Devil's Gate Music
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“box full of wine in the fridge” or maybe it’s because everyone knows a “damn liar”, but it sure hits home. It’s the same with ‘One Horse Town’. Christ, that’s one to get the arm hairs standing to attention every time! Therein lies the appeal of Blackberry Smoke; easily identifiable lyrics put into a classic tale…”I’m an old married man at the age of 23, got two little boys on the baseball team, and that might be their only ticket out”. Check and mate. Post ‘The Whippoorwill’ saw Blackberry Smoke issue albums with alarming regularity. Alarming in the sense that the albums never seemed rushed and the quality never dipped. Three studio albums in three years if anyone is counting. From these albums, ‘Waiting For The Thunder’, ‘Rock And Roll Again’, ‘Like An Arrow’ and the dark and brooding ‘Flesh And Bone’ all stand out, especially the latter with its intense chugging intro. The early days are also covered with the inclusion of gems like ‘Good One Comin’ On’, ‘Up In Smoke’, and a surprise version of ‘Scare The Devil Outta You’, which came after a request from the crowd. After finishing said request, Starr mentions that they very rarely play this one, and thanks the audience member for requesting it. The ability to change things up at the drop of a hat, as well as stretching songs out with tasty jams and guitar fills (‘Medicate My Mind’), gives the evening a sense of the unpredictable. The fact that the set ran for two hours without dipping in quality, or suffering a mid-set dip in attention from the crowd, is testament to the quality of playing from the five guys on stage. Two hours of staggering musicianship, songs to revive memories long buried, and songs to get arses moving. I can’t really say more than that…. other than to pay a special mention to the person in charge of printing up the setlist. The eagle-eyed might have spotted the following tip of the hat to Trainspotting printed at the bottom of the setlist? “No, thank you. I will proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.” Personally, I would have gone with the, “It’s shite being Scottish”, rant, but that might not have fitted. So, to the setlist champion, we say “we with a sense of humour salute you!”. Blackberry Smoke end this European run of dates in Manchester on November 17th, more information here. Review: Dave S Images: Dave J [gallery type='flickr' user_id='132278830@N06' view='photosets' photoset_id='72157699927679302' media='photos' columns='3' tag_mode='any' sort='date-posted-desc' per_page='44' layout='square' caption='title' thumb_size='s' main_size='z' ] ]]>
