Star rating - 10/10
The sweetest
pleasures in life are always unexpected, and if you are lucky enough to get to
an Old Crow Medicine Show gig, be assured there will be absolutely nothing
guilty about it. This group of Nashville ex-buskers certainly give one helluva live
show, and have accumulated an adoring fan base who help to make the night
something pretty special indeed.
At
Manchester's Ritz (all mentions of HMV having been hastily dropped) last night,
they thrilled from start to finish. Their particularly heady fusion of country, bluegrass, Cajun music, and who knows
what else, is hard to categorise. One fan told me he thought of them as 'bluegrass
punks', and I like that. One thing is certain, their energy levels for the
duration of their superb, long set are unsurpassed, right from the opener Carry Me Back to Virginia onwards.
And fabulous front
man Ketch Secor had certainly done his homework on Manchester, pleasing the
crowd with his impressive knowledge of the city's waterways and history, not to
mention the numerous name checks for the city. He amusingly made the connection
between his home and ours - they used to grow cotton where they come from and
we had mills to weave it, but now we all just make computers! But, great front man
though Secor is, in truth one of the refreshing things about OCMS is that all the
band take turns at playing a lead role in parts of their repertoire. It all
felt very inclusive with a collective spirit that can only come from their busking
past.
And whilst
their gigs certainly have a party atmosphere, there's a serious political note
to some of their songs too, like the splendid Big Time In the Jungle, with its anti war, bring the troops home
sentiment. Many of the songs were from the OCMS latest and fourth album Carry Me Back. Genevieve is a gorgeous slower
number about a Creole enchantress. Mississippi
Saturday Night showing off the brilliance of this group of six talented musicians
on their many acoustic instruments.
Older numbers
got plenty of space too, and who couldn't listen to the crowd sing along to every
word of the glorious and joyous Wagon
Wheel and feel inspired, now lovingly covered by many
other artists and would-be guitar players like myself across the world. OCMS do great covers themselves too, including songs of Eddie
Cochran and the legend that is Woody Guthrie. There was a bit of crazy back to
back double fiddling thrown in to entertain between Secor and Chance McCoy
too (what a name!).
And to show
what generous big hearts they have, OCMS not only welcomed their support act L.A.
duo Johnnyswim back on stage to perform with them in the encore, but also a
group of buskers who have followed them on tour and have now become adoptees of
the OCMS family. This band have not forgotten their roots, in fact they
celebrate them. And what an encore it was, including a rousing version of the
gospel gem This Train; Ewan MacColl's
Dirty Old Town (yes that's Salford),
and only a country version of The Smiths Panic.
I ask you - what more could you want? It might not have been exactly a Mississippi
Saturday Night, but it certainly came
as close to it as downtown Manchester is ever going to get. Simply stupendous.
We were there. You wrote it just like it was.
ReplyDeleteBest show we've been too.
When are they coming back. The sooner the better.