Review: Little Caesar @ Bannerman’s Edinburgh – 8th March 2018
lf ever a band was bedevilled by bad timing and a shitty record company, it was Little Caesar. Like many of their contemporaries such as Rock City Angels, Junkyard and Sea Hags they were too bluesy for metal fans and too hard for the poodle permed brigade. They were impossible to pigeon hole which is something American radio was and is very keen on although tonight singer Ron Young seemed to be content with “Hanoi Rocks meets Bob Seger”. Which is odd because not ten minutes before they took to the stage I was telling the tale of the night Nasty Suicide shot up too close to stage time and ended up sliding off the drum riser , passing out on the floor of the Caley Palais and being carried off by two roadies. The eighties, eh! He’s now a chemist working for a drug company in Finland, fact fans. Well, he’s eminently qualified.
Back to tonight and Little Caesar rolled back the years effortlessly. Which considering I last sat them in about 1992 was quite impressive. And it came with added owl fondling and ripping the piss out of Rikki Rockett. Because, yes, Ron Young is a natural born raconteur. Even if he did say he was only talking so much because he was recovering from bronchitis. Well if this was him ill, full power must be amazing. Because he’s still got the vocals that made him stand out from the crowd back in the day. But that would be nothing if they didn’t have the songs. And they do. It was a crowd pleasing set with most of the songs coming from the first two records but the new tunes slotted in seamlessly with ’21 Again’ particularly fine.. That’s when they weren’t doing rocked up Merle Haggard covers and interpolating ‘Proud Mary’ into their own big soul ballad. M r Young has a penchant for soul, something we share as when I was 5 years old I proudly announced to my parents that when I grew up I wanted to be one of the Temptations after seeing them on the Andy Williams Show. It broke my heart a few years later when it was pointed out to me that I was neither black nor a singer.
Unusually, for a band playing a basement in the less salubrious part of town, they seemed genuinely delighted to be out on the road, at ease with themselves and with their position in the music world. As Young said, if they’d made it big he’d either be dead or an asshole. Thankfully, he’s neither. And with songs as timeless and life affirming as ‘Down n Dirty’, ‘Stand Up’ and ‘Rum and Coke’ under their belt people will be coming to see them for as long as they want to keep playing. Even an old rocker like me managed a bucket list moment when they launched into ‘Nobody Said It Was Easy’, the old Four Horsemen track, during the encore. I’d forgotten about Ron Youngs stint in the band post Frank Starr, but with ex Horsemen bassist Pharoah Barrett in the band, it was a really nice touch. They’ve still got a couple of UK shows left so get down if you can. Their new album, “Eight” is out next week, and follows straight on from their glory days. Buy it.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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