Live Reviews | 2011

Americana10, CUC, Liverpool, 12 November 2011

Written by D W Hesketh | 06 December 2011

With a scheduled eight hours of music over two rooms plus an acoustic stage curated by the venue, American10 was more of a mini festival than an all dayer or gig. All aspects of the UK Americana scene was covered from the folky City Shanty Band and Ratty Little Fingers;to the singer song writers Jason McNiff and Quiet Loner (with his unlikely to ever be repeated and specially commissioned rendition of Boston’s ‘More Then A Feeling’); the country rock of Redlands Palomino Company, The Lucky Strikes and Case Hardin through to the Springsteen inspired epic songs of headliner Danny and the Champions of the World. Unless you fasted all day and had a cast iron bladder seeing everyone was impossible so D W Hesketh concentrated on the American acts: Richmond Fontaine, Mark Eitzel and Richard. John Hawes

I have watched and met Richard Buckner on several occasions in Manchester and New York. My son and daughter had been with me on two of these occasions and his accapella singing of ‘Leave And Travel Well’ is impaled on all of our memories, as is ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ on a broken down harmonium. He was always polite, charming and interested. A sweet man and, except perhaps for the addition of braids, he looked the same as in the Mercury lounge. His performances never fail, he is a singular presence. I think it was Michael Stipe that suggested that the fact that Richard can perform at all gives you faith in the idea of music as a business. His throaty voice is an ‘acquired taste’. Never fully understood the phrase, is there a taste that isn’t acquired? What I love about his performances is his total focus, lyrically and through that tightly strung guitar he sings as if his life depends on it. It probably does. The other musicians, especially the Italian be-hatted guitarist right of stage were exemplary.

American Music Club have always intrigued me, especially the pivotal role of Mark Eitzel. The song ‘Johnny Mathis Feet’ is an example of perfect songwriting as far as I’m concerned; priceless. The introduction honed in on the potential for a master songwriter and again he delivers, ‘Western Sky’ straight in! I was fascinated by the position of the microphone. I have never seen anyone sing like that! He held it against his lower chest as if he was about to sing and wailed, again as if his life depended on it. A rapt audience, as far as I could tell, allowed him to prowl the very front of the stage precariously. Almost feral and not quite threatening this was definitely more like a bout than a serenade. His fellow musician, considerably younger, did well to pick up the tiny nuances as guides, even when one song fell apart, and you did think this might not be the easiest man to accompany. He did seem very fit considering, that he had a heart attack earlier this year. All in all, it was an inspiring confirmation of a performer at some sort of peak.

I had seen the full version of Richmond Fontaine in the Academy on Oxford Road about three years ago and they seemed a very seamless road band with a massive repertoire and an intuitive understanding of each other. These two seemed to be the bedrock of that band. Vlautin sings like a writer and writes like a singer and Dan Eccles seemed to relish the challenges Willy gave him as the gaps in each mini-saga presented him with the opportunity to hammer the strings, the pedals, the guitar body or all three at once. It was convincing, authentic and performed with a natural grace; fabulous.

Bob Dylan support from Mark Knopfler, Hammersmith Apollo, 21st November 2011

Written by Jonathan Aird | 30 November 2011

A return visit after the previous night's triumphant gig, and already at 7PM the stalls were significantly more packed than they had been the night before. Having scouted around a little bit, and knowing where Dylan would be, I settled in at a spot which should offer a reasonable view of the stage and Dylan.

Mark Knopfler gave virtually the same set as the night before, and I have to admit that I enjoyed it a bit more - perhaps it was the familiarity that made it more palatable, or maybe it was being able to see all of the band this time. There's definitely a correlation between visual contact and musical enjoyment. If it was busy before the Apollo was rammed by the time Dylan took the stage and I was discombobulated when just as Bob came on stage a wall appeared in front of me - tall people at gigs, don't you hate them ? So there followed some ducking and weaving to try and see something, and a couple of relocations which offered a better view for a song or two - but this was a seething crowd in perpetual motion as it lapped like waves around the stage

Dylan was sporting a frock coat as well as his trademark white wide brimmed hat . At first he seemed somewhat grumpier than the night before - even if his vocals were if anything even better - but by the third song of the set he's settled in and was cool again. The little nods and half smiles were back to the fore. 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' was again superbly rendered, and Dylan seemed to take particular pleasure over the line "I used to care but things have changed" in the set's third song. Has the seventy year old Dylan come fully to terms with the weight of expectations every time the takes the stage? Is that why he seems so relaxed and at ease now? Is the whole song about performing live? Maybe, it could be read that way.

Mark Knopfler left the stage after the third song - and some people started drifting away as well soon after. Not a large number, but a steady stream; the same thing had happened the night before. How strange. I actually had to read the answer to this puzzle elsewhere to understand - some people had come only to see Mark Knopfler. Well, what can I say about that?

To be honest the tempo dropped a little over the following three songs - 'Spirit On The Water', 'Honest With Me' and 'Forgetful Heart' representing a slowing of the pace song by song and were perhaps too many softer songs in a row. There was definitely some wandering off of audience attention. Let’s be blunt - there was talking in class. The rocking-blues of 'The Levee's Gonna Break' got things back on track, and 'Man In The Long Black Coat' may have lacked the recorded version's eerie soundtrack but did allow Dylan to sing centre stage, strike poses and play his harp - and these are all good things. It's great to see Dylan not stuck behind the keyboards for the whole gig - he'd also played guitar on a couple of songs.

The next six songs were identical to the previous night - which is both a good and a bad thing: these are major works and having them all there is crowd pleasing - but leaves less room for Dylan to completely chop and change the set list on a nightly basis. It is also to be expected that the set list would lack any of Dylan's and Knopfler’s 1980s collaborations – for them to be present would be just too obvious!

On 'Ballad Of A Thin Man' Dylan used an echo effect on the vocals - which seems to amuse him as much as anything. It also adds to the underlying uncomfortable feeling of disorientation and confusion inherent in the lyrics. The volume and the speed continued to build until the dam of joy bursts forth on 'Like a Rolling Stone' with the Apollo shaking with the audience's gleeful sing-a-long on the chorus. "How does it feel?", it feels pretty good. And then Bob speaks: "Thank you everyone, mumble, mumble, Mr Mark Knopfler". Sure enough Mark Knopfler re-joined the band to add additional lead guitar and to duet with Dylan on 'Forever Young' and when he reached the line "may your songs always be sung" he made a big gesture towards Dylan which predictably got a huge cheer, which even Dylan couldn’t pretend he hadn't noticed. As the band took their leave of the stage there was huge and prolonged applause, it took a long time for the house lights to go up raising that small hope of an extra encore - but, well, if you start doing that once then everyone will want one. Leave 'em wanting more is the Dylan family motto.

And so that's it the end of the tour and the last Dylan gig for 2011 - come back soon Bobby Dylan.

Bob Dylan Set List

Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Things Have Changed
Spirit On The Water
Honest With Me
Forgetful Heart
The Levee's Gonna Break
Man in the Long Black Coat
Highway 61 Revisited
Desolation Row
Thunder on The Mountain
Ballad of a Thin Man
All Along The Watchtower
Like A Rolling Stone
Forever Young (Mark Knopfler on guitar and vocals)

Mark Knopfler Set List

What It Is
Cleaning My Gun
Sailing To Philadelphia
Hill Farmer's Blues
Privateering (new MK song)
Song for Sonny Liston
Haul Away (new MK song)
Marbletown
Brothers In Arms
Speedway At Nazareth
So Far Away

ahab, Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 17 Nov 2011

Written by John Hawes | 30 November 2011

“We want people to come away saying ahab and not Bellowhead. We want them to say 'how have we not heard of them?' We mean to steal the show!”

Seebs Llewellyn - ahab

Steal the show? From Bellowhead? That will the same Bellowhead who have won Best Live Act at the BBC folk awards five times, best group twice and, unsurprisingly, are nominated in both categories again for 2012? Not too much of an ask then?

It had been a long time since I last saw ahab, they were playing as a duo - just Dave Burn and Callum Adamson. It had been a very long time since I first saw them, a four piece (Burn and Adamson with a bassist and drummer whose names I’ve long since forgotten) playing a packed, sweat laden, Enterprise in Camden. They had also drafted in Adrian Roye and Beth Dariti to help out on harmony vocals and it was those vocal arrangements that so impressed me then and now; with Seebs Llewellyn (bass and vocals) and Luke Price (mandolin and vocals) stealing the show was not such a flight of fancy.

Opening track ‘Lucy’ was one of several up tempo tracks where foot tapping was the bare minimum requirement and full scale dancing was hard to avoid. Llewellyn’s statement of intent was actually slightly tempered just before the ridiculously catchy ‘Lightnin’ Bug’, “We know you’re here to see Bellowhead, but we’re gonna play like you’re here to see us”: and they did.

ahab’s thirty minutes stage time flew past. Each track had the same six and twelve string acoustic guitars, electric bass, mandolin and drums but each track seemed a little bigger than it’s predecessor. As requested, everyone clapped along to ‘Rosebud’ and few stopped as ‘Call A Waiter’ started'.

The most impressive thing about ahab was the way they went about winning new fans. They looked like they were having a ball and that’s infectious. I couldn’t say that they stole the show as Bellowhead were on top form. Opening with ‘Yarmouth Town’ closing with ‘New York Girls’ (folk’s take on “floor fillers” I suppose) and fuelled up on ‘Sloe Gin’ and ‘Whisky [is The Life of Man]’ in-between, when it comes to delivering a high energy show there are few their equal. But if ahab put in performances like this on the rest of the tour they surely be moving on to bigger things.

Johnny Daukes, the Bowery, London, 16 November 2011

Written by John Hawes | 30 November 2011

Generally there are three ways of getting to review a gig: a PR company contacts you and says “hey! Come down and review my band” or, you hear a band you like, you search out the PR company and say “hey! I’d love to review your band” or you’ve no intention of reviewing but what you’ve just seen and heard is so good you are just compelled to write about it. Very rarely (and by this I mean the chances of it happening ever again are slim to non-existent) you are invited to see a preview of a film and the director of said film gives out copies of his new album and asks you along to the launch.

The Film Acts Of Godfrey, the director was Johnny Daukes, the album ‘A False Parade’ and the venue New Oxford Street’s The Bowery, an intimate location that you would go to if the 12 bar felt a bit too spacious. 8:20 it was nigh on empty, at 8:29 it was full and at 8:30 Daukes and his band (electric lead guitar, cello and two backing vocalists holding clip boards – I wasn’t sure if they were going to sing or take a survey) took their seats on the low stage to start a quite magical 40 minutes.

Considering this gig is to launch his second solo album, ‘To Catch The Stars’, taken from his debut solo album Promise is not the most obvious of opening tracks but turned out to be typical of the running order his set, jumping between the past, present and future in no predicable order. ‘The Emperor’s Old Clothes’ is the track the plays out over the closing credits of ‘Act’s of Godfrey’ and is from A False Parade, as are ‘A Roll Call’ and ‘Vincent’. ‘Fool’ and ‘Thief’ are both from ‘The Man Who Cannot See’ an acoustic album set for release next spring.

Despite the moving back and forth across his recorded time line all are a perfect fit. The arrangements were both sparse and rich at the same time; the lead guitar was beautifully understated with the volume rarely rising so creating maximum impact when it did, the backing vocals were ‘complimentary and the cello underpinned everything. The final track 'Beneath My Skin’ was, by now unsurprisingly, the oldest (from his time with nineties indie band Fin).

With Acts Of Godfrey due for national release early next year, another film ready for pre-production and a third being written I suspect Daukes with guitar rather than camera will be a rare treat.

Bob Dylan and his band, support from Mark Knopfler, Hammersmith Apollo, 20th October 2011

Written by Jonathan Aird | 24 November 2011

This is a bit of a homecoming, for Bob and for me. For Bob it represents a return to playing reasonable sized venues in London (last time through was at The Dome - an insane venue for seeing Bob Dylan) and for me, well Hammersmith Odeon early '90s was the point where Bob and I parted company for gigs - the sound had been awful, and Bob and his band didn't seem to be playing the same song most of the time. Subsequent reading suggested I'd been unlucky enough to catch Bob at the nadir of his live career, and had missed some excellent gigs before we hooked up again in 2005. So there's some emotional investment - from my side at least.

Dylan has been touring with Mark Knopfler as his opening support band, I'd lazily assumed this was just an acoustic or one man band effort - but no, it's a big eight piece band, with a surprising number of mandolins and flutes in attendance. For the ten or so songs - to be honest I lost track after about twenty minutes - they mostly avoided Dire Straits, with only a couple of songs the Knopfler neophyte might recognise making the set list. For the rest it was mostly sped up celtic-folky-rock stuff, lots of violin and flute and Knopfler playing impressive guitar but with the weakness that it all tended to blend into one long song. A slight diversion was achieved with 'Privateering', described as a new song and with the introduction of an accordion and a nautical motif you might have thought we were veering into Decemberists territory - well not quite, but it was more memorable. In fact if I was to make a comparison to a folk tinged rock band then it would be Jethro Tull, musically at least - Knopfler is a far less flamboyant vocalist. The Straits input was 'Brothers in Arms' and

'So Far Away' neither of which did all that much for me - I'm not a complete Straits hater, I have the debut album and am a resolute defender of 'Sultans of Swing' as a great song, but these two are just too slick.

Which might make it sound as if Knopfler's presence was not a good thing - but I have a feeling it was, as he came on stage with Bob and his band, and added guitar for the first four songs of the set. From the start the sound was great, Dylan's vocals were great and 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat' bounced along in uncontrollable glee. Dylan was on keyboards and seemed in a fine mood - smiling, flashing little grins and almost, dare I say it, making a concession to audience interaction with fleeting eye contact. He seemed, as the set went on to be playing the role of a raconteur, a genial teller of tales. He looked more obviously happy than I'd ever seen him before. I like this Dylan.

'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' - with Dylan on guitar now making formidable 4 guitar line up - came across perfectly, the only significant difference being on the title line which was delivered almost as a curt dismissal -"this thing is over, it's time for you to go, to move on". And it's all change again for 'Things have changed' - Dylan now singing centre stage, breaking off to blow his harp into a hand held mic', Chicago blues man style. And the pathos of 'Trying To Get To Heaven', Bob, we know you're 70, don't remind us of your mortality.

This was a set of songs though to dumb found those habitual critics - here were well know songs from his sixties heyday a-plenty, with four off Highway 61 Revisited. Yes and here were songs from recent albums - 'Thunder On The Mountain' was a great pounding success and heralded in a powerful closing series of top-notch undeniable well know well sung well played and not so altered classic Dylan songs. And where songs were chosen that were not off the well know albums they were, like 'Blind Willie McTell' - songs that should have been on the studio albums; even if the banjo backed arrangement of tonight did drop the slower haunting pace of the version eventually released on the Bootleg series - but Dylan's harp solos added back the needed epic scale.

'Highway 61 Revisited' was a real joy for me - perfectly, perfectly played and such a contrast to that same song at that '90's gig I mentioned before - the slaughtering of this song on that occasion was the straw that broke the camel's back. Not tonight, tonight Dylan and the band were in perfect synchronisation, and Dylan's little sideways turns whilst still vamping away one handed on the keyboard was the crystallisation of all those moments throughout the gig when Dylan was having fun. Did I mention I like this Dylan?

Somewhere around 'Thunder On The Mountain' the band became f**king loud - 'Ballad Of A Thin Man' was redolent of dazed confusion and a scenester lost in a scene that isn't his. Something was happening here and it was something magical. 'All Along The Watchtower' destroyed my expectations - so used to an emulation of the Hendrix version the soft swooning guitar introduction, more reminiscent of Dave Gilmour, led into a more melodically eloquent version. Loud, but pleasing to the ears. What can you say of the catharsis of 'Like A Rolling Stone'? It signals the end, but it's a beautiful end, a surge of energy from the band and the audience, an elongated epic that leaves one shaken, exhausted and sweaty - this is as good as it gets.

So, houselights up after lengthy applause, and as one loan voice repeatedly shouts "boo" at the lack of an encore wiser heads make for the exits. Bob delivered. An exhilarating 90 minutes.