The Live Rooms, Chester - Remember, remember, the fifth of November, or so the saying goes, but in my case, it’s got nothing to do with bonfires or fireworks, but everything to do with a man said to be the successor to the legendary Blues / Rock artist Rory Gallagher and fellow Belfast man Gary Moore - so says the man himself, according to his own website. Let’s hope there are fireworks of a different kind tonight though as autumn has finally arrived with a bit of vengeance to it. The wind and the rain have played havoc for a good few days now, but what better way to forget about it all than to head across country to a city better known as a tourist attraction for all things ‘Roman’ rather than music, and a hidden gem of a venue.
The Live Rooms doesn’t get the credit it deserves, maybe because it isn’t in a big city, but it should as I’ve been there on many an occasion and never had a bad time yet. Tonight, it hosts Dom Martin, on the fourth of a twenty-date tour with Support coming from Birmingham boys, Blue Nation. So, with all the right junk, in all the right places, it should be a good night.
Blue Nation ‘Turn Water into Wine’ - I first encountered these guys at the Lichfield Fuse Festival a couple of years ago and couldn’t help thinking they should have been further up the bill, but festivals are what they are, and you get put where you get put. It’s evident that there’s already a lot of love in the room for the boys as they take the stage, with a good smattering of t-shirts on show and cries of “Happy birthday, Neil” - but more on that later.
They open with ‘Hand Me Down’ - it should have been ‘Ordinary People’ - but ‘Hand Me Down' was in Murdoch’s head, and as he kicks everything off, that’s what we got. Not a bad track to open with anyway, and as we didn’t know what we were getting in the first place, we were none the wiser.
They followed it up with ‘Gimme Some Time’ and ‘Ordinary People’ which were big favourites. The band are quite chatty lads in between tunes and there was some good banter with them and the crowd. Murdoch suggests that “Chester are a lot more polite and quieter though”, which gives them some cause for concern. “Last night in Leeds they were mental, and they were scared on least four occasions and they’re Birmingham lads and don’t scare easy.” Another cry of ‘Happy Birthday Neil’ seems to reassure him that he’s on safe ground tonight though. If you hadn’t guessed by now, it’s Neil Murdoch’s birthday today.
‘Time is a Thief’ and a ‘Run Straight Ahead’ come next before the most popular tune of the night, the very commercial ‘Once in My Life’ with its catchy hook, that reels you in, whether you want to go or not.
It’s at this point that the boys see the photographers are still lurking in the pit - we were told there was no limit tonight, so we took advantage a little more than we’re normally allowed to. They count four of us and issue demands…
Murdoch says it’s £1.50 per image for him, 75p for bass player, Weston, but on the chance that we manage it, they’ll pay us for shots of the drummer, “but there must be a cymbal in front of his face”. He asked me why this was always the case with drummer photographs, I replied “tradition” - because it is. Then there’s more banter about Weston taking over the image rights of Jesus and whether or not they’d be done for copyright - and you have to admit that Weston has more than a passing resemblance to the big man upstairs, especially as the fella plays in bare feet. Murdoch asks him if he can turn water into wine, and “what a headline that would be, if he could” ! ! Sadly, he can’t and so we move on !
There are few changes to the normal set list, before ‘Every Single Time’ and the really moving ‘Echoes’ before which Weston invites us to take a look at the Merch table where we can buy lots of gear with their name on, but where we’ll also find a bucket to chuck some spare change in, for a suicide prevention charity that they’re close to, and an appeal that “if you need help, know there is someone there for you”. The message hits home and gets a good round of applause, and, I hope, a few quid in contributions later.
The finally word goes to Murdoch, who offers huge thanks “to Dom and his team for taking them on the tour because without them having faith they know they wouldn’t play venues like this, because it’s too big of a risk and they get that” and then the most honest statement of the night when he admits that “ They couldn’t type ‘f*ck yes’ fast enough”, when they were asked if they wanted to provide Support. “Three lads from Brum, dreaming with their eyes open” he says. Final track is ‘Down by the River’ and Blue Nation have a new army of fans to add to all those who were already there. This was a very good start to the evening.
Blue Nation are: -
Neil Murdoch - Singer/Guitar
Luke Weston - Bass and BV’s
Oli Jefferson - Drums
Dom Martin - I last saw Martin in a Working Men’s Club, as they were once known, and it was all a bit subdued with little or no audience feedback, and as Martin is known for his storytelling in between songs, the night lost a little of its gloss. No chance of that tonight though. Chester was ready for this anyway, and is even more so, now that Blue Nation have warmed everyone up nicely. There’s no big entrance. Black line boys Ben Graham, on bass, and drummer, Aaron McLaughlin enter stage right, followed by Dom Martin himself, who dons the first of the many guitars he’ll use tonight and hits one big riff to announce that we’ve begun.
‘Unhinged’ is the opener, with ‘Unsatisfied’ straight after, and no time to breathe in between. There’s a brief bit of respite before ‘Daylight I Will Find’ but it’s only then that Martin stops to welcome everyone and ask in his Northern Irish brogue ‘How ya doin’ Chester’. The response is very welcoming, and he seems to get a warm feeling from it and fond memories of times past, as he tells us that “I love this room, the first time I played here was with Eric Gales, a great guy, a funny guy and I have stories to tell but they might get Eric put in jail, so we’ll leave it there”.
A wise move perhaps, so he goes to one of the most popular and wanted songs of the night, ‘Belfast Blues’. You can’t help but wonder in awe at this man’s guitar playing ability and it’s no wonder that he’s won Acoustic Artist of the Year at the UK Blues Awards three years on the bounce, and Instrumentalist of the Year for the last two. The artistry he demonstrates is just sublime.
‘Hell For You’ and ‘Lefty 2 Guns’ carry on said artistry, before the banter recommences as he tells us that he wrote the next song for Howlin' Wolf, at which someone in the crowd laughs causing Dom to ask, “Why’s that funny?”. Before anyone gets a chance to reply he tells us of his feelings for ‘Mr. Wolf’, “If you’re ill you should go the docs, get given a guitar and a Howlin’ Wolf CD and go back the next week, cured. Music cures all ills”. Everyone understands and agrees. The song 'Howlin', and the solo in the middle were from another level causing Chester to produce a huge cheer all around and fist bumps between the band at something that must have been as much of an absolute pleasure to play, as it was to witness.
It took a short while for the emotions to subside and so Martin takes the opportunity to regale us of the tale about a guy in Florida, named ‘Izzy’ who offered to make him a guitar, causing him to respond with “If I make any money, I’ll come back to you”. But Izzy wasn’t for giving up that easy, so Martin thought he’d come us with the most complex set of needs that he could muster. Sure enough, sometime later “this arrived on my doorstep after getting held up in customs while I was in Holland doing some Rory stuff”. The guitar is what Martin “imagines Rory’s Strat(ocaster) would be if it was a Tele(caster)”. To demonstrate the point, he plays ‘Railway and Gun’ and a cover of Gallagher’s ‘Used to Be’. Oh. My. Word.
If that didn’t leave us speechless, then the next song did. ‘Crazy’, the Willie Nelson / Patsy Cline tune was delivered in a really deep voice that sent shivers down your spine. This is also where you learn that guitar playing isn’t all about playing at a million miles an hour, as impressive as that may be, but it’s when you play – and when you don’t – leaving the listener waiting in anticipation. That’s when you know you’re in tune with your audience, and for this Martin certainly was.
For ‘Spoonful’ he took it upon himself to move through the crowd, with guitar, causing a hundred iPhones to start filming like the Messiah had come amongst them – which for some of them, he probably had. His voice rings out in the silence from somewhere in the darkness, the boys on stage have dropped their volume down low as Chester hangs on to every word. Who needs amplification? The crowd lapped up every, single second of it. “Spoonful and Howlin’ Wolf are the fabric of my life and it’s a pleasure for me to come out and play it for you”, he says.
‘Blues on the Bay’ sees the threesome totally in sync with each other as the interplay suggests that they’re just having fun together, like things should be, before ‘Dixie Black Hand / Mercy’ sees a big play off with Graham copying everything that Martin did, dualling banjo style, before an epic drum solo - not a mega thrash session, but good solid thumps around the four piece and three cymbals. Graham leans up against the wall and Martin sits down on stage and lets it all flood over him and around the room. It all got a bit pacey at the end with some huge kicks and licks before Martin gets to his feet and insists that we show our appreciation to Mr. McLaughlin. Which we do.
We have time for an encore, and without all that going off and coming back on nonsense, it wasn’t that kind of gig, and so it all finished with ‘12 Gauge’ from his second album ‘A Savage Life’. It’s a fast-paced tune that punches you in the face, but in a pleasant sort of way and is a very good way to end a very good evening.
Tour continues throughout November and into December, with dates in: -
Dom Martin has also announced dates for an Acoustic Tour in 2025: -
4 Apr - Edinburgh, The Caves
1 May - Newcastle, Wylam Brewery
2 May - Liverpool, Royal Philharmonic
3 May - Manchester, Carole Nash Hall
6 May - Bath, Chapel Arts
7 May - London, Half Moon
8 May - Cranleigh, Cranleigh Arts
9 May - Leamington Spa, Temperance
Buried Alive Setlist
Unhinged
Unsatisfied
Daylight I Will Find
Belfast Blues
Hell For You
Lefty 2 Guns
Howlin’
Railway and Gun (Taste cover)
Used to Be (Rory Gallagher cover)
Crazy (Willie Nelson cover)
Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Spoonful (Willie Dixon cover)
Blues On the Bay
Dixie Black Hand / Mercy
Encore:
15. 12 Gauge
Written in association with Central Press PR
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