Apologies for a belated review for this gig last week. First up are the mighty His Lordship. Anyone who had originally bought these tickets some two and half years ago expecting to see original support, one of James’ Walbourne’s other bands The Rails were in for a shock tonight. This is no acoustic folk affair but an incendiary assault on the senses with James and band rattling through their fifties inspired rock n roll tunes. Luckily the crew with me tonight were already aware of the wonders of His Lordship after seeing them live twice in small venues like the Lex and Moth Club.
They rattled through their forty minute set and I think after the initial shock the audience got behind them and they won over some new fans. For me it didn’t work as well on the huge stage of the Odeon and look forward to seeing them again in a small sweaty club.
Next up is Isbell and the 400 unit. I have seen him live probably more than any other artist in the last twenty years with eight solo/band shows and a couple of Drive By Truckers shows to boot. Always a good night whether solo acoustic or with band like tonight. The 400 Unit have been with Jason for some time with the stable line up of Chad Gamble on drums, Jimbo Hart on bass, Derry Deborja on keys and the brilliant Sadler Vaden on guitar.
There were some sound/microphone issues with the drums at the start of the gig and I will be honest the sound of the snare didn’t sound right to me all night. I am not sure if that affected the band but it seemed like a slow but solid start to the show and took a while for this really to kick in. But once it did certainly from ‘Alabama Pines’ until show closer ‘Decoration Day’ it was perfection and Isbell and chums remain a must see on the live circuit if you like your rock tinged with country or your country tinged with rock.
A highlight for me was to hear ‘Honeysuckle Blue’ a cover from one of my favourite bands Drivin n Cryin (who Vaden was briefly a member of) and probably the closet I’ll see to hearing this performed live again.
They are such a well-honed machine and the quality of musicianship is top class but it’s the guitar duels between Isbell and Vaden that hit the spot. Both virtuosos and they traded licks all night. Highlights for me were probably ‘Cover Me Up’ and ‘If we were Vampires’ one of the greatest songs ever written in my opinion
Rack this up as another super nice out with Americana royalty writing intelligent songs played with a passion and panache.
Keep on mother flippin’ rockin’ y’all