The Aristocrats: Live at The Grand Social

Despite the appalling weather, it was a full-house for this rare visit from the multinational supergroup. They’ve been variously described as “supreme high-energy shredders” and a “rock- fusion powerhouse trio”. Thanks to their history of performing with some of the greats (Satriani, Vai, Asia) guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann know how to put on a show.

Tonight was almost a masterclass in musicianship and performance, with each song introduced with the precision of a college professor delivering a lecture. It wasn’t as po-faced as it sounds and there was plenty of humour along the way (I’m sure I heard snatches from The Muppet Show or was it The Pink Panther interspersed at intervals). Blending riffage and rhythms with jazz -influenced workouts, they created a monumental sound much greater than the sum of their parts. Standouts included ‘Louisville Stomp’, a hybrid rockabilly-meets-Lalo Schifrin’s theme from Bullitt; while parts of ‘Ohhh Nooo’ recalled the ascending riff from Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak’. And they weren’t wrong when they promised that ‘Get It Like That’, from their debut album Boing , would climax in a “heavy metal inferno” while the title-track from their current album Culture Clash proved to be just as incendiary. Throughout, Goven’s guitar playing was mesmeric, veering between rock guitar god and jazz master. Beller’s bass thundered along menacingly with some eye-popping soloing while Minnemann’s drumming seemed almost mathematically precise at times.