DAWSON SMITH & THE DISSENTERS/ANDY WALES BAND
Musician Pub 15th December 2023
Sometimes you just know... and heading to the venue tonight we knew this was going to be a great night... and it was...
The Musician Pub tonight hosted Dawson Smith's Birthday Bash featuring Dawson Smith & the Dissenters and the Andy Wales Band
We kicked off with the Andy Wales Band who delivered their customary superb set. Andy is one of the very best guitar players around, far from flamboyant or showy, he simply stands and plays superb guitar and sings. The band is made up of two for the very best musicians around, Chris Dezelu on Bass and Nick Murphy on Drums. Nick is a great drummer, he plays with a dextrous light touch or pummels the kit as required, while Chris plays powerful fluent bass, between them forming a formidable rhythm section. Andys guitar playing is fluent and eloquent, always understated and restrained and of the highest quality.
The bands set showed several changes to the set we heard just a few weeks earlier but maintained the lovely balance of familiar and unfamiliar songs... covers including among other the now standard "Tainted Love", the superb "Dark End of the Street: as well as delivering a very different Christmas song , " Back Door Santa" and ending by dipping into the songbooks of John Mayalls Bluesbreakers ("Key to Love") Motorhead ("Ace of Spades") and Hendrix ("Bold as Love")
This was a simply scintillating set by a really great band... superb.
Then on to the headliners... Dawson Smith & the Dissenters.
The band features Howard Smith on guitar, Steve Burton on Bass and Joe Burton on Drums as well as Dawson on guitar and vocals.
The band delivered a glorious set of East Midlands Welsh Americana Rock'n'Roll... gripping and uplifting from the first moment to the last.
Great to see Dawson and the band back on the boards, clearly loving what they are doing and on top of their game. The excellent Steve and Joe provide a powerful and rhythm section rocking along throughout the set while Howard plays superb guitar.
Dawson is a familiar and charismatic performer playing great guitar and singing predominantly original songs, including classics like "American Cars" "Little Boy Blue" and "Grandpa George" among others. This band also simply deliver great music without tricks or flamboyance... just solid, wonderful music without tricks or novelty. The set was beautifully paced building up throughout to a heavily rocking final section which saw Howard playing some wonderful slide guitar and the dancers in full flight.
A totally uplifting gig... two great local bands at the height of their power delivering great and hugely enjoyable sets... the sort of gig that sends you out into the night with a broad smile and looking forward to the next one
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue
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