Review: Black Country Communion ****

THE path to rock ‘n’ roll fame is littered with the cadavers of those who failed to make it.

Their number could very easily have included Glenn Hughes, formerly of Deep Purple, who travelled down William Blake’s road of excess and lived to tell the tale.

But rather than becoming another washed out rock star, Hughes set about his musical, and spiritual, recovery, culminating in the creation of Black Country Communion.

Rock supergroups have come and gone over the years but you suspect this one is here to stay for a while yet.

As well as bass player Hughes, its line-up includes Jason Bonham, son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, the brilliant keyboardist Derek Sherinian and Joe Bonamassa, arguably the greatest blues-rock guitarist in the world right now.

There is always a risk when a band is cobbled together that the individuals prove greater than the sum of their parts. But not here. From the moment Hughes’s dirty bassline kicked off the show, the quartet hit the ground rocking.

The virtuoso talent on show was, at times, mesmerising with The Ballad of John Henry and Sista Jane among the many highlights.

At the end of the show the band stood arm in arm and took a bow to rapturous applause from an ecstatic crowd. "We are Black Country Communion and we're a rock ‘n’ roll band," proclaimed Hughes.

They certainly are, and a darn good one to boot.