Friday 5 September 2014

***REVIEW*** The Lost Brothers / St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Camden Electric Ballroom, London (03/09/2014)

I had the pleasure of catching The Lost Brothers and St. Paul & The Broken Bones at The Electric Ballroom in London this week. This was a show that I had been anticipating for several months since the tickets went on sale and the 7 piece headlining outfit from Birmingham, Alabama certainly didn't disappoint me!

Warming up the huge ballroom in Camden and kicking off proceedings were a band I'd regrettably not heard of before. The Lost Brothers are an acoustic Irish duo consisting of Mark McCausland and Oisin Leech.



After their captivating set I went straight home and bought their LP and can now count myself as a fan! Be sure to catch them live as they are doing the rounds in London shortly!

St. Paul & The Broken Bones are really only in their infancy in the grand scheme of things, having been founded just 2 years ago by singer Paul Janeway and Bass player, Jesse Phillips. They have already made a serious splash on the scene and watching the way that they captivated and engaged with their audience, you would have thought that this was a veteran group in the twilight years of their career!

The tightly honed band took to the stage and after a rousing intro were joined by singer Paul Janeway who has an astounding vocal range and a level of delivery as good as any, his affable and humorous banter also had the crowd smiling throughout!



St. Paul & The Broken Bones led us through an hour and a half of solid Soul mainly comprising of tracks from their recent LP, 'Half The City', an album which comes highly recommended round these parts. Stand out tracks were crowd favourite "Broken Bones & Pocket Change" and the Stax tinged "Call Me" which had the whole venue moving.

The band also threw in a good nod to the Soul greats that have obviously influenced and shaped their sound. Rousing covers of "Shake" by Sam Cooke and "I've Been Loving You" by Otis Redding kept the audience on tenterhooks but for me it was a tightly rocked up version of fellow Alabama legend, Wilson Pickett's "99 & A Half (Won't Do)" that was the standout from the selection of covers they chose.

It was a highly enjoyable evening and I would strongly urge anyone to catch both these acts while they get a chance! Great stuff!
















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