Having holidayed in the camp, glittering world of half of Queen, Paul Rodgers is back in meat-and-potatoes machismo mode here, thoroughly at home.
In Bad Company’s heyday his tarry yet mellifluous rasp made the most hackneyed lyrics sound like romantic pleas. If he’s not the persuasive force he was, given space to ad lib, as on Run With The Pack, he still strips paint.
A reunited Bad Co sound muscularly effective on this Wembley Arena show from April 2010. Their best songs hitch the blues-soul of Free to a lick of the glam-aligned guitar chops of Mott The Hoople, with Simon Kirke emulating the heavy artillery of his friend John Bonham (late bassist Boz Burrell is replaced by Lynn Sorensen here, Howard Leese adding second guitar).
It’s almost a greatest hits set, with Can’t Get Enough and Mick Ralphs’s showcase Ready For Love delivering the ebbs and thrusts. Feel Like Makin’ Love (that riff as monstrously, didactically irresistible as ever) and Shooting Star are overstretched into cheesy crowd singalongs, but the adrenalised snap of Honey Child is undeniable.
