EMERALD CITY
With Brutus and Ragdoll

Black Bettys
5 June 2011

Words by Shane Pinnegar

Photos by Mark Diggins

Ragdoll Mark 2 – now with added Paul Cush on guitar, fresh from a stint with Stillfire – hit the stage on this long weekend Sunday with a room full of smoke and a point to prove.

Filling the sound out admirably, Cush’s arrival coincides with Ryan Rafferty’s realisation that he is more than just a singer – now he is a frontman too.

Debut album winners ‘In Your Mind’ and ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ sit comfortably alongside a suitably majestic version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ full of echo and dry ice.

Brutus pummelled the crowd with some down tuned aggression just to be different, pulling out all the stops to win over a left of centre crowd for them, and their brute force proved unignorable.

Emerald City burst onstage and proceeded to thrill the near-full house with a rip snorting set of hard rocking melodic tunes, heavy as fuck riffs and fist pumping anthems.

Favourites ‘She’s a Lover’ and ‘Dare To Be Different’ sounded huge – and what glam metal song doesn’t sound better with strippers dancing around on stage?

‘Last Man Standing’ and latest single ‘Show n Tell’ strutted with style, showing just how tight Emerald City can be – and these new tracks bode very well for the day when these guys finally get around to recording an album proper.

No-one goes home from an Emerald City gig disappointed, and the icing on the cake was every punter grabbing a complimentary copy of the new ‘Show n Tell’ CD single as they shuffled out into the chilly night air.