Graham Bonnet Band - Camden Underworld, London October 30th, 2025

Effectuating the theme for the evening, the concert opens with five songs from "Assault Attack". Starting with the title track itself, the group hit the ground running with a crystal clear and powerful sound. Graham's voice is sounding astonishing, right on point from the first line. "Dancer" follows. Released as a single at the time of the album, I'm surprised that it didn't make more of a dent in the charts. It's also an example of how the styles of Graham and Michael Schenker gelled so well, with the mixture of melody and impact. The portentous "Rock you to the Ground" is next, revolving around a kind of blues-based riff. "Desert Song" follows, one of the stand-outs from the "AA" album. Ebbing and flowing, it works wonderfully. The end of first "section" of the MSG catalogue tonight is "Searching for a Reason", a song that should have received more attention than it did.

Other than Graham, the "GBB" features two other founder members:- Beth-Ami Heavenstone (Bass/Graham's wife/Manager/All-round hard worker) and Lead Guitarist Conrad Pesinato. Conrad has an extremely difficult task covering the many elite guitarists featured on the songs. He does so commendably, never falling into parody. He also has his own, definite personality within his playing. On Keyboards and Drums respectively, are Alessandro Bertoni and Francis Cassol. They both play very enthusiastically, and are extremely worthwhile musicians.    

It's a joy to hear "Night Games", a whopper of a solo hit single in 1981 for Graham. You could easily imagine this being recorded by Rainbow, and right on cue, the classic riff of "All Night Long" is on it's tail. From the sole Rainbow album featuring Graham ("Down to Earth" from 1979), it's one of several songs that leaves me thinking how great it would have been to have had more from that line-up (no pun intended). "Since You Been Gone" solidifies those thoughts further. Rainbow's immense take on the Russ Ballard song, These two singles were hits of mammoth proportions. Whenever Graham became involved with any artist, it's clear that they either had a period of commercial or critical acclaim. That isn't a coincidence. His albums with Rainbow and MSG are still considered complete classics of the genre. 

"Into the Night" is a hard-hitting and melodic song from the GBB album "The Book" from 2016. It's refreshing to hear it's inclusion today, giving people the opportunity to hear that Graham is still producing fresh music in these times. The last MSG song of the evening, "Samurai", is driven home dramatically, as was the original recording. During any between song banter, it's also very clear that the GBB are very pleased to be in the UK; the joy is never lost on them.

A brief interlude, and the encores of "Eyes of the World" and "Lost in Hollywood" from Rainbow are full of energy and precision. They serve as a wonderful denouement to the show. Graham's studio output in the rock sphere may not be as prolific as some of his peers, owing to a variety of reasons. This doesn't detract from the fact that he's one of the greats. I shall gladly shout that from the rooftops. His voice is as striking, versatile and as passionate as they come. He sits at the very top table of rock singers. Tonight hammered that point home with a gusto. A momentous evening.