Dom Martin/Delta Fuse

DOM MARTIN/DELTA FUSE Musician Pub 15th October 2023 A sunday afternoon chill-out gig AT The Musician Pub courtesy CASBAH... for starters this afternoon a terrific band from Ireland, Delta Fuse... I have seen them and loved them a couple of times already and this was the best yet... mind you i thought we had impostors as I didnt recognise Jack with a new hairstyle and beard... mind you once he spoke and started playing, no doubt!

The band are a quality blues/rock outfit, playing with energy and commitment, often at breaknect speed, but today showed the can handle a slow blues or ballad with the same brilliance as the more rocking numbers. The focal point of the band is clearly Jack, playing guitar and vocals... a great guitarist and sionger with an easy charm, impishness and style that you cant help liking... and he is superbly supported by the great rythm section of Sandy on drums and Liam on bass..

The band play much of their own material, but threw in some great covers... including an Al Green song and Jimi's "Fire". The set ended early, giving the band time to deliver a simply fabulous version of " Mojo Working"... great stuff

A great, talented, assured and exciting band.. well worth going to see

After the break, Dom Martin with his band... and judging by the comments i heard while leaving, and posts i've already seen, i suspect i am in a minority and may just upset a few from here... but this is just my view of events...

Dom started solo with a few acoustic pieces... and wow.. what a great player he is.. The pieces were folky veering on classical, with a touch of flamenco styling thrown in... exquisite playing... the down side being i wasnt keen on the vocal delivery style... but loved the playing

After a few numbers, Dom picked up an electric guitar... spoke with reverence of the late great Rory Gallagher, and introduced a piece Rory opened many a show with back in the day... sadly to my ears the performance of "Messin' with the Kid" was a bit lacklustre and lacked any real spark ... and that summarises the first 20-25 minutes of the performance leaving me wondering why the great reputation... The playing however was great, but lacked an undefinable spark for me... it just didnt get my pulse racing or raise my spirits.. However... for me, Dom and the band suddenly went up through the gears and delivered some magnificent stuff, including a piece by Howling Wolf and another (unfamiliar to me) from the Rory Gallagher song book... these two pieces were pure gold and the set carried on in the same vein... not quite matching this peak but not far off it... ending with an intriguing version of "Crazy" (the Willie Nelson song made famous by Patsy Cline) no country cover this, but a fabulously constructed bluesy/rocky/ballady version that owed nothing any any previous versions.

Dom had described his band as the the best musicans he has ever worked with... and to be sure they lived up to that... great drummer and bass player (sadly i didnt catch their names to name check them).... but they gave great support and laid a perfect foundation for Doms guitar work... quality musicians

Two encores followed... both instrumentals, which Dom described as a bit of fun... and the first piece was all of that... the final piece in my view lapsed into rambling self indulgence, and for me at least became tedious and never ending...

So a bit of a curates egg... fabulous opening set by Delta Fuse, then beautiful acoustic playing from a solo Dom Martin... what for me was a rather lacklustre first part of the set... a terrific second part and a long self indulgent encore... as I said... this was purely my view... i know many will disagree..

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