Rival Sons @ Oxford Academy

Rival Sons @ Oxford Academy (Sam Holt)

The venue tonight is a little intimate to say the least and throughout the show it is clear this is a band that thanks its fans for coming out and supporting live music. After all, smaller grassroots venues are just important as the bigger ones, some could argue possibly more so for giving those up and coming newer artists a place to be heard and experienced.

Opening tonight are Creeping Jean, a band from the Brighton area, they are support for much of this tour going forward with their music described as “a modern twist on vintage ’60s and ’70s sound” and I can see why. I note they site Rival Sons as one of their inspirations, so as their opener I can only imagine they would be in their element. I can’t help but love the interaction between the band members moving around on stage as they played, it was clear they were enjoying themselves and it comes across in their music. I notice some of their lyrics almost sound like rap-infused rock, an interesting subtle combination that works well. From their set, I enjoy Fluorescent Colour Skies, a song that has that feel good factor and also noticed Sassy Got Shakes, both songs I gather were released as singles. They do well, garner great applause and build the atmosphere up, ready for tonight’s headliners.

As the house lights dim, Rival Sons take the stage. Opening with Mirrors from Darkfighter, as they did last year, makes for a powerful opener. The pipe organ building up and then the way frontman Jay Buchanan’s vocals come in, not forgetting the acoustic guitar, there are so many different layers, and yet it blends together seamlessly.

The Long Beach, California-hailing quartet go on to play a great rendition of Feral Roots, the title track from their 2019 LP. It kicks off with Buchanan on his acoustic guitar and continues with a fantastic solo from lead guitarist Scott Holiday. If you ever get the chance to check it, out there’s a fabulous acoustic version on YouTube with Buchanan and Holiday playing acoustics. “How y’all doing?” asks Buchanan of his audience, and we scream back in the affirmative.

Open My Eyes from 2014’s Great Western Valkyrie LP has the crowd singing “Somebody, Somebody, Somebody Open My Eyes” along with the band lead in great voice while for Pressure & Time, drummer Mike Miley delivers a mesmerising solo while Holiday and bass man Dave Beste add a little extra with what look like jingle bells. The audience are there with the band, singing along lyrics at every opportunity they can and adding their dimension to the chorus of Do Your Worst, but for the best singalong they help Buchanan out with Shooting Stars. It really is fantastic to hear, a band and their fans in harmony together.

The 48-year-old frontman speaks emotionally about the atrocities of the last year, telling us that everything has become political in the United States, digging deep and asking rhetorically: “what’s political about children going missing?” “This one’s for all those displaced” he continues, sharing an incredibly emotional solo rendition of Shooting Stars with just his acoustic guitar for accompaniment, the crowd joining in with “My love is stronger than yours, my vein is deeper than yours”, not forgetting all the ooh-oh, ohs. It is incredibly moving, and as the rest of the band return to the stage, Holiday makes a beeline for Buchanan to give him a heartfelt hug.

Introducing Mosaic, the only song from Lightbringer aired tonight, Buchanan’s emphasis is on the collaboration between himself and Holiday when writing it: “it’s a song that has tremendous anthemic qualities to it” he offers.

The quartet close their set with Keep On Swinging and Secret, both going down very well with the Oxford crowd. And as the Academy audience file out, I hear some fabulous comments from people, but perhaps the best was “they were on fire”, and I couldn’t argue. Tonight’s show was absolutely fantastic, an incredible band that are clearly on top of their game. They definitely prove that rock music is far from dead and that Blues Rock, Seventies Rock or whatever label you choose, Rival Sons are incredible musicians playing fantastic music, and delivering it with passion.

Live Review and photography of Rival Sons @ O2 Academy, Oxford on 9th June 2024 by Sam Holt

The Wildhearts Return With Hot New Line-Up At Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Dexys @ Wychwood Festival

Dexys @ Wychwood Festival (Sam Holt)

The Futureheads have been around since 2000 formed in Sunderland, their post punk music was just the thing to kick off Sunday in style, and that they did. They played with vigour and power, playing a set that was enjoyable. It was the first time I have seen them and it won’t be the last. I’ve seen comments on social media stating they were one of the highlights of Wychwood, what I did see and hear of them was enough to impress me.

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are a young band from Cardiff that played Wychwood’s Garden Stage. Frontman Tom Rees cites the influence of metal legends AC/DC, and while BBB might not be as heavy as the Australian rockers, I could feel the influence in a modern context. I couldn’t help but admire his strong stage presence and that of drummer Ethan Hurst who gives his all in their performance, they are ably joined by Zac White and Ed Rees on guitar and bass duties. Their 2022 album Blackhand Deals has already been nominated for an award, judging by their performance I can see why they are making their presence known on the live scene.

Wandering back towards the main stage I caught up with a performance by Seth Lakeman. Seth has made quite the impression in the folk rock scene and was tonight celebrating the 20th anniversary of the widely acclaimed Kitty Jay album. The album was recorded on a shoestring and it’s title track has links to his locale, Dartmoor. I found his opening song, where he played the violin and was joined by Benji Kirkpatrick on the bodhrun drum, powerfully inspiring. Seth brings in his band and switches to playing viola, while the others add some extra dimension adding another violin and double bass to the mix. All in it made for a captivating set of folk music.

The Lightning Seeds had the 6pm slot. Referred to as Wychwood’s own “legends slot” on another well know festival stage, and they were a great fit for it. The Liverpool-hailing six-piece delivered a fantastic set, kicking off with the instantly recognisable Change and airing a number of their well-known hits from over the years including 1992’s Life Of Riley, written for frontman Ian Broudie’s then infant son – Riley. The sun shone down throughout and it was clear the crowd enjoyed their set. The band now includes said song namesake, Riley Broudie on guitar! Given the jubilance, it was a shame they didn’t have a longer slot, but the one song that really hit the sweet spot had to be England’s de facto national football anthem Three Lions, quite poignant considering the European Championships are almost upon us! Of course this time they were not joined by Baddiel and Skinner!

The penultimate act on the main stage was one that many had waited for and were looking forward to, Steven Gene Wold – AKA Seasick Steve – joined by drummer Dan Magnusson. Together they gave a fantastic, barnstorming, foot-stomping blues set. For most of it, the 73-year-old was seated on his well-worn chair and cushion, resting his guitar on his lap. He interacted well with the crowd, recalling all the old-fashioned food outlets in the Southern United States as he launched into Soul Food from his Only On Vinyl album. His latest LP. A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees, is out Friday and Steve asked everyone on the left-hand side of the audience to buy a copy, his reasoning: well if Taylor Swift can go straight to Number 1 with the amount of sales she had, then he stands a good chance too, even if only for a week! I thought he played a fantastic set and particularly loved You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks, closing it out with Bring It On, it was clear he had.

Closing the Garden Stage this year were Dexys (formally of the Midnight Runners variety), with frontman Kevin Rowland and trombone maestro “Big” Jim Paterson the only remaining original members. Rowland looked stylish in his blue and red suit as he stepped up onto the stage speaking lyrics, before launching into To Love Someone, and while his set was short it did include fan old-school fan favourite Geno, and of course monster 1980’s anthem Come On Eileen. It seemed a lot of people were here; the Garden stage was packed out. The music was very soulful and the addition of the brass section has always added to their sound in a great way.

A quick dash over to the main stage for the festival-closing headliner Ocean Colour Scene. The heavy basslines of The Riverboat Song seemed to be drowning out the vocals and their sound as a whole. Fans were shouting from the audience to turn the vocals up in the mix because they couldn’t hear. As the set progressed, they covered The Beatles’ 1965 classic Day Tripper. It seems a lot of the acts this year have played a cover in the set. Ocean Colour Scene’s was largely made up of songs from their seminal 1996 LP Mosely Shoals, closing the music for the weekend with biggest hit, platinum-sellng, The Day We Caught The Train from the album.

Wychwood Festival, now in its twentieth year, has grown over that time. Although it’s not in the area once known as Wychwood according to ancient history, it’s close and has found its home at Cheltenham Racecourse. As people have described it before ‘set in the Cotswolds’, it’s a great festival offering so much more than simply music, is incredibly family friendly and one I’d love to visit again.

Live review and photography of Wychwood Festival 2024 @ Cheltenham Racecourse by Sam Holt on 2nd June 2024

From Hip Hop To Rock, It’s A Bangin’ Saturday At Wychwood Festival 2024 – Day 2

Callum Beattie @ Wychwood Festival

Callum Beattie @ Wychwood Festival (Sam Holt)

I came across the field a little later as Dolly Mavies were playing her own brand of of folk/indie rock, some would say were inspired by seventies style music that I found enchanting. The fact that she had been described as a blend of Stevie Nicks and Florence And The Machine enticed me and I wasn’t disappointed. She is certainly one on my radar for future gigs out there.

The Zangwills followed, a band from the Cheshire I gather. Mark Ratcliffe is a big fan of theirs, their blend of indie rock, taking influences from many artists in the genre especially The Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. They opened with recently released single Walking On A Wire, a song about confusing emotions experienced. I loved their set, these are another band to look out for, stand out songs from the set was Never Look Back that caught me, that pulsating beat and with the jangly guitars worked, it worked exceptionally well.

Scottish singer-songwriter Callum Beattie became somewhat of an internet sensation a few years back a song he posted about the previous election went viral overnight. The 34-year-old introduced his band and from the off he was impressive, leaping around the stage. His performance was high energy all the way, with lots of interaction with the band while also incredibly engaging with his audience. The stand out song for me was Dead Man Walking, but you should never discount clear fan favourite 25 Seconds.

Hotly anticipated Clapham-hailing hip hop and electronic dance group Stereo MC’s were drawing a large crowd long before the speakers exploded into action. They played a short set that the crowd enjoyed immensely, after the song Use It, vocalist Rob Birch asked the assembled festival goers “are you ready to dance, we play music to dance to” as they launched straight into Everything. Much of their set was from their hit 1992 LP Connected released, with the next song aired it’s title track, the seminal 1992 single released as a single at the time, reaching number 18 in the charts. They really were a great addition to the bill, and went some distance to create a party vibe, not that it was needed in a festival setting.

London-hailing experimental rock three-piece Mary In The Junk Yard were an interesting act to catch, playing the Garden Stage. Their music has been described as chaotic rock, and yeah I can see that! I love the fact they don’t take themselves too seriously and, at a previous gig, dressed as farmyard animals renaming the band: “Mary In The Farm”. Saya Barbaglia swaps her bass with guitarist & vocalist Clari Freeman Taylor, to effortlessly take on violin duties, adding extra depth to the trio’s sound, rounded out by drummer David Addison.

Tribute acts might be two-a-penny, but The Bootleg Beatles set the gold standard. Their set was received enthusiastically and include many of the original group’s biggest hits, opening with I Saw Her Standing There quickly followed by She Loves You. I must admit, I did find it a little ironic when they sang Here Comes The Sun given it was rather overcast weather-wise to say the least! Their performance was highly charged and lots of singing along with the crowd could be heard, even by those not in the arena. I overhead one festival goer singing along as he cooked his food!

Over the years Merseyside has been home to many great bands, and The Coral are no exception. The band, from Hoylake, may have been formed back in the late 90s they are still regulars on the festival circuit. Bill Mc Cai from their 2003 album Magic and Medicine, a song that’s always been a live favourite, opened their set. Theirs was a varied set that included In The Morning, that for me sums up their style of music completely, but what did surprise was a cover they threw into the mix by way of The Doors’ 1967 classic People Are Strange which, considering their sound, made for an interesting rendition!

Scottish rockers Texas took to the stage to headline Saturday, there were chants of Sharleen, Sharleen, whether they enticed her out or not, I don’t know. Having not seen them before, I didn’t know what to expect and was hugely impressed. Opening with debut 1989 single I Don’t Want A Lover, they rattled through a fantastic set that was received enthusiastically by the Cheltenham, crowd. I loved frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri’s interaction with the crowd, telling them of her opinion on Facebook, why her daughter doesn’t swear (apparently!), and about the bottle of moonshine she bought that morning. Many of their hits over the years were in the set including 1997 hit singles Say What You Want, Black Eyed Boy and Halo. Interestingly enough, Sharleen had commented about the weather and how cold it was before giving us a weather forecast for better weather. I overheard so many comments from festival-goers following their set about how Texas had been the highlight of the Festival for them so far and I really couldn’t argue, they were a fantastic addition to the bill and they a great act to end what had been a fantastic day of music.

Live review and photography of Wychwood Festival 2024 @ Cheltenham Racecourse by Sam Holt on 1st June 2024

Wychwood Festival 2024 – The Music Festival That Offers So Much More – Day 1

Sister Sledge @ Wychwood Festival

Sister Sledge @ Wychwood Festival (Sam Holt)

From a musical perspective, this weekend’s line up is incredibly varied. Headliners for Friday night were Sister Sledge, but there were many more acts on the other stages, those on the smaller stages were not be dismissed in any way, and are just as important as those on the bigger stage, the Sam stage.

Some people may have come for the Barrioke, a themed karaoke hosted by Shaun Williamson, better known as Barry from Eastenders, while others may have come to hear the Teddy Bear Ladies from TV’s The Repair shop reading from, and promoting their book Bartie Bristle And Other Stories.

Friday afternoon started with Scottish rockers Big Country, who played enthusiastically with a passion that was obvious, they were full of power firing on all cylinder as some would say. They played fan favourites such as Look Away, In A Big Country and Fields Of Fire, not only had I enjoyed their powerful set but it was obvious the assembled crowd at the main stage loved them, I guess they set the pace for what was to come. It was only after their set I discovered that it was their vocalist’s first gig with the band, quite the baptism of fire.

The Hoosiers, a band I had come across before, followed. I’m informed their name derives from their time in Indianapolis where people are referred to colloquially as Hoosiers. I loved their matching attire or their stage wear, it looked very effective. The guys opened with Choices, a song from The Illusion Of Safety album, and their set was varied, a lot of the set was made up of songs from the Trick To Life and Confidence albums, they even squeezed in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for good measure, playing a solid set they were well received by the crowd.

Corrine Bailey Rae was someone I knew very little about but was interested in discovering more. She has an interesting background initially classically trained, before moving through the jazz scene to settle as a singer songwriter, tonight she performed songs mainly from her latest album Black Rainbows and there were so many influences coming across as she performed. I particularly enjoyed the third song in her set, He Will Follow You With His Eyes, that she spoke so eloquently about as she introduced it. All in I was quite taken by her set.

Seventies Soul and RnB stars Sister Sledge headlined Friday night and came out to a long intro… that became Lost In Music perhaps one of their biggest hits, it really set the party spirit alive. The crowd loved it, and the band clearly enjoyed hearing them singing back to them. All five of them at the front of the stage were coordinating their moves effectively, the three sisters were joined by two male singers. More hits such as Frankie and He’s The Greatest Dancer followed. Although they have a good back catalogue of albums, I found most of their big hits came from 1979’s We Are Family LP, and it was the title song from that record they chose to close their set with. And it was an inspired choice, especially with the friendly family atmosphere of the day, one espoused by the ethos of this festival.

Live review and photography of Wychwood Festival 2024 @ Cheltenham Racecourse by Sam Holt on 31st May 2024

Nothing In Their Way As Keane Conquer The O2 On The 20th Anniversary Of Hopes And Fears

The Cadillac Three @ Tramshed, Cardiff

The Cadillac Three @ Tramshed, Cardiff (Sam Holt)

They are joined on this tour by Willy Cobb and his band as well as Stephen Wilson Jr., both acts hailing from the same area, both very different, but somehow complementing the show nicely tonight.

Opening act was Willy Cobb, a new act to me. Originally from Georgia, but now based in Nashville, his music was a cross between Grunge and Country, maybe throw in a little southern rock in too! As I was told tonight it was ‘Grock’, a made-up term perhaps, but it made for an interesting set if it was a little short. But with three acts in one evening it’s an understandable concession. I did like the upbeat and catchy Cigarettes Smell that he closed his set with.

Stephen Wilson Jr. follows next, for his set he is joined by Scotty Berry on steel guitar, together they make quite an impact, especially with their use of effects to enhance their music. He reminded everyone its Stephen with a “P H”, Wilson as in the volleyballs and Junior. I found his southern drawl interesting at times . His music was well received and he had the audience singing along with him. He has recently released an album Son Of Dad, I’m guessing it’s so called because he was brought up by a single father. The stand-out song from his set I thought was Year To Be Young In 1994, that tells the story of his life as it was thirty years ago. He told everyone he was coming back later in the year, I suspect there will be plenty along to see him.

A little after 9pm a voice booms out over the PA, introducing the band, as they launch into a set that lasted close to two hours. While they were promoting the new album, tonight’s setlist comprises much of their back catalogue that was absorbed by an enthusiastic audience tonight. The sounds was clear and crisp. Jaren reminded us this was the last night of the tour “we’ve all had a great time, all’s been well apart from Willy’s shoes” the mind boggles? But what a great into to Bury Me In My Boots, I couldn’t help but notice Jaren waving his plastic cup in the air at the end, but was it Whiskey in the cup? I guess we’ll never know. This was followed by a new song, Hillbilly from The Years Go Fast. By now the band and the crowd had become one voice singing enthusiastically Hard Out There For A Country Boy, this time from the Country Fuzz album.

The Cadillac Three @ Tramshed, Cardiff

The Cadillac Three @ Tramshed, Cardiff (Sam Holt)

While Jaren is seen as the frontman for the band, both Kelby and Neil stood up plenty of times to whip up audience further, not that they needed any encouragement to be fair, but it was great to see, nonetheless. Jaren is a fine frontman and took the lead to sing solo, a love song he told tonight’s concert goers as he played Running Red Lights singing “Baby I’m going crazy, running red lights to get to you” it was another song that had them all singing him in unison with power, but then what else would I expect from a Cardiff crowd? Welcoming Scotty Berry back as an extra steel guitar player at one point added a further dimension to their already fantastic sound. Before we knew it, the band ended with the phenomenal The South giving the assembled throng a chance to sing “This Is Where I was Born And This Is Where I’ll die”, well I guess Cardiff is in the South of Wales? But maybe not the south the song is referring to, but hey, never mind. There was no encore but along with the crowd singing, they brought out Stephen Wilson Jr. and Willy Cobb for a final rousing rendition of “This Is Where I Was Born, And This Is Where I’ll Die”. Though they might have been referring to their own journey, it translates wherever they go and Cardiff is no exception.

It had been a fabulous night of music, maybe something a little different to the type of gigs I normally go to, but then I enjoy most genres of music, this included. I’d also go as far as saying I think Stephen Wilson Jr. is also a fantastic talent and one to look out for in the future.

Live review and photography of The Cadillac Three @ Cardiff Tramshed by Sam Holt on 16th May 2024.

Dea Matrona Bring For Your Sins To London’s Lower Third