XYZ with Every Mothers Nightmare

Dingbatz, Clifton , NJ

1/14/2005

  Since the closing of the Birch Hill Nightclub in Old Bridge , NJ last year the remaining 80's hard rock bands on the touring circuit haven't had many places to play in the area. Fortunately, Dingbatz in Clifton , NJ has taken up the task and is booking these bands. Dingbatz has a “friendly little neighborhood bar” feel with a pleasant staff and a nice sound system to boot.

  That was the scene of the first of two NJ stops on the XYZ / Every Mothers Nightmare cross-country “Revived in ‘05” tour. Memphis, TN-based Every Mothers Nightmare hit the stage first and played a solid set of old and new material highlighted by the singles “Love Can Make You Blind” & “Walls Come Down.” The band also played long time crowd favorite “Long-Haired Country Boy” and cranked out two great covers in Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Saturday Night Special” and Alice Cooper's “Eighteen” with singer Rick Ruhl sounding amazingly like Alice himself! All in all, it was a great show by Every Mothers Nightmare .

  Up next was XYZ . Having been a fan of the band back in the late 80's and early 90's it's surprising this was my first time seeing them live. Singer Terry Ilous is the only original member left from the early days but I can say the band sounds almost as good as ever! They opened the set with “What's On Your Mind,” a track from the recent album “Letter To God.” Some impressive shredding from guitarist J.K. Northrup highlighted the song. Next up was “Maggy” from the self-titled 1989 debut. They ran through a good mix of old and new songs such as “Tango,” “Rainy Day”, “Off To the Sun” and “Feels Good.” The band took a short break midway through the set and singer Terry Ilous and guitarist J.K. Northrup pulled out the acoustic guitars for re-worked versions of “What Keeps Me Loving You” and “When I Find Love.” The band finished out their set with the XYZ classics “Inside Out” and “Face Down in the Gutter.” For the encore, Terry Ilous came out alone with acoustic guitar in hand and played a beautiful version of “After the Rain” from the first album. To finish off the night the rest of the band came back on stage and they played a song from the 1996 Ilous/Northrup “Cage” project called “Walk on Water.” I have to say it was great to hear the old songs and the newer songs sounded good too. I can only hope XYZ continues to tour and if you get the chance, you should check them out.

XYZ set list :

XYZ band members :

Terry Ilous – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar

J.K. Northrup – Guitars

Jerry Scott – Bass