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Bido Lito! June 2015 Reviews
LÅPSLEY
Oceaan
Leaf
Låpsley (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)
intimacy that makes us feel like we’re sat on
the front stoop of his farmhouse, where this
new album was written and recorded. Sonic
Soul Surfer is the seventh studio album to
come from that farmhouse so far, and marks
a step away from the simple bottleneck guitar
sound of recent years. The sound is dirtier, and
somehow heavier than before, which is no
mean feat, given that the only accompaniment
he needs is his old friend Dan Maddison’s
loose-fitting drum playing, and the occasional
addition of Georgina Leech on mountain fiddle.
As the wine flows, the energy grows,
building into a tornado of distorted and
bidolito.co.uk
overdriven blues grooves of new songs such
as recent single Summertime Boy, Roy’s
Gang, Barracuda ’68 (named after his car), and
an extended version of Bring It On. The allout funk of old favourite stompin’ mountain
rock tunes like Keep On Keepin’ On and
Prospect Lane feels grittier than usual, and
sits alongside the new material comfortably.
There’s often, in Seasick Steve’s shows, an
opportunity to select a young lady from the
audience and sing Walkin’ Man to her, and he
wastes no time at all in taking that opportunity
this evening. It’s difficult to tell who’s happiest
with this, the singer, the girl, or her husband,
who’s grinning broadly from the front stalls.
He’s clearly in love. He probably likes his wife,
too. There’s room for a couple of covers too,
and Baby, Please Don’t Go is rolled out in
superfast tempo, before the delicate rendition
of Gentle On My Mind is dedicated to his
17-year-old hitchhiking self.
More thanks from our man, then it’s a finale
of the classic traditional mountain song,
Silver Dagger, and the stomach-churning
Thunderbird, before the regulation standing
ovation, and a smiling exit, empty wine bottle
in hand, stage right.
Paul Fitzgerald / @NothingvilleM
There’s no mistaking this as an important gig
in the city’s gig calendar as Leaf looks every inch
as sold-out as advertised this evening. There are
so many people crammed into the Bold Street
venue that