Review of

 “Stone”

 At The Fox & Hounds, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes on:05/02/05

 By: Gaby

 Ok so, this was not the most promising and inspiring venue for a rock band! The Fox & Hounds is small, very smoky and sits in what for many is considered to be folk and roots musical territory, but with a change of ownership and the promise of more live music and esp. rock we decided to take a trip out to this far dark corner of Milton Keynes.

 Stone is a bit of a unique hybrid of a band, made up of an eclectic mix of musicians old and young drawn together from various other local bands which played a first set of what for some might be called David Grey inspired self penned original material mostly of the depressing kind followed up by a noisy and packed audience approving second half set of traditional and classic rock hit covers with everything thrown in from “The Police” to “Guns n Roses” tracks on offer. If anything I wanted a lot more but sadly the bell had rung and last orders were being called.

 What for me was the true saving grace of this mixed evening’s musical offerings was the very special voice of the lead singer and front man. This was his gig. He owned it and he took charge. His voice was fab and was a delight upon my ears suiting a wide and diverse range of rock inspired songs offering a well appreciated performance on the small Fox & Hounds stage.

If anything I felt the band were not up to the task as well as their lead singer most certainly was and often fell far short of the professionalism that he so emphatically delivered from every pore of his being.

 Sadly let down by the average musicianship of his band “Stone” were most certainly not the best rock covers band I have heard in recent times, but equally were not the worst. Somewhere down the middle I would place them but with a singer that was most certainly of rare pedigree indeed.

So to sum up I would recommend you check this band out, but watch out for the lead singer cause this guy definitely deserves to flex his vocal muscles elsewhere where his true vocal talents can shine forth without restraint.