“I think rock ‘n roll should be fuckin’ fun, am I right?,” Sebastian Bach recently told an enthusiastic crowd at Baltimore’s Rams Head Live. The 56-year-old singer has been on a 40-day tour that just wrapped up in South America to promote his new album, Child Within The Man.
I think maybe if it were another artist, you’d hear things like “return to form” or “getting back to basics,” but Sebastian Bach never left. Although, as he’s said in press, the album took 10 years to write, having had a chance to listen to the album that just hit the streets a week ago, it’s as strong as (if not stronger) than his material with Skid Row, the band he forged back in the late 1980s.
Telling the audience how he had recently injured himself in that South American tour, Bach said “I gotta to say I feel like a fuckin’ million dollars tonight.” At Rams Head Live on May 19, he continued, “I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this at my age, because when I come on stage and I see you guys my brain tells me that I’m 19 fuckin’ years old. That’s why the record is called Child Within The Man because rock ‘n roll makes me feel like a fuckin’ child… but I’m a fuckin’ man… sort of.”
For this tour, Sebastian Bach is joined by Clay Eubank on bass, Brody DeRozie on guitar, and Bach’s son, Paris Bach, on drums. And for a four-piece, the sounds that came from that stage were huge.
It has to be said at this point that I hadn’t had the chance to see Sebastian Bach perform before. But I was thoroughly impressed. Bach can hold a note, and that was no more evident in songs like “Sweet Little Sister” from Skid Row’s debut self-titled album which came out three and a half decades ago.
“I wanna dedicate this next song to everybody here tonight that’s been rockin’ and rollin’ with this music for 35 years! This is the song that started it all on Dial MTV,” Sebastian Bach said, introducing the single that kicked off Skid Row’s claim to fame, “18 And Life.”
Watch the official music video for “18 and Life” by Skid Row on YouTube:
Knowing everyone there could probably recite every verse, Bach let the crowd sing the first couple of verses, joking that he could go back to the tour bus, but when he kicked into the chorus it was incredible how great his voice sounded. Scratch that! Not only great, but a voice that kicks ass.
A good chunk of the evening’s set list was devoted to Skid Row’s first album, with songs like “Rattlesnake Shake,” “Can’t Stand the Heartache,” and the hits like “18 And Life.” But the couple of newer songs, including the opening number, “What Do I Got To Lose,” were loud and, well, fun!
Referencing some “signs” on the stage, Sebastian Bach hilariously told the crowd, “We don’t need all these signs anymore, because I feel fuckin’ great.” The one thing I don’t think I anticipated was how funny Bach was. “People say ‘Sebastian, how are you gonna sing that music you recorded when you were 20 years old when you’re 56?’ And I say that’s not the hard part. The hard part is seeing what the next song is on the setlist.”
One song in particular, “Everybody Bleeds” showcased Bach’s powerful scream as it lead into the first verse. If there was any doubt about how the new tunes or even Sebastian Bach’s pipes they were quickly put to rest.
In between the Skid Row Slave To The Grind number, “Monkey Business” the band played Rush’s “Tom Sayer” to then finish with “Monkey Business.” And a nod to both his stint ins Jesus Christ Superstar Bach sang a little from the musical. But the funniest bit came when the band started on “Hollaback Girl” then “Hava Nagila” — both bits he played as the character Gil on the show Gilmore Girls.
Watch the official music video for “(Hold On) To The Dream” by Sebastian Bach on YouTube:
“I wish we knew more of the new album… It would be so great if we did a new song, like tonight for the first time ever. That would be so killer, right?” Then the guitar player suggested “(Hold On) To The Dream.” But when Clay, the bass player agreed, Bach told the crowd that they’d play the song, “and if I fuck it up, tough shit. I don’t care… I’ll do my best and if that’s not enough go fuckin’ watch Forensic Files” he joked. But the song, like the other newer songs in the set sounded great. It did make me hope for more of the new album, but I get the feeling there’d be more of Child Within The Man in future stops.
As the band finished up with a brilliant version of “Youth Gone Wild,” Bach brought up those signs he mentioned earlier. As he showed the crowd duct taped signs that read things like, “Don’t Go There” and “No Right Arm” as he crumpled up each sign and tossed them into the audience.
The setlist included:
What Do I Got to Lose?
Slave to the Grind (Skid Row)
Here I Am (Skid Row)
Big Guns (Skid Row)
Sweet Little Sister (Skid Row)
18 and Life (Skid Row)
Can’t Stand the Heartache (Skid Row)
Piece of Me (Skid Row)
Everybody Bleeds
Rattlesnake Shake (Skid Row)
The Threat (Skid Row)
Monkey Business (Skid Row)
Tom Sawyer (Rush)
I Remember You (Skid Row)
(Hold On) To The Dream
Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row)
Here are more photos of Sebastian Bach performing at Rams Head Live in Baltimore on May 19, 2024. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
And here are photos of The Bites opening for Sebastian Bach at Rams Head Live on May 19, 2024.
