At Santos Party House in New York City on Wednesday April 30th, Memphis Tennessee’s very own hard rockers, Saliva, brought all the hits, as well as their new frontman, Bobby Amaru (formerly of Burn Season) to the stage. Losing an established vocalist is never an easy for a band to overcome, and often ultimately results in alienating close-minded followers. Not to mention the potential of having to rebuild a new core fan base. Being decades younger than the rest of the band, and a former drummer, it is no wonder why some fans may have had skepticism about Amaru’s readiness to take the torch from long-time vocalist Josey Scott. Thankfully, skeptics fears have been assuaged. After hearing Amaru’s dominant performance on the band’s latest album, Rise Up, and seeing first hand what he can do for the band during live performances, both with their old hits and new ones to come.
Warming up the crowd for Saliva were NYC hard rock products Cracked Alice, Ghosts Of Eden, and JRad. All three acts possessed strong stage presence, tons of energy, and imparted a good feeling on their hometown crowd. Each band played a respectable set of hard rock, as is fitting for an opening of this caliber.
When the show started, and the Santos Party House’s audience wait was over, Saliva opened with “Black Sheep” and followed quickly with a one-two punch of “Ladies and Gentlemen”. Never losing momentum, the band rolled through the major hits of their back catalogue including: “Superstar”, “Always”, “Click, Click Boom!” as well as a few new tracks in celebration of the physical release of Rise Up via Rum Bum Records. With all eyes on Amaru, he did more than justice to the fan-favorites; he brought a new sense of energy and emotion to the songs Saliva fans have grown to love over the years. In addition, hearing the new tracks live was a treat for the crowd, showing that the band still has the very addictive hard rock feel with choruses that can resonate long after they are done. Not wasting anytime with banter or chatter between songs, Saliva kept the energy going and finished with the title track “Rise Up” as well as “Your Disease”.
In what felt like a quick show, Saliva energized the NYC crowd with what time they spent on stage. Offering VIP packages as well as other fan packages, there were more than enough other goodies for the fans to get their hands on before the night was over. It will be interesting to see where the band goes from here as they move through an itinerary of smaller clubs, with most likely larger scale clubs on the horizon as people are awakened to the resurrection of the band. Be sure to check out the new album Rise Up and check them on tour near you!
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