'Phil X & The Drills' - 'Collateral' Live at The Caves, Edinburgh 10 March 2020

My first time at The Caves as a music venue and I must say, I was impressed - it’s a shame it’s not used more. Phil X himself commented several times about how cool a venue it is.

The acoustics we surprisingly really good too, which was clear as soon as the Kent based four piece, Collateral, hit the stage with ‘Mr Big Shot’, the opening track from their impressive debut album. If you like melodic rock with big sing-along choruses, Collateral could well be the band for you. ‘Merry Go Round’ and ’About This Boy’ went down particularly well with tonight’s crowd.

Singer Angelo exudes confidence and looks equally comfortable with just a mic or when joining in on acoustic guitar. Todd (guitar), Jack (bass) and Ben (drums) all play tastefully and the backing vocals are spot on.

Their short set closes all too soon with ‘Lullaby’, featuring nice fretwork by Todd, and the crowd participation showing that they’ve picked up some new supporters tonight.

It’s clear that some have come along to see Phil X based on his position as the guitarist in Bon Jovi - there’s the occasional shout for some Bon Jovi - but his track record as a session player paints a greater picture of his versatility and abilities. And The Drills are a different beast altogether - grittier and a lot more energy and attack in their songs. It’s such a joy to see a band having so much fun playing together.

Phil, joined by Daniel Spree and Andy Galeon on bass and drums respectively, start the set at full throttle with ‘You’re Not Happy ‘Til I’m Not Happy’ quickly followed up with ‘Something To Say’ which sees Andy very busy on drums, but obviously loving it.

Phil’s guitar playing is off the scale at times, but he also has a great voice, is funny and really personable - I think I’ve got a man crush! It was his birthday too, which added to the occasion. The crowd naturally sang happy birthday (twice) and he was presented with a birthday cake. And there were balloons too - I don’t know where they came from, but we all helped blow them up.

There were so many highlights in the set but a special mention for ‘Air Hocky Champion Of The World’, the turbocharged version of AC/DC’s ‘Walk All Over You’, ‘Feel Better’ featuring Daniel on lead vocals and ‘No Woman Of Mine’ which showed off Phil’s vocal range as well as some great playing. And ‘Talk You off the Ledge’ was extended to include a sing-along section of Hall & Oates classic ‘Maneater’ then into the Don Felder/Joe Walsh guitar solo from ‘Hotel California’....on steroids. Tremendous stuff.

Last song of the set, Hendrix classic ‘Fire’, was really special with Phil paying homage to another couple of guitar greats - Eddie Van Halen and Randy Roads - by fitting in the solo sections from ‘Beat It’ and ‘Crazy Tain’. The band then returned for a big sing-along of ‘Highway To Hell’.

It was such a good night I’m now wishing I’d gone to the show in Glasgow the night before too.