PAUL POPE CONCERT REVIEW ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

Paul Pope returned to Western N.Y. on Friday April 7th to a jammed club at R & R Heaven. Pope was singer/guitarist for 1970’s theatrical rock band ‘Molkie Cole’ who released one album on Janus Records in 1977.Pope left Molkie Cole in the late 70’s and started the Paul Pope Band with former James Gang bassist Tom Kriss and a 15 year old guitarist named Billy Sullivan. The band opened for Triumph, Steppenwolf, The Guess Who, Rainbow among many others. In the mid/late 80’s he worked with Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver from Brady Bunch fame).
Anyway he still hits the Buffalo area once or twice a year and this time he was in support for his newest DVD release “Paul Pope Official Bootleg Vol.II,” which is available at www.paulpopeonline.com . Paul brought Brian Holcomb (ex Metal Toys) on drums,Bill March (Beau Coup) on bass, and original Pope guitarist, Billy Sullivan (currently touring with the Rasberries on guitar and playing drums for Gary Lewis & the Playboys), Unfortunately,I was only able to stay for the first of 2 sets (the 1st set lasted 1hour and 40 mins.) but if the 2nd set was anything like the first, the whole show was incredible. He started the show with the twin lead guitar intro between he & Billy as they launched into “Jackal Headed Woman” off Popes’ first record and went straight into another Pope classic "Throw It All Away". Popes’ interaction with the crowd has to be witnessed as the crowd almost seems to be part of the band. Billy Sullivan was amazing on guitar(one of the most under rated guitarists I’ve ever seen)as well as on his lead vocals on “Passing Strangers”, ”In the Night”, and the revved up power punk tune”Quadrophonic Eyes”.Pope had the entire crowd howling(literally!) as he played “Dog Dance” from his ‘Lone Shoe’ CD and showed his sense of humor by telling a couple jokes before launching into”Last Laugh”. The band totally rocked out to Alex Harveys’ “Midnight Moses”as the audience threw their fists in the air shouting “Hey,Hey Hey Hey!”. He played a song called “Untitled”which is one of the best songs ever written (I’m not kidding! This song belongs right up there with any of the great classic rock songs). Pope ended the set with a hilarious rendition of Alex Harvey’s cover of the Lieber & Stoller penned “Framed” in which he came out with a nylon stocking over his entire head. Later, he took the pair of stockings off his head, placed them in his mouth, sang the last verse, and proceeded to crawl between Sullivans’ legs to spit beer into the crowd like a fountain. This was a great show and if you'd like any info on Mr. Pope go to www.paulpopeonline.com or if you want to check out guitarist if you want to check out guitarist Billy Sullivan go to www.billysullivan.com