Rock Monsters Romania

Held in Club Quantic, one of the most popular rock venues in Romania, Black Stone Cherry’s concert showed Bucharest a show like never before. The fifth concert of their European tour, BSC’s performance brought the Quantic stage up a notch, showcasing incredible professionalism and dedication that made the atmosphere explode right from the beginning with “Burnin’ “.

Formed in 2001 in Kentucky, the American hard-rock band Black Stone Cherry consists of the powerful soulful voice of the frontman Chris Robertson on vocals and lead guitar, guitarist Ben Wells who tears around the stage with devilish energy, bassist Jon Lawhon that fills the audience with energy, and the powerhouse drummer John Fred Young who beats his kit like it owes him money.

9 July 2019 was the first time BSC has ever performed in Romania and surely not the last one, as they admitted: “We weren’t expecting this kind of audience, the fans were in ecstasy all the way through and we all felt their energy and excitement. It’s a sure thing that Romania is on our concert list for 2020”.

They performed their latest album “Family Tree”, their sixth studio album released in April 2018, an album that embraces the blues rock with bits of country and southern rock influences.

The atmosphere was set off by the Romanian rock band “Riot Monk” that engaged the audience in an energic state and then handed it over to the long-awaited band.

Kicking off with “Me And Mary Jane”, “Blame It On The Boom Boom” and “Lonely Train”, the band smash through over an hour of new and also well-known representative anthems which all served to BSC’s trademark of tremendous rock riffs and thundering drum fills. Drummer John Fred Young was insane the whole time, as usual, knocking out the public with a thrilling drum solo continuing ”Ain’t Nobody” and showing everyone how powerful BSC really is.
Showcasing brutal rock riffs, new songs like “Family Tree”, “My Last Breath” and “Bad Habit” were real crowd pleasers, whilst special stage effects played their role and enhanced the performance.
The public was full of true fans singing their hearts out in the first row on “My Last Breath”. I was astonished to find myself among people that showed anything else but pure happiness to be there and see them performing live for the first time.

A particular highlight was the deep “Peace is Free” that ended up the concert in a blissful manner, in spite of the public expectations of one more heavy song, that left the entire room full of people into singing along word for word of a poignant ballad. It was the only acoustic song performed that night, played only by Chris on vocals and Ben on guitar, so touching that I had tears in my eyes by the end of the song, and many around me were filled with emotion, such is the power of this anthem and the emotions the passionate performance evokes.

After a talk in the backstage with the band members at the end of the concert, I discovered not only one hell of performers but also an incredibly open and full of joy people that must be seen more often on Romanian stages. Having the chance of meeting and having a word with them left me desiring for more great performances like this as they raised the standards to the next live acts.
It was a long-awaited concert that turned to be an incredible success that remains one of the best concerts that I attended in my life.
If it ever happens to be around when BSC come in town, make sure you don’t miss them.

Article by Alina Stoichici

Photo Credit: Mike Rodway