Live Review: John 5 - Chester

Live Review: John 5 – The Live Rooms, Chester

15th October 2026
Support: Dan Byrne
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Tom Atkin

As the nights turn a bit darker, it was a wet, miserable drive over to Chester to visit The Live Rooms, a great little venue opposite the train station. This John 5 gig has originally been scheduled for back in May, but the masses has turned up tonight, to worship at the feet of their guitar hero.

As back in May, the support act was once again Liverpudlian Dan Byrne, so this was almost a hometown gig for him. Having released his debut album “This is Where the Show Begins” earlier in the year, most songs are from this and he kicks off with “Saviour”. He’s got a strong, soulful voice and the classic rock theme continues during “Like Animals” and “She’s the Devil”.

There are some slower moments, during “Pulling Me Under” and he thanks the crowd “for keeping this scene alive” before the heavier “Hate Me”. There’s a few clap along moments with the crowd, as he interacts well, but I wish he’d introduced the musicians, instead of just saying “my band” as they are integral to what he does. It ends with “Death of Me” which was “the first song I ever wrote” and he holds a few powerful notes before wrapping up.

To alleviate some of the crowding downstairs, the venue opened the balcony, so more people could see John 5 perform and after a delayed start, drummer Alejandro Mercado started off the set before the versatile guitarist appears. Starting with the heavy “Seasons of the Witch” a plethora of phones start filming as the fret tapping skills are on full display.

Having played alongside and toured with Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Motley Crue, smaller venues like this must seem odd, but this is the lifeblood and he gives it everything to entertain us with his innovative instrumental songs. “The Ghost” is a slice of soloing heaven, but when he plays the first few notes of the cowboy inspired “Howdy” you can see beaming smiles and bodies swaying.

It also demonstrates how comfortable he is playing different styles of music, and the crowd lap it up. The fret work is undeniably impressive, if somewhat over the top on times, but he shreds those strings for around 75mins and the crowd are mesmerised. One of the highlights for me was the recognisable riffs of “Crank It” as he places a mask and wig on whilst playing, as the vocal hook reverberates across the room.

He gets a great response when playing a few chords from Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” ahead of the anthemic “I am John 5” which the masses sing back to him. He turns his hand to a bit of bluesy rock with “You Me and the Devil Makes Three” before finally stepping up to the mic to say his first word, “hello” in a soft, hushed voice. His skills are on full display throughout and at one point his left hand was over the top of the fretboard pressing down on the strings, as he fret tapped away furiously, and he also plays the strings at the head of the guitar next to the tuning keys, to create more unique sounds.

He turns to another genre for “Moon Glow” as the jazzy notes flow from his fingertips, before going all heavy again during “The Black Grass Plague”. He then explained that the original date was cancelled because he had to appear on American Idol but was glad that “everyone showed up tonight, thank you” before playing a medley of Motley Crue songs, to leave the masses happy and fulfilled.