Buckcherry at Irving Plaza

A decade after the Los Angeles hard rocking club scene produced a dozen popular bands, Buckcherry formed and tried to revive the scene in 1995. The band released two albums, Buckcherry (1999) and Time Bomb (2001), before dissolving in the summer of 2002. In 2005, lead vocalist Josh Todd and lead guitarist Keith Nelson reformed Buckcherry with new members Stevie D. on rhythm and lead guitar, Jimmy "Two Fingers" Ashhurst on bass guitar and Xavier Muriel on drums. The 2006 comeback album, 15, contained Buckcherry's biggest crossover hits to date, "Crazy Bitch", and the band’s first Top 10 hit, "Sorry." Although the band's popularity sagged again after that album, Buckcherry continued recording and touring, and released its sixth studio album, Confessions, on February 19.

At Irving Plaza tonight, Buckcherry delivered a good old-fashioned rock show, a time trip back to the days when Aerosmith, Ratt and many other bands injected a bit of flash into standard rock and roll song structures. If Todd played a bare-chested and heavily tattooed Mick Jagger, then Nelson played the Keith Richards, particularly when the band played and Todd encouraged the audience to sing a bit of the Rolling Stones' “Miss You” as a precursor to Buckcherry's “Crazy Bitch.” Todd commanded the stage well, singing much like a rhythm and blues singer, thoroughly passionate and in control of his shrieks and whispers. Buckcherry’s hard rocking performance was enhanced by the dual piercing guitars and the groove-laden bass and drums. Nevertheless, in this age when so many of his peers have been through substance abuse rehabilitation and have published memoirs about getting straight, Todd’s frequent praises and pantomimes of sex and drug activities seemed misplaced, dated and even cartoonish.