Midway through the European leg of her Heavy Petal tour, Sierra Ferrell and touring company found themselves at the Docks venue in Hamburg, right in the heart of the Reeperbahn. Originally the gig had been located not too far away at Grunespan, an older and smaller venue, but a combination of increased demand and planned renovations had seen the gig moved. While not officially sold out, it was close to doing so; there was very little room to move, similar to the two UK dates in Manchester and Glasgow, where intense heat and a physically rammed crowd hadn’t dulled the audience’s enthusiasm.
Support: The Brudi Brothers have themselves started to gain somewhat of a cult following due to the success of the track Me More Cowboy Than You on TikTok and Spotify, and that translated into an engaged and keen younger following. In Hamburg, they gained extra cool points by doing all their between-song stories and patter in fluent German! Highlights were the aforementioned viral hit, plus blood harmony gorgeous takes on Dark Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair and the old-timey harmonica blues of Silver Wave. Joined by Oliver Bates-Craven of the Ferrell band on fiddle on a couple of songs, the band’s next moves are going to be interesting to follow, as their career trajectory seems ready to take a sharp upwards curve.
Sierra Ferrell has opened the prior shows on this European run with Rosemary from the Trail of Flowers album, and Hamburg was no exception. While that has been a constant, the unique fashion choices of Ms Ferrell have upped the visual excellence with each gig. Here in Germany, Ferrell has chosen a dirndl-adjacent Miss Havisham-inspired mini-dress with green knee-length boots, spectacular!
The set mainly followed a similar pattern to other shows on the run, but with changes made seemingly on the basis of audience and prior reaction. Thus, Bells of Every Chapel reappeared after its Manchester omission and by Hamburg had found a place earlier in the set. Dollar Bill Bar and In Dreams provoke communal sing-alongs whereas Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time in Chatham County gets a surprisingly loud reception. American Dreaming, at the climax of the set, is the cue for orchestrated arm-waving, and the set-closing Fox Hunt is a mass, cathartic howl of “woo-hoos”.
In between there are new songs and captivating nuggets; The Brudi Brothers have been guesting on one mid-set track throughout the tour and in Hamburg it’s a fun cover of the Johnny Horton classic I’m A One-Woman Man. New songs include the fabulously folkie Without You, featuring a concertina bought from a North Staffordshire family business prior to the Manchester show and the country soul of Trying to Love You.
The evolution of the set is noticeable in Ferrell’s admission that she knows that she talks too quickly between songs on stage and is working to improve matters; the personalisation of the encores has also been well developed. In Manchester the band encored, somewhat to the astonishment of the audience, with Wonderwall, but here in Hamburg it’s a Beatles’ song, Don’t Let Me Down, which is most apt as the Fab Four learnt their trade just a few yards away on the Grosse Freiheit. Traditional show closer Jeremiah is adapted too: shortened from the fully sung version, here it’s a fully instrumental coda as Ferrell throws the flowers that decorated her section of the stage to an adoring audience.
There’s a discipline and a freedom in the show that keeps the audience on their toes – pacing, stage routines and interactions are evolving into something that is skilfully crafted to entertain on a variety of levels. Catch her in these medium-sized venues while you can. The only way for Sierra Ferrell to go seems to be increasingly upwards.
All photos by and with permission of Nick Barber.
