Autumn Dawn Leader/Alabama Breeze/Chris Conway/John Fryer/Mike Howard Ahern
The Donkey: 5th October 2023
Another hugely enjoyable "first thursday" gig promoted by Paul Collins at the Donkey. This month a predominantly acoustic show
First up was Mike Howard-Ahern. A new name to me but one i will continue to watch out for. Mike played a really great set... basically a singer/songwriter with a strong clear voice and diction delivering mainly his own songs, from the One Town Over catalogue, along with a single Chris Isaaks cover. This was a great powerful performaance of fine songs. Excellent set from a performer i would hope to see more of.
After this, up stepped John Fryer. John is also a singer/songwriter but with his powerful strident guitar playing could lmost be consider solo acoustic rock'n'roll singer/songwriter. this was another hugely enjoyable set but the cover of "Windmills of your Mind" didnt quite work for me. I prefer the song to have more low key and reflective tone... However the following song "Thats Entertainment", by the Jam, worked superbly well in John performance... superb end to a really good set
Next up the legend that is Chris Conway. Known by everyone of the locl scene, and further afield and a major player. What more can we say about Chris... He has a fine voice, plays keyboard and guitar... tonight just his 12 string acoustic guitar, a curious little instrument which i cannot name and whistles. When playing the whistle tune, a rousing jig, Chris actually played two separate whistles simultaneously.
His songs are always well crafted, thought provoking a quirky... a particular favourite being "Suoerheroes Never Die" which is a comic song which also carries a really strong important social commentary and was a fitting end to another terrific set which also included the wonder "Vegetrian Vampire" and Alien Jellyfish". Chris is always a delight to hear, whatever line-up he appears with... and will never let you down... and tonights set was superb
Chris is a tough act to follow, and the privilege fell to Alabama Breeze. I confess when i saw this band previously i was not too keen... so was absolutely delighted tonight to hear such a great set from them. Bobs guitar playing and vocal style is, like John earlier, veering towards rock'n'roll, i believe reflecting an earlier part of his career, while Helens fine fiddle playing and harmonies give the overall sound a purely country feel. This is hugely enjoyable upbeat music delivered by two people who relish playing music together... great set, really enjoyed it
Headliner for the night was the unique Autumn Dawn Leader: Songmistress. Autumn is a unique talent, not one to deliver upbeat global joy, but a writer of superb songs, reflecting angst, paganism and are at times both challenging and wonderful. Her voices soars beautifully above her keyboard and 10 string lyre accompaniement. The overall performance is i think comparable to the stly of Bertold Brecht's Threepenny opera (which i love) though the thems are different. Autumn is a superb performer of her own great songs... and the performance tonight was of the highest class.
A really great night out... and thanks to Paul for pulling it together
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue
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