The Sheffield Scenester

Yet again it was another scorcher of a day, and yet again we headed down to the Boardwalk, this time to see Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians. We’d recently reviewed their album ‘Omaha High low’ and frankly loved it so this seemed too good an opportunity to pass up on, to see them perform live! Thinking the temperature was baking outside was nothing compared to what it was like indoors...so armed with cold lagers we settled back to listen to the opening act.

This came in the guise of Richard Kitson, a singer/songwriter of the acoustic blues/folk scene, who happily plonked himself down on a stool at the centre of the stage with his six string in hand, ready to begin. Opening with his homage to being skint, what we heard was rather akin to American country blues; in fact it was quite melodic. Usually with acoustic sets I’ve become accustomed to, the vocals being the driving force in the songs, but Richard seems to have forgone that, and decreed that the vocals and music to co-exist in harmony with each other. Moving on through the set we were given the slightly softer sound of ‘Robin Hood’s Bay’ and as if to stay with the nautical theme followed this with ‘Low Tide’. This track, apart from being catchy in a truly bouncy way reminded me of the scene in Jaws when Dreyfus, Shaw and Scheider were all sat around drunk singing ‘Show Me The way To Go Home’...it really does have that kind of feel to it! Having employed a harmonica to great effect in one of his tracks mid-set he then progressed onto a cover of one of the iconic tracks of the 60’s, ‘Anji’ by Davey Graham, but he did point out “it took me years to learn, everybody in the 60’s could play it, so I’ll give it a crack!” I must confess to not knowing the original at all...but I did like this version, in fact it reminded me in some subtle way of The Kinks so I was more than happy with his rendition. Taking a more serious tact on the penultimate track, he dedicated this to the boys in Afghanistan; this was the track ‘Lay Down Your Arms’, which aside from being one of his stronger vocal deliveries, was also surprisingly melodic. To finish his set Richard took out a slider and gave us his best delta blues in the form of ‘Gambling Woman’...a fine southern blues topic if ever there was one...this was in fact my favourite song by him, but I’ve always had a weakness for sliding blues in any shape or form! Overall it was a very enjoyable set with plenty to recommend in it, no two songs were the same and Richard did in fact have a good sense of humour which he was more than happy to voice to the crowd. In a way it was a pity there weren’t more people to listen...but with the heat and the world cup it’s just the way it is unfortunately!

Dave Woodcock and The Dead Comedians arranged themselves about the stage the best they could bearing in mind that all five of them chose to sit down for this performance. Dave sat smack in the centre of the stage, sunglasses planted squarely on the bridge of his nose as he began the first song of the night, ‘One Man Band’, a great track which not only defines their philosophy on the seedier side of life, but brings an atmosphere all its own to any stage. What pleased me straight away was that the Americanised vocals that appealed to me so strongly on the album came through just as coarse, vibrant and clear in the stifling confines of The Boardwalk that night. As they are working on a new album we were given a couple of new tracks as tasters and the first one being ‘100 New Lines’ was a beauty...with a very melodic start and slower tempo than the previous track, even the vocals were smoother; it was a track that felt right at home with his other material! This was in complete contrast to another new one, ‘When I Call Your Name’ whose rhythm was a lot more upbeat, almost to the point of being dancey, looking round at the crowd I could see them visibly taping their feet or gently slapping their legs as they listened. These numbers were thrown in amongst some of my favourite tracks off his recent album including the title track ‘Omaha High Low’ which never fails to make me smile. Of course he couldn’t get away without playing ‘City Lights’ for which he put together a different version especially for this night. Before they finished off the set with the brilliant tune ‘Five Minutes From The bar’, Dave took time to let us know that this was his first gig for ages that he’d been stone cold sober...somehow I didn’t care as the music was a triumph. At no point did it fall short of the expectations generated by listening to such an excellent album. It was in fact during the final track of the night that Dave finally stood up and looked like he was enjoying his show, but if he’d been stood playing booze filled stories of washed up dreams, then somehow it would of lost all credibility. Sitting down, dressed in the sort of clothes you’d expect in a seedy back street blues club all helped with the story telling that he does so well on stage.

This set truly lived up to our expectations, with minimal deviation from the sound quality produced on the album itself, We could have carried on listening to Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians for hours. With them and Richard Kitson making for a great evening’s entertainment...our only regret is that due to a later than usual start time, we couldn’t stick around to see the final act of the night, Roaming Souls, but having heard some positive feedback about them we will endeavour to catch them at some point.

Words and Photos by Gail & Geoff Buckthorpe