Sometimes I judge how good a band is by how many beers I drink during their set. That could have easily got out of control when seeing Australian rockers the Laz
ys opening for One Bad Son at Average Joes, Dec. 17, so it’s good thing I know my limits. The Lazys, who are hell bent on becoming the second coming of AC DC and may well succeed, definitely succeeded in being a tough act for Saskatoon born, Vancouver based One Bad Son to follow.
The Lazys are everything you want in a good rock band — good time courtesy of big, loud, basic, bare bones blues influenced guitar riffs, sizzling solos, shout along choruses and a whole lot of energy.
By the second song, drummer Andy Neilsen broke one of his drums (which was quickly repaired mid song by a roadie), by the third song, “Punk Come and Get Me,” they had a mini mosh pit started, which was quickly stopped.
Much of the audience were singing along with “All Fired Up.”
By the middle of the show, lead guitarist Mat Morris was on top of the bar, showing off his best rock star moves while soloing as the Flames vs Dallas hockey game played on the TV above his head.
Frontman Leon Harrison, who was jumping all over the stage all night long was able to take a little bit of a breather while attention was focused on Morris’ solo. The rhythm section of bassist Liam Shearer and Neilsen thundered away and pretty much drowned out rhythm guitarist Glenn Williams.
They all shouted gang background vocals throughout the set.
They left with a rousing rendition of their biggest hit “Shake it Like You Mean it,” which had the crowd doing just that while singing along. 
One Bad Son were not to outdone though. Most of the people were there to see them, having remembered them from opening for Def Leppard- one of four Lethbridge shows they played this year.
They may as well be honourary Lethbians. The band played their usual solid set though guitarist Adam Hicks, bassist Adam Grant and drummer Kurt Dahl pretty much drowned out frontman Shane Volk, who leaped round the stage like a frog with his feet on fire.
His powerful piercing voice,which sounds like a mix of Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi, is pretty unforgettable. They have been playing together for 10 years and coming to Lethbridge for pretty much all of that time and their experience shows.
They’ve learned to craft, catchy, upbeat rockers as well as slower songs which had the crowd singing along on popular songs “Scarecrow” and “ White Buffalo.”
They even tried out a new song I think they called “Raising Hell, which was a lot slower than I would have expected than a song called “Raising Hell,” but it was still a solid mid-tempo rocker. It drew a lot of applause for the audience.
They wound their set down with “Retribution Blues,” but returned for an encore of their latest single and tour namesake “Psycho Killer,” which was a lot heavier than the Talking Heads’ original.
The show ended just after 10:30 p.m. It’s nice when shows start early and end early on a week night.
