Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The pleasure in life is almost uncontainable when you come across a support act to a superstar who are not just un-bloodied and unbowed by being on the same bill, they are treated by that main act as equals, soldiers and comrades on the front line together, locked arm in arm and heading with strange insurmountable vigour towards the same goal.
For The Alan Kelly Gang, that sense of equality, of musical parity is one that is taken with great joy and sense of obligation to deliver a set of music that is beyond reproach and keenly felt all the way through their set.
As the band bring on the sense of style and the well balanced timing, that sense of equality shown by Eddi Reader ahead of her own set is one that doesn’t fail to be grasped by those fortunate enough to be there early and comfortable in their seats at the Epstein Theatre on what had been a truly beautiful day in Liverpool.
The soft tones of the instruments hid messages that both soothed and installed a sense of the fight ahead as the future of the islands becomes one that darkness may yet have a hand in, the vocals delivered by Steph Geremia were ones that gripped with both ease and effortlessness, but also with a hint of the vulnerable and exposed and throughout their set, the guitar playing of Ian Carr was verging on the majestic.
With songs such as January Gales, The Moth and the Exorcist, The Garden, the exquisite After The Last Bell Rings, Journey’s End and the fantastic Low Flying Polo all marking the set out to be one of gracious intent and sublime attraction, The Alan Kelly Gang not only achieved that sense of parity, but one that was greatly appreciated by an audience used to being enthralled.
The Alan Kelly Gang have proved what can be heard in the studio can be more than replicated on stage, the sense of the equal being delivered with calm repose and the surprise of an accordion being used as a leading player, one that sets a bench mark for others to follow.
A terrific set by The Alan Kelly Gang one fully deserving of the applause received.
Ian D. Hall