Live Review: Richie Sambora & Orianthi, Sarah McLeod

Sarah McLeod of Superjesus fame strums solo on stage, exercising that extraordinary voice and lung capacity via ridiculously sustained notes. A segment of Summertime weaves its way through one of her songs and McLeod wears all black everything with inked upper arms on full display. She seems genuinely pleased with our reception, admits it's been fun and lets us know she'll be around for free meet and greets by a specified door following her set. (We can't resist a walk-by and there's an excited line of approximately 20 selfie/thrill seekers.)

In vast contrast, Richie Sambora & Orianthi VIP meet and greets cost a whopping $350! Let's hope these major investors score major hangs with tonight's headliners and that this is the reason why the pair takes the stage so incredibly late. Someone in the stands hollers, "Hurry up, we wanna go home!' out of sheer frustration during the unnecessarily lengthy intermission. Fortunately, GA is seated this evening or else tired old legs would've packed it in. We take a smoke break to kill some time and, of course, suddenly hear live noise, butt out and race inside. Jeez, it's pretty early in the set for Livin' On A Prayer! SUCH a fun sing/screech-along song - "Oh-OH! Livin' on a pra-yer" - but it immediately feels like karaoke with a sick live band for backing. Sambora's voice isn't crash hot and we're unsure why they didn't fork out for a couple of primo backing singers. After a couple more songs, a punter sidesteps his way along our row and yells stageward, "See ya later, Richie, this is BULLSHIT!" As he strides purposefully up the stairs toward the exit, said disgruntled dude turns to look over his shoulder and hurls a final insult, "Ya clown!"

There are whispers around us of Sambora's backstage tanties, hence the late start. He carries on about how long their flight was to get here, implying we need to try harder as audience members, and is definitely in a mood. The pair wear coordinated black leather outfits, Orianthi flashing some leg in thigh-high boots. Her waist-length blonde tresses gleam under the stage lights and she really is the embodiment of rock'n'roll. The inclusion of Michael Jackson's Black Or White reminds us how Orianthi was rightfully thrust under the spotlight. The guitar chops on display are insane. Orianthi's delicate playing during her own song How Do You Sleep? is emotive perfection. She can also certainly carry a tune. But something about this whole set-up is flawed. Whether Sambora's sulking affected the entire show or this is always how it is, we're unsure. But one thing we are sure of is that Sambora and Orianthi would've been better off sticking to the guitar, on which they are, undeniably, world class virtuosos.