Drugstore Cowboys

DRUGSTORE COWBOYS

Donkey Venue 3rd May 2024

Friday night at the The Donkey Venue brought the return of the Drugstore cowboys

Always a fun and lively night with these guys and this was no exception... they delivered not much shy of 2-1/2 hours full tilt rockabilly and rock'n'roll... and it rocked like crazy from the get go...

The repertoire is predominently familiar covers, and goes across a wide range of material... including The Clash (Bank Robber), Stones (Paint it, Black), Fleetwood Mac (Oh Well), T Rex (20th Century Boy), CCR (Proud Mary), Johnny Cash (Boy Named Sue), Everley Brothers (Muskrat) and many others, they also brought on a couple of guests who delivered amongst others "Riot in Cell Block No9" and Johnny B Goode.

The band hit the stage and with no preamble launched into some high powered rocking rockabilly which grabbed the audience by the throat from the start and continued in the same vein throughout. Nick led the band, played and sang with assurance and style, while the drummer Damon pounded the rhythm with huge aplomb and the bass player Sam delivered some quite wonderful upright bass work...

After a short break Nick returned to the stage and rather than wait for the rest of the band to get back launched into a solo "I'm on Fire"... the second half also saw a a splendid solo by Sam playing something akin to a swanee whistle... while the band continued to rock!

In a live context, this is very much my cup of tea and the band gave us a superb 2 hours plus of joyful music... however, to be critical, as the second set developed it got, in my view, somewhat ragged and close to falling apart... but that didnt hamper the overall enjoyment!!

Nick had said a few times they could play til around 2 o'clock and they looked as though they just might!!... however at around 11.40 they launched intro a couple of well chosen encores... a parody of the Glen Campbell classic "Like a Drugstore Cowboy" before getting a friend in the audience onto the stage to don a latex horses head and dance while they finished off with the ultimate cowboy/horse song.. "Champion the Wonder horse"

All in all a hugely enjoyable and rocking performance, but the latter stages were somewhat ragged!!

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