Kensington’s not just monuments and museums
Two shows, separated by just a mile and a bit, (oh, and fifty-odd years and the cost of a bottle of vintage Dom Perignon, give or take…) Further up the High Street at the RAH, the first of three big ticket celebrations of a glorious past; here at Nell’s the savvy money was on an artist with a bright future ahead of her. Gráinne Duffy and her long-time band partner (and now husband) Paul Sherry have always delivered a great show every time I’ve seen them, and together with Chris Brice and Phil Donnelly on drums and bass respectively, they maintained that record with 80 minutes of quality rock, southern soul, funk and blues.
The setlist covered all three of Gráinne’s studio albums, leaning heavily on her first Out Of The Dark: its opening pair, the brooding southern rock of Each And Every Time, and Drivin’ Me Crazy’s schlangy Texas shuffle provided the curtain raisers here. Later we got two classic slow blues, the smouldering Good Love Had To Die with breaking, impassioned vocals and a solo each from Gráinne and Paul: her simple lines building to a fiery peak, his all fluid jazzy phrasing and skittering runs steering clear of any blues cliches. The second was the crowd-favourite cover of I’d Rather Go Blind, showcasing the full range of Gráinne’s voice, from smoky resignation to rafter-shaking desperation and defiance in the fine sustained note climax.
A couple of other “ladies of the blues” covers showed other facets, vocally and stylistically: a gutsy, faithful take on Bonnie Raitt’s Love Me Like A Man included some nice unison vox and guitar from Gráinne, while her rapid fire delivery on a funky version of Koko Taylor’s Voodoo Woman was topped with squealing fleet-fingered flurries from Paul answered by her own howling turn. That latter track also allowed the rhythm section to shine, with burbling bass and complex cymbal-heavy drumming.
Chris and Phil brought a heavier dub-vibe to Test Of Time’s Sweet Sweet Baby: trouser-flapping effects-heavy bass lines and some very tricksy drum patterns backing Gráinne’s silky vox and Paul’s choppy rhythm playing. Paul then stretched out in an extended jam bandesque coda with behind-the-nut chimes, string scrapes and tapping. Much cleaner guitar tones came in two from the latest release Where I Belong, sparkling noodling on the expansive Big Sky swagger of Home, and the soulful TTBish sway of Blame It On You, saw Gráinne’s rich lower register vocal counterpointed with soaring, singing lines with “a touch of the Dereks" in Paul’s closing solo.
Revisiting Out Of The Dark brought the funky, head-bobbing strut of Bad To Worse with its punchy earthy vocals and louche swinging Texas blues passage (including one of many crowd participation moments!) and the slow southern-fried soul of Time Is Not Enough (one of Plunger’s favourites): honeyed whiskey-soaked vocals, sweet harmonies and lovely brassy slide culminated in a cracking solo from Paul, with meaty lower register twangs and Bettsesque dusty-end trills before a double-speed rock-out finish.
Who knows what it is about songs with “time” in the title but another Plunger fave the title track of Test Of Time proved an excellent set closer: the sunny West Coast freeway cruiser included more sublime southern-flavoured guitar (with perhaps a nod back up the road in a tease of Layla?) and a closing canter through a chorus of I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. Ending on a high, a muscular cover of The Band’s The Shape I’m In featured powerful Susan T-style vocals and stirring harmonies, a final flourish for both drums and bass ornamented by some impressively fast country picking from Paul in a shitckicking finale.
There’s nothing wrong with revering the blues’ past but it’s good to know its future is safe in the hands of artists like the Gráinne Duffy Band.
