The secret's out as Gotthard rule JB's

Concert review by Ian Harvey

Gotthard must be one one of heavy rock's best kept secrets here in the UK.

The melodic Swiss rockers have sold more than two million records worldwide, their albums debut at number one in their home country and they regularly play the arenas of Europe.

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Here, however, they opened the British leg of their Need To Believe tour last night at the more modest JB's in Dudley.

It's a venue they have played before and - even having twice seen Gotthard perform in front of more than 10,000 fans in Germany - this writer has still not seen them top their 2007 appearance at JB's . . . until now.

Last night they rocked the famous old venue to its foundations, with a brand of rock and ballads that references the likes of Whitesnake, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith among others.

Songs from the new album like the opener Unspoken Words, Right From Wrong and Shangri La were greeted as fervently as established fan favourites including Gone Too Far and Anytime, Anywhere, as was a superb cover of Deep Purple's Hush.

Gotthard's secret is to treat playing the tiniest venue as being as important as the biggest stadium. They are also a band with lashings of charisma, singer Steve Lee leading the proceedings with charm and energy, ably supported by guitarists Leo Leoni and Freddy Scherer.

An acoustic section provided a chance for a big singalong and Lee started off Sister Moon with a harmonica intro. "Not bad for a Swiss guy!" he quipped.

Should Gotthard be playing bigger venues than JB's? Most definitely. But then fans would miss the chance of getting up close and personal with one of Europe's hottest bands.

Brighton four-piece The Crave opened proceedings with a short, snappy set of pop-inflected rock anthems, including the single High. They return to the Midlands next week when they open for Deep Purple at the LG Arena.