Gazzari’s comes to the Roadhouse

Clarke opened the show with a touch of the opening-band blues. “I’m only three drinks into the night!” he explained. The ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist played a screaming set of blues-inspired rock, including songs from his new album, Swag. Rounding out Clarke’s band was bassist Stefan Adika and drummer Brian Tichy. The threesome shook the rafters with songs like “Cure Me or Kill Me” and their scorching rendition of the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” with Clarke pounding out the famous Townshend power cords. To pacify GN’R fans, they played the Dylan tune “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” made famous on GN’R’s Use Your Illusion II album. They closed the show with Clarke’s tale of trouble south of the border, “Tijuana Jail.” The five-minute-long song tripled in length as Clarke, who plays his guitar like he might his lover, got lost in his signature solos. Tichy also had a chance to solo and went into a drum-induced trance, beating his drums in a frenzy before throwing down his sticks and slapping the skins with his hands. Before breaking back into the original song, they decided to tease GN’R fans one more time by busting out with the beginning of “Mr. Brownstone,” but only long enough to leave everyone begging for more.

Faster Pussycat wandered onstage next. This was the first rock band I ever saw live, years ago. The only original members here were singer Taime Downe and guitarist Brent Muscat, who still are the epitome of Hollywood glam. Downe strutted onstage pursing his lips and puffing on cigarettes in Bette Davis fashion, sporting black-and-white-striped tights and a torn black dress shirt. He tipped his black-sequined cowboy hat at the women as he prissed and purred through such favorites as “Where There’s a Whip There’s a Way” and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” He seemed more concerned with finding drugs than performing, leaving the stage to search for something elusive while his bandmates scrambled to entertain the crowd. Fans were disappointed that Pussycat didn’t do its most popular songs, “House of Pain” and “Poison Ivy.” The only thing that saved the show was Muscat’s fabulous guitar playing.

They should have called this reunion “Look What the Cat Dragged In.”