We had seen Heavy Blooze Rock guitarist Jared James Nichols tear it up many times before. The first was when he supported Lynyrd Skynyrd about ten years ago, and the most recent was his opening slot for Mr. Big a little over a year ago. Yet somehow we had never managed to catch him as a headliner, and we were ready to fix that. The surprise came when we arrived at Café de la Danse and learned that the scheduled support act was a no-show... In the absence of an opener, Nichols decided to step up and play a short forty five minute set, then stepped offstage for twenty five minutes before returning for a full show, essentially opening for himself. A peculiar twist if there ever was one.
The evening unfolded as Nichols, at the helm of aold-school power trio, roared through two sets of heavy blues rock, filling the room with muscular original songs, then slipped in several well judged nods to the giants of classic rock. The crowd erupted at the first notes of "Smoke On The Water," "Man On The Silver Mountain," "Stranglehold," "Mississippi Queen," "Jessica," "Man In The Box," "Funk # 49," and a furious take on "War Pigs." He knows exactly which riffs light up an audience, and he played them with the kind of confidence that comes from living inside this music.
The night ultimately became a full-on guitar extravaganza, all heavy riffs, blazing solos, and an outsized voice that commanded the room from the first note. Nichols also carved out space for loose, spirited jams with his band members, bassist Brian Weaver and drummer Ryan Rice, both monster players in their own right. Rooted in vintage 70's rock tradition but updated with the edge and grit of modern hard rock and alternative, Nichols' music is a bridge between the Woodstock generation and the TikTok generation. And it's also really fucking loud!
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