Y & T - Nieuwe Nor – Heerlen, The Netherlands 15 October 2024

Metal/hard rock band Y&T, founded in 1974, under the name Yesterday And Today, celebrate their 50th anniversary with a tour around the USA and Europe. Tonight, Dave Meniketti (guitar, vocals), John Nymann (guitar), Aaron Leigh (bass guitar) and Mike Vanderhule (drums) in a venue called The Nieuwe Nor in Heerlen, my hometown, The Netherlands.

Y&T is of course well known in the hard rock world due to their iconic album “Earthshaker” (1981), featuring classic hard rock anthems like “Rescue Me”, “Hurricane” and of course the super hard rock. Bluesy ballad “I Believe In You.’ Y&T’s last album “Facemelter” was released fourteen years ago, but the audience only wanted to hear the classic songs from the seventies and the eighties, and that is what they got!!

The gig starts early, at 20:00, the setlist contains twenty songs and the opening track “Hurricane” is a classic Y&T track for sure, being one of the best songs of the Earthshaker album indeed. The sound is awesome and Meniketti’s vocals are still very recognizable and strong, but his outstanding guitar playing is what this band makes so excellent. The oldest Yesterday And Today song “25 Hours A Day” from their debut album still rocks like hell and the title track of their second album, released in 1978 almost burns the house down.

Then it is time for some newer tracks, like e.g. “Long Way Down’”from "Musically Incorrect" (1995) and “How Long”, a song from 2010; both are quite good songs, but they cannot really stand up to classic tracks like “Mean Streak” or “Contagious”. Then it is time for Y&T’s classic blues ballad “I Believe In You” and this one is the absolute highlight of this evening as Meniketti here really shines here as his guitar playing is really second to none here; goosebumps all over indeed! After this highlight the set breaks down a bit with “Gimme The Beat” and the almost happy pop/rock song “Summertime Girls,” a song which, I do not know why, always reminds me of Van Halen…

Fortunately, Y&T follows up with a couple of great songs like “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark,” “Dirty Girl” and the other classic of the Earthshaker record “Rescue Me” and that one also gives me goosebumps all over.

Meniketti and Co. are in great shape, and they seem to enjoy themselves a lot on stage, making this gig very worthwhile indeed. Of course, the band returns to do some encores and the first one is a surprise, being the rather “unknown” “Hang ‘Em High” from the Mean Streak album. Finally, we are treated to a heavy, raw version of “Forever,” a song from their Black Tiger album released in 1982. And thus ends a more than excellent nostalgic hard rock/metal night, making one thing clear: Meniketti rules big time!!!

Review and photos by Martien Koolen