JAKE E. LEE’S RED DRAGON CARTEL

The Vault Music Hall & Pub at Greasy Luck
New Bedford, Massachusetts
March 31, 2019

Photos & Review by Frank Piercy

March as the saying goes, comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb, unless you were in New Bedford, MA on this night. March went out like a Dragon, A Red Dragon.

I made the long drive to one of my favorite spots to see a show, The Vault at Greasy Luck. If you live on the East Coast and are willing to drive a bit,there are so many great venues in the New England area and this is one of them. The staff is fantastic, the drinks are not expensive and the food great, which puts it in my Top 5 favorite places to go for a show.

The night started off rather late due to there being only one opening band, Ethan Brosh Band. This is a new band for me, but a seasoned New England player and band. According to their Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/ethanbroshofficial/ the band consisted of Ethan Brosh on lead guitar, Nate Motalvo also on guitar, Giogio Mongelli on bass, and Dan Whitelock on drums and also vocals (not that there were many songs with vocals). A great band that sounded tight and had fun on stage for an hour. Playing originals and also a cover or two. If you get a chance to see them, you won’t be disappointed. Why is it so many of these opening bands are getting so good?

PHOTO GALLERY, Ethan Brosh Band:

Back in 1983 I had been listening to bands like, Blue Oyster Cult, The Eagles, AC/DC, Kiss and Black Sabbath. Being a young whipper snapper and living in the bible belt, I cant tell you the number of times I was invited to church revivals that expounded the sins of Rock n Roll music. One of the things to come out of that for me was Ozzy Osbourne, his solo albums were especially evil to listen to and it was a great treat for me during that time.

One of the cassette tapes that I bought back then was the album that introduced us all to a young man named Jake E. Lee. I wore the Bark At The Moon cassette tape, then came Badlands. In 2014 Jake E. Lee came out of the shadows with this mishmash of other musicians, Red Dragon Cartel, they put out an album in 2014 Red Dragon Cartel. The band was currently on tour supporting their latest album Patina, which was released at the tail end of 2018. Joining him on this musical journey are three other musicians; on bass is Anthony Esposito (Lynch Mob, Ace Frehley), Phil Varone on drums (Saigon Kick, Skid Row, Vince Neil) and on vocals Darren James Smith (Harem Scarem). A very talented line up. They started the night off with “Wasted” off their debut disc, then went into a couple off of Patina, Havana: and “Punchclown. Then as I was working my way out of a very empty but cramped photo pit, “Speedbag”, “Bitter”, “Chasing Ghosts” lead into a Badlands song, “3 Day Funk”. It was great to hear the Badlands song and the packed audience at The Vault thought so also as they raised their voices and phones.

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“The Luxury of Breathing” followed and lead us into a drum solo from the very very soon to be retired Mr Phil Varone. Best of Wishes on your retirement from us here at Northeast Rock Review, not that any of us really retire.

Then the magic moment that everyone was waiting for, an Ozzy Osbourne song that came from Jake E. Lee’s tenure in the Ozzy camp. The perfromed “Spiders” off of Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon album. Instead of an encore, they announced they would just play a couple of more songs, “Ink & Water”, another Badlands song, “High Wire” and then finishing the night off with “Feeder”.

This was a fantastic set. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, with Darren James smiling and laughing thru most of the set, to Anthony’s unlimited energy bouncing all over his area of the stage. Maybe because this was the second to last show of the North American leg of the tour and starting to get a little punch drunk from almost two months of touring. They are hitting Japan in the coming weeks from this tour. Hopefully they will decide to hit a few places after May. I know I would like to see them again!

Jake played great, and while managing to look very relaxed while onstage. Much to the fans delight in the front he also wasn’t stingy with the picks as quit a few ended up with one by the end of the show. I would like to take a moment, and say thank you to the bassist, Anthony Esposito. Thank you very much, it is very much appreciated.