe Nor – Heerlen[NL]

20 October 2023

Friday night I once again went to the nearby Nieuwe Nor concert venue in Heerlen, because The New Roses were coming to town and they brought along the Finns from Moon Shot as support. On paper a nice program for a rainy Friday night and guess what, that turned out to be more than true live.

MOON SHOT

Personally, I had never seen Moon Shot perform, but I had heard good things about them. And if even fans drive 400 km to be at this show, there must be some truth in what they say. Moon Shot kicked off around 8:30PM in an already well-filled hall and the energy radiating from these gentlemen immediately made it clear that they were here tonight to do business and win hearts for the band.

They kick off with ,,Second Chance’’ and ,,Agony Walk’’. Singer Ville Malja is not only a great singer, but also a force of nature and knows how to get a venue going with his infectious energy and enthusiasm. Drummer Mikko Hakila lays down a wonderful beat and makes everything tick like clockwork and bassist Henkka Seppälä, guitarist Jussi Ylikoski tap the balls in for the scores. For the tour, these guys have reinforcement from a touring guitarist to make the whole thing just a little fatter. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal the name of this gentleman.

During their set, their new single ,,Yes’’ comes along, among other songs, and Moon Shot close after just under an hour with the track ,,Caterpillar’’.
Moon Shot came, played, and popped. I’m pretty sure they won over some new fans in Heerlen. And if the performance wasn’t obvious enough, vocalist Ville jumped straight from the stage to take his spot at the merchandise stand and speak to his old and new fans. Followed a little later by the rest of the band.

THE NEW ROSES

The stage conversion took about 30 minutes before the lights would dim a second time for this evening’s main act. I had seen The New Roses as a special guest of The Dead Daisies a few years back and even then it was a wonderful band to see and hear. But I can say that this outfit around singer Timmy Rough have made a step forward in stage performance. The sound is fine [something that also applied to Moon Shot]. The New Roses obviously do not make the kind of music that is newest on earth. Rock ‘N Roll with a raw edge, as we know it mostly from American bands, but when you manage to do it with this amount of passion, enthusiasm, you can hardly go wrong.

As a fan of melodic rock with pounding drums, pumping bass lines and raw guitars, you simply cannot ignore this band. Not to mention the great sound singer Timmy manages to produce with his vocal chords. Unlike a few years ago, I did notice that now. He has limited his guitar work to a few acoustic pieces. Other than that, he leaves that to the skillful hands of the guitarist duo.

MIX

The set consists of a mix of the Roses releases over the years and we get to enjoy beautiful renditions of ,,The Lion In You’’, ,,Sweet Gloria’’, ,,Glory Road’’, ,,Warpaint’’, among others. Also along comes a cover of the widely known ,,Rockin’ In The Free World’’. For over an hour and a half we enjoy true craftsmanship. The New Roses get the Nieuwe Nor boiling with their hooks.

THE NEW ROSES ENCORE

As an encore we are first treated to an amazingly beautiful acoustic solo performance of ,,One More For The Road’’. Where Timmy, once again, manages to show what an excellent singer he is, after which the rest of the band took the stage for two more songs, ,,Every Wildheart’’ and ,,Thirsty’’. Ather that the show is really over.

CONCLUSION

Both Moon Shot and The New Roses did good business and showed their best side. And that is actually how it should always be at live performances. Rock and Roll !!!

All photos by Raymond Helebrand