A raw, unfiltered blast of fiery Rock ‘n’ Roll energy, packed with high-voltage riffs, anthemic choruses and relentless attitude, legendary rocker Jizzy Pearl's Love/Hate not only returned at the beginning of this month with a new studio album, 'Punk Rock Fiesta!', via Kenyon Records, but the American singer/songwriter also completed a ten-date UK tour yesterday, and indeed we were at The Underworld, Camden leg last Thursday evening, including support from New Generation Superstars, to celebrate the unmistakable voice behind the 35th anniversary of the classic 'Blackout in the Red Room' album.

Also hitting the road on tour with Love/Hate were special guests New Generation Superstars, once described as "too Punk for the Rock crowd, and too Rock for the Punk crowd", comprising AJ (seriously) on vocals, Davey Messiah on drums, Johnny Suicide on bass plus Nick Barnes on drums. Drawing their eleven-song set of hi-octane Rock from their four albums, The Underworld faithful, including understandably a number of the band's B*stard Division followers, immediately took to the Nottingham quartet's no frills, no fuss approach, with an excellent line of Northern banter also thrown in for good measure.

Opening with 2019 title track 'King Of The World', followed by two songs from 2007's 'Raising The Stakes, namely 'Done Before' and 'Come Over', the venue was well and truly rockin' to their hooks and riffs that forged their distinctive sound. Turning to 'See Your Fall', taken from their most recent album 'Agree To Disagree', the menacing, bandana/Scott Sorry t-shirt wearing Suicide, certainly looked the part as did his leather jacketed/striped shirted/Punk padlock chain wearing partner in crime AJ, as the band reeled off 'RTS' 'Beat 'Em Down', plus the first song of the night from 2013's 'Rock n Roll Or Die', namely 'Life Of Crime'.

Following 'ATD's 'Radio', despite no sign of any pogoing or gobbin', amusingly the rebellious crowd finally got around to showing their anarchistic tendencies by collectively raising a middle finger and shouting "get f**cked" in the chorus to the singalong 'Guess What'. Another from 'RnROD', 'The Price', thankfully saw no let up in their swagger and attitude, as they closed out a thoroughly enjoyable forty-five minutes with the penultimate 'Overload', from 'RTS', as well as their only cover of the night, Operation Ivy's 'Knowledge'. Will most definitely check these guys out again. Awesome.

With his recent aforementioned seventh solo album, as well as currently singing for LA's Quiet Riot, and indeed from the Sunset Strip to stages worldwide, Jizzy Pearl has made his mark on Rock history, selling over 600,000 albums and sharing the stage with AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row and Dio. By the time this Rock 'n' Roll legend had made his way on to the stage alongside Stevie Pearce on lead guitar, bass player Christian Kimmett and drummer Charles Evans, a packed out Underworld was heaving with eager anticipation.

It's hard to believe that it was February 1990 that American Hard Rock/Glam Metal band Love/Hate released their debut twelve-track studio album 'Blackout in the Red Room', although it was rewarding to see such a wide age demographic tonight, not only witnessing Rock history, but also the continued freshness/relevance of its content. Albeit, recalling the famous Morecambe & Wise one-liner, tonight the quartet played all the right songs but not necessarily in the right order. Opening with the penultimate track from this iconic album, 'Slutsy Tipsy', the explosive momentum continued with 'Rock Queen' and 'Tumbleweed'.

It was therefore no surprise that by now a bit of a friendly mosh erupted during the bass driven 'Fuel To Run', understandably in worship to the stagecraft of this charismatic, studded leather jacketed frontman, although at that point we decided to beat a retreat from the front, up the Underworld stairs stage right, to take in 'One More Round' and 'She's An Angel'. With Evans behind his Sonor kit, the beanie hatted Kimmett plus the "Girls Just .." singlet wearing Pearce, the quartet were now on fire as they dispatched two more gems, 'Mary Jane' and 'Straightjacket' with aplomb.

Indeed, the pillars we were standing next to upstairs were now literally dripping with condensation, as they finished their first ten songs from 'BiTRR' with 'Slave Girl' and 'Hell, CA, Pop. 4'. After vacating the stage, a standout instrumental jam from Jizzy's three amigos, preceded the latest hard-hitting, electrifying and fast paced single, 'You're Gonna Burn', the only track aired from the new album, but evidence if you needed it, that there's life in the old Chicago dog yet. Similarly, the only tune aired from 1993's 'Let's Rumble' was 'Spinning Wheel', before they dipped back into their 1992 sophomore album, for four further outstanding tracks from 'Wasted In America'.

Cue, 'Tranquilizer', 'Spit', 'Evil Twin' plus the album title track before they rounded off a memorable night with, you've guessed it, the two missing 'Blackout In The Red Room' tracks, namely 'Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?', plus the title track, which was coincidentally the opening track on the album. Any hopes of an encore for the ecstatic audience were dashed as the venue lights were switched on, but hey, this amazing 66-year old had just completed an eighteen-song set and the band had a date alongside New Generation Superstars at Great Yarmouth's HRH Spring Break 2 tomorrow night! Although to be fair, with the crowd buzzing around him, Jizzy did make his way to the merch stand afterwards!

Was tonight well worth waiting 35 years for? Hell yeah!

AJ