As you climb the stairs at The Angel Microbrewery, you are taken from the congenial ambiance reverberating around the bar towards the door on the first-floor landing that leads to The Chapel. Here, you are constantly reminded of the musical heritage bound within the very heart and soul of this historic 17th-century building, with every square inch of the ascending wall along with the landing covered with posters that pictorially celebrate the ever-changing face of popular music throughout the last five decades. It may be that not all the artists advertised ever played this hallowed venue, though I’m sure many did, however a poster of tonight’s star attraction would rightfully belong alongside even the biggest names on view.
Peter Bruntnell requires no introduction to the regular subscribers of AUK, with his 1999 album “Normal For Bridgewater” being voted by our readers as the sixth-best Americana album of all time. His most recent album “Houdini and The Sucker Punch”, saw the light of day last year to much critical acclaim, including our very own Paul Kerr who concluded his review by stating the album “deserves to be considered amongst the best that Bruntnell has bestowed on us”. High praise indeed when you consider the quality of such recent albums as “Nos Da Comrade”, and “King Of Madrid”, but certainly warranted, and therefore it was no surprise to witness such a healthy turnout for a rather wet Thursday in March, though as usual credit must go to James Windsor and his excellent team at Cosmic Americana Music for all their work in continually bringing such quality artists to the city.
Having negotiated their way through the packed house to take their place on the stage, Bruntnell and his band immediately turned the spotlight on the most recent album opening with the title track. Its brightly coloured chords add a dose of power pop to this classic country ballad which helps to create a certain juxtaposition against the narrative’s melancholic tale of the demise of the great escapologist. This is quickly followed by the album’s second track ‘The Flying Monk’ with the rhythm section of Mick Clews on drums and Peter Noone on bass helping to deliver the energy to this muscular number. Attired in a smart brown pinstripe jacket, Bruntnell is in great voice, fully recovered from the virus that had dogged his last tour, and able to enjoy a pint of the local beverage as next he leads the band through three songs from his vast back catalogue. First up is ‘St Christopher’, a track that originally appeared on the 2011 album “Black Mountain UFO”, before travelling further back to the 2002 album “Ends Of The Earth” and the perennial favourite ‘Here Comes The Swells’ while in between ‘London Clay’ is the first of two songs this evening to appear from the fantastic 2019 album “King Of Madrid”.
A journalist once described Bruntnell as one of music’s best-kept secrets, as if this was something to celebrate, whereas if the world was a slightly fairer place he would already be a household name. Nonetheless, tonight’s audience appeared to be full of long-term fans who required little or no encouragement to sing along to the steady stream of classic songs from Bruntnell’s canon of work that included ‘Perfume River’, which first appeared on the 2005 album “Ghost In A Spitfire”. On either side of that were two more numbers from the most recent release starting with ‘No Place Like Home’ before the confessional ‘Out Of The Pines’, where Bruntnell admits to not being a morning person.
It was well into the second half of the night’s set before the first of two songs, one straight after the other, appeared from Bruntnell’s highly acclaimed “Normal For Bridgewater”. Starting with the exquisite ‘By The Time My Head Gets To Pheonix’ and its infectious chorus that had the crowd singing along, almost lost in the moment, before ‘Lay Down The Curse’, with its Herculean riff prompting the simultaneous nodding of heads around this legendary venue.
With all these classic numbers sprinkled across the set-list probably the most significant aspect of the performance was how well the new tracks held up, comfortably holding their own alongside some of the finest songs written this century. A perfect example of this is ‘Yellow Gold’, a song Bruntnell wrote whilst travelling across the wide-open spaces of Wyoming and Montana after the conclusion of a tour across America with Son Volt. Whilst there he bought a book on trappers and the Gold Rush which, combined with his own experiences of life in the Welsh mining towns, inspired the narrative of this mesmerising tale, which judged by the response from the evening’s congregation has already been elected another Bruntnell classic. Of course, the night’s proceeding couldn’t close without ‘Broken Wing’ with Bruntnell proving that he’s not just a great singer-songwriter, he’s also one hell of a guitar player as he takes the extended solo, gradually building the tension, teasing and tearing the notes from his Fender as the crowd howled in appreciation.
As is the case with The Chapel, its narrow elongated shape and pulpit that still stands in all its glory at the far end, staring down on the congregation, makes exiting and returning to the stage pretty close to impossible, thus creating a little uncertainty for a moment amongst the members of the band, before Bruntnell informed the crowd that this is now the encore. And with that the band fire-up to deliver not one more song but rather another four starting with the final track from last year’s album, ‘Let There Be A Scar’, a number Bruntnell informs us was inspired by an old Everly Brothers hit ‘Let It Be Me’, which itself was a cover of a French hit for songwriter Gilbert Bécaud entitled ‘Je t’appartiens’. From here to the final notes of the show the band shifts through the gears, Rockin-out, firstly with the perennial crowd favourite ‘Yuri Gagarin’, the only number tonight from the 2016 album “Nos Da Comrade”, which sees guitarist Dave Little conjure up some wild and wonderful psychedelic sounds from his effects pedals before the band regroup for a rousing rendition of Neil Young’s ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’.
For close to thirty years Bruntnell has continued to deliver at the highest level. Whether it be through the quality of his writing, the brilliance of each album, or the musical excellence of his live shows, he is without doubt one of the finest artists that these shore has produced and tonight’s performance proved he is still very much firing on all cylinders. A simply sublime concert.
Good to see and hear PB release another fine collection NFB!
Hi Andy. Yeah Peter is still at the top of his game. A truly fantastic show.