Piledriver
The Boogie Brothers Live in Concert

Germany’s Piledrivers are back, now the boogie brothers can be heard live in concert following their Brothers in Boogie album from last year. They have recorded their twentieth anniversary show that took place at Stadthalle, Wattenscheid and they now release it as a blu-ray and double CD, with a new track called Julia that is taken from their upcoming album Rockwall that is planned to be released later this year. So, there will be a lot of boogie rock in 2017 thanks to Piledriver who of course is a tribute band to the famous Status Quo, which can be heard through this recording that probably is a great addition to anyone, who like things to remain status quo.

Musically it is boogie rock in the vein of the great Status Quo but perhaps a little bit less elegant with black instead of blue jeans and t-shirt perhaps. We get music from the band themselves and a number of Status Quo-covers on a live album where the sound of the music itself is strong but they could have added a bit of power to the crowd that I hardly hear during my playthroughs of this album. Perhaps this is down to the sound being in stereo rather than surround; with a surround sound you probably would have gotten more of a live music sensation when watching this blu-ray on your massive screen.

And on that massive screen you will see a rather conventional live video where clipping and filming conforms to standard procedures. It looks pretty good, although once again it feels as though they have forgotten the audience, they are not seen often and you would be forgiven for thinking that they were playing in front of an empty room as the story isn’t fully told in the visual. But the video quality is good enough and the video interesting enough to be a good watch, especially for fans of the band, the genre or for those who visited the concert.

For the fans of boogie rock it is 130 great minutes of music where we get some great Status Quo numbers as well as great songs by the band themselves. And it is great music for the live stage, simple and to the point with great catchiness and energy. I think it is rather good, I have to criticise the lack of audience and the overall conventionality of it but it is a good show and I have liked viewing and listening to it. It may not make the most lasting impression but it is good and as many people enjoy when things remain unchanged it will be a release that has a wide appeal. The songs are all good and I find it quite an appealing release that I recommend to all who likes boogie rock music.

So, in the end I think we can conclude that the boogie brothers are still quite vital even after twenty years of boogie rocking, a testament to the appeal of things that remain unchanged if there ever was any. It is a must-have for the boogie rocker.

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