There’s an all too rare moment this evening when the whole
audience falls silent. No chatter, no tweeting, no click of camera
phones...just silence...broken only by a howl of pure pain from the band’s vocalist.
Hell, even our goosebumps got goosebumps. Yep, Alabama Shakes are in town.
First up though new London four piece Childhood chilled out
the capacity crowd with their woozily jangleriffic blend of 4AD records finest
mixed with Floydian style rock outs. The generously afroed lead singer and his
three spaced out friends (seriously...one of ‘em looked well...ahem...chilled)
veer between the blissful surf tickled pop of Girls and heavier numbers that really
get the sap rising (heck, it’s spring...sap should be rising). Debut single Blue
Velvet in particular hit the spot tonight and is well worth digging out for
those moments when you fancy a phat one...that’ll be 24/7 then.
Although they formed as far back as the dim and distant days
of 2009 Alabama Shakes rise has been pretty swift. Having only released their
debut EP in September 2011 the hype machine went into overdrive and deals with
Rough Trade and Jack White’s uber cool Third Man label pretty much sealed the
deal. Oh...and that guarantee of success (here in the UK at least)...a prime slot
on Later...soon followed too. So, what’s all the fuss about y’all? Well the
fuss is standing just a few feet away in a packed HMV Institute, belting out
some of the finest primal rock n’soul you’re likely to see this side of the Mississippi...and
(to paraphrase the ads) she’s worth it. Brittany Howard, the ‘bama’s lead
vocalist, possesses the kind of voice that could well raise both Janis Joplin and
Otis Redding from the grave to see who the hell the competition is. Capable of
sounding sexy, fragile and as powerful as a H-bomb (often all in the same line)
she gives a delightfully unselfconscious performance, pulling all kinds of unflattering
faces in the search for that perfect note and redefining that well worn phrase
‘givin’ it all you’ve got’.
Kicking off the set with the brief declaration of intent
that is Going To The Party the Shakes bravely follow it up with Hold On.
Bravely? Well, unless you’ve been hiding under a large wi-fi-less rock for the
past few months you’ll know the band’s big breakthrough single Hold On, a
smouldering bowl of countrified soul that gives hope to the hopeless and love
to the unloved. It’s pretty much become their theme tune and I reckon most
bands would want to hold that baby back for an encore. Shooting your proverbial
load just a few minutes into the set might’ve backfired a little, especially for
a relatively new band. In fact this evening the opposite seemed to happen. Hold
On was the vocal equivalent of a warm up at the gym for Brittany’s voice and,
as the set wore on both it and she just seemed to get better and better. At
just 23 years old there’s that crack in her vocals that hints at the pain
that’s often behind truly great vocalists (in Brittany’s case I guess this
includes the death of her older sister from a brain tumour), and it’s not something
you can fake. Ya either got it or you don’t. And she got it. By the bucket load.
It’s not just the vocals though, she’s a decent rock and blues guitarist too
and it would be shameful to ignore the rest of the band who provide the perfect
backdrop to the theatrics, groovin’ away in fine style.
As you’d expect much of the set drew from the band’s debut
album, Boys and Girls, which topped the first ever Record Store Chart back in
April (now there’s a question for the pub quiz), but some of the best gems were
the non album cuts. Worryin’ Blues is the kind of song Jack White would sell his
soul for and tonight saw Brittany at her testifyin’ best, frequently moving
from soulful pleading to full on explosive rage. New song, the countrified rock
n’roll of Making Me Itch, just begged for Jerry Lee to step up and pound the
keys and Heavy Chevy ramped up the rock all the way to 11 to practically blow
the place apart. Sending us all home safely the band encored with On Your Way,
with Brittany singing of “the promised land”. Judging by the smiles on the
faces of the crowd I reckon we were already there. Well bless mah soul...
Setlist courtesy of the lovely Wayne Fox...check out his pictures of the gig at www.gigjunkies.com in the next day or two.
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