Y&T at the Arcada Theatre (2/29/2020)

Every year, Y&T plays the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. And every year, I make the trek to see them. Some wonder why I see certain bands over and over and over again. In Y&T’s case, there’s a few reasons. For starters, they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. Their trilogy of Earthshaker (1981), Black Tiger (1982), and Mean Streak (1983) is untouchable. Even when they began to veer into commercial territory on In Rock We Trust (1984), they continued to put out catchy, memorable songs. Formed in 1974, Y&T have seen their fair share of trends come and go: disco, pop metal, boy bands, grunge, nu metal, EDM. The list goes on. Through it all, they’ve weathered the storm and stayed true to their promise of delivering loud and proud hard rockin’ heavy metal.

From the beginning, Y&T has been legendary for their live performances. While some of their once great peers resort to phoning it in, Y&T play as if their lives depended on it. Frontman Dave Meniketti delivers every riff, solo, and lyric with equal parts blood, sweat, and tears. The music takes over his body and it’s truly a wondrous spectacle. Over the course of a 2+ hour set, we’ll see the soulful Meniketti: His heart on full display as he wails “Rescue Me” and “I Believe in You”. Then, there’s the sly Meniketti: A smile curls upon his face as he hypes us up for “Contagious” and “Lipstick and Leather”. Finally, there’s the maniacal Meniketti: A headbanging blur of metallic mayhem. His machine gun is his guitar. The bullets are the riffs to “Open Fire”, “Black Tiger” and “Mean Streak”.

Accompanying Meniketti on his nightly musical retrospectives are his trusty crew of John Nymann (guitars), Mike Vanderhule (drums), and Aaron Leigh (bass). Doubters be damned! This lineup is as faithful to the classic Y&T lineup as you can get. Near the beginning, Meniketti paid tribute to the now deceased lineup of Leonard Haze (drums), Joey Alves (guitars), and his dear friend, Phil Kennemore (bass). Meniketti paid homage to Kennemore by wearing one of his classic bedazzled scarves on stage. While these giants of musicians may not be with us physically, they’re with us every night Y&T plays live. Meniketti makes sure of it.

The biggest reason I continue to see Y&T is that no two shows are the same. Every year’s setlist is loaded with surprises and this year was no exception. Meniketti noted that this year marked the 30th anniversary of Ten, a cult classic of their commercial era, and the 10th anniversary of Facemelter, the critically acclaimed return to the heavy metal/hard rock style they perfected in the early 80s. Both occasions were celebrated properly. From Ten they played “Hard Times”, “Lucy”, and “Surrender”. All three are songs I never imagined I’d hear live. From Facemelter they played “How Long”, “Blind Patriot”, “I Want Your Money”, and the obligatory anthem, “I’m Coming Home”.

Was this the best Y&T set I ever saw? To that question I ask, how do you rank perfection against magnificence? Every Y&T show I’ve seen has left me with a sore neck, ringing eardrums, and goosebumps. That’s what a metal show should do. Leave it to the pioneers to absolutely sweep the stage with 99% of today’s bands. It should be noted Y&T is one in a million. If every old school act played on Y&T’s level, we wouldn’t hear horror stories of lead singers sucking and the same old, same old setlists and demands for refunds. Y&T are pros. Meniketti has been rocking for 46 years, “25 Hours a Day”. At this rate, he’ll be rocking “Forever”.

Setlist

• “Hard Times”
• “Lucy”
• “Lipstick and Leather”
• “Don’t Stop Runnin'”
• “How Long”
• “Mean Streak”
• “Midnight in Tokyo”
• “Dirty Girl”
• “Earthshaker”
• “I Want Your Money”
• “Winds of Change”
• “Blind Patriot”
• “Surrender”
• “Open Fire”
• “Summertime Girls”
• “Contagious”
• “Black Tiger”
• “Rescue Me”
• “Forever”

Encore

• “I Believe in You”
• “I’m Comin’ Home”