KK’s SteelMill – 15/02/23
One of the pleasures of North American Bands touring the UK is that they generally bring to these shores another artist who is comparatively unknown.
Tonight’s openers Bywater Call hail from Toronto and describe themselves as “A powerhouse 7-piece Southern Soul, Roots Rock band.” However, for this tour it is just the core duo of Meghan Parnell on vocals and Dave Barnes on guitar warming the audience. The beauty of introducing songs to a new audience in this format is that the listener can hear and familiarise themselves with the simplest, rawest and purest rendition of a song, then be totally poleaxed when they hear the full versions.
‘Lover Down Slow’ opened the evening. In its original form, this is a huge song drawing on funk, blues and Detroit Soul influences. ‘Been Gone’ was a new song written especially for this tour. Look forward to hearing this one given the full band treatment
‘Swing Low’ is an obvious choice to include in this stripped back set. Meghan requested the crowd join in with her on the infectious ‘Silver Lining’ with many duly obliging.
While introducing a mid-set brace of Blues standards, Dave said “Before Robert Jon, there was Robert Johnson.” – what a fantastic line! ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’ then segued into Mr Johnson’s own ‘Come On In My Kitchen.’ Rather like the enigma’s own arrangements, blues works so well in this form.
Introduced as “A song of loss”, ‘Bring Me Down’ saw Dave go electric. My what a tone he had, heightened by a most exquisite slide solo in the middle. The sound invoked images of vast desolate landscapes. A great song to be featured in a Tarantino or Coen Brothers movie for sure.
As Meghan reminds us ‘Left Behind’ “is a big song”and was the perfect way to close the set.
At times her vocals were not too dissimilar to Beth Hart sans vibrato and were clear and powerful throughout. This performance served as an aperitif; it whetted the appetite in advance of their return in the autumn for a full band headlining tour. Given that two of the full band are the horn section, there will be so much more to soak up. This is truly a mouth-watering prospect. I am already imagining those huge arrangements given that extra impetus of live energy. Now, Onto the main event…
Making a hugely anticipated return to the UK are Orange County outfit Robert Jon & The Wreck. Folks are increasingly warming to a sound and musicality that matches, and often surpasses, many of their peers from the Southern States.
Opener ‘Pain No More’ set the tone. Containing the line “Everything I need is in front of me”, what a perfect sentiment to encourage the audience to put aside the pressures of everyday life during this sacred hour. That distinctive harmony guitar sound introduces ‘Do You Remember’ (Being Free). A song whose lyrics send you back to those carefree days of adolescence.
‘She’s a Fighter’ is a balls out rocker, straight out of the American bar room gig scene. “Baby, she’s a fighter, stronger than her words. She’s my raging fire, you best just let her burn.” Ooop North, they’d call her ‘feisty’. The pace continues with ‘Waiting for Your Man’ before Jake’s jazzy keyboard intro into ‘When I Die’. As the number built, Henry’s guitar took on an almost ethereal tone, gradually ramping up before his first real ‘blast off’ of the evening.
A combined drum n bass jam preceded the slow brooding funky blues of ‘Rescue Train’. A far better title than ‘Emotional Rail Replacement Service’ don’t you think? Henry was now beginning to turn up the heat and not to be outdone, the Hammond tones emanating from Jake’s Nord Electro brought another epic number home.
‘High Time’ saw the emphasis shift to some deliciously rocked up yet soulful jazz funk. Groovy!
A beautiful piano piece introduced the heartstring tearing ‘Gold’. One of those ‘Out of love, I wish you all the best through gritted teeth, but so hope it all goes South for you’ kinda of numbers! Chronologically, the flip side of ‘Do You Remember.’ Its world weary “Give back the piece of my heart that you stole, I think that I’m just too old to fight” summarised the commentator’s resignation. A musical high but an emotional low. In an arena or stadia this would be a mass lighter/phone waving moment. There was no respite for those Black Country Cowboys blubbing into their KK’s Dark as ‘Who Can You Love’ continued in a more West Coast, Eagles type, but still downbeat fashion.
Time to lift the mood as Robert Jon enquired “Hope you guys are ready to singalong with this one.” ‘Oh Miss Carolina’ was the perfect tonic, it’s anthemic chorus one of many reasons why it became their UK breakthrough number. The emotional uplift continued with ‘Shine a Light on Me Brother’, Fantastically performed it even got yours truly swaying. Would love one day to hear this performed live with the brass section that appears on the recorded version.
When set closer ‘Cold Night’ approaches almost 20 minutes in duration. It begs the question ‘How could they follow that?’ In truth, they couldn’t and were unable to do so as the clock was about to strike 11. In Henry James they have an absolute prodigious guitarist, whose playing instils the same kind of emotions as Chris Buck. Boy did he shine on this one and leave us with something truly unforgettable. Don’t think that I have witnessed a more stratospheric and satisfying set closer.
But that’s not taking anything away from the rest of the band, who were phenomenally tight. Individually fantastic, collectively out of this world. Every note got better and better as the evening went on. Truly food for the soul. One cannot begin to describe the almost euphoric feeling that lingers still 24 hours after the event. A night that underlined the majesty and undeniable power of music plus I haven’t mentioned ABB once.
Review and pictures: Sophie James
