NORTH TONAWANDA — There were soaring guitars, melodic keyboards and larger-than-life power ballads.
All of those musical qualities are distinguishable characteristics for several 1980s rock acts.
Those are also traits shared by Canadian rockers Honeymoon Suite and the female-led hard rock group Vixen.
The last time both acts performed at the Riviera Theatre, they missed each other’s performance by mere weeks in November 2019.
Nearly five years later, the unique pairing took the stage once again, this time for the same rock-entranced audience on Wednesday night.
Anchored by founding drummer Roxy Petrucci, Vixen effectively set the tone for the evening by whipping through 10 songs over the course of a 60-minute set that mostly culled from their self-titled 1988 debut album and their 1990 sophomore effort “Rev It Up.”
Lead vocalist Rosa Laricchiuta, who joined the group this year, confidentiality delivered on the band’s vintage material and effectively engaged the crowd on songs such as “Cryin’ ” and “I Want You to Rock Me,” the latter of which interpolated snippets of multiple rock songs from bands such as Van Halen and Whitesnake.
It was ultimately the set-capping “Edge of a Broken Heart,” that brought nearly the entire audience to their feet, many with cell phones in hand – something that would often be seen during Honeymoon Suite’s set.
Over the course of their 90-minute headlining performance, the Niagara Falls, Ont., rockers largely displayed an equally energetic rock prowess that led to their dominance of pop-rock radio north of the border for the better part of the decade.
The band and lead vocalist Johnnie Dee in particular knew how to work the room and got the most out of the audience.
There were several moments during the performance where the band would drop out during a chorus to have the audience carry the part by singing along and did so handily on songs such as “Stay in the Light” and “Wave Babies.”
The musicianship from guitarist Derry Grehan, bassist Gary Lalonde, drummer Dave Betts and keyboardist Peter Nunn were also front and center throughout the performance as the band would expand upon their radio-friendly rock hits with extended solos and jams.
Nunn even took a stab at playing on the theatre’s Wurlitzer organ during a portion of his keyboard solo.
The band’s set struck a balance of old and new, featuring two songs from their new album, including the title track for “Alive,” which was a last-minute addition to the set.
As the band was starting to exit the stage as the final chords of their signature hit “New Girl Now” rang out, Dee and Nunn remained on stage.
After a brief exchange of words between the two, Dee and Nunn began performing the song by themselves with the rest of the band joining back in ahead of the song’s second verse.
“We don’t need a click, we don’t need nothing. Just play the drums,” Dee said on stage to Betts as he cued in the band.
The last-minute decision appeared to be received well by an enthusiastic audience who maintained a steady level of applause and cheers as the band followed it up with a drum solo from Betts that led into the set-closing song “Love Changes Everything.”