Strange Brew

On Wednesday night, it was a mad dash from work in Gloucestershire to Bristol city centre to see Barry Adamson live in concert at Strange Brew. 

It's an innocuous location, a shop-front 330-capacity live venue underneath a multi-storey car park at the end of a row of shops: antics/The Model Shop has been around for decades, the relatively recent addition of Kebab U Like is sadly no more. During the day, you'd be forgiven for not knowing it's even there, but once the music starts....

 

Doors opened at 7.30pm, I go there just before 7.45pm, which was just as well as Nadine Khouri was just starting her set. Just her, a guitar and some effects/beats for a thirty minute set and about half a dozen songs.

As mentioned in Thursday's post, I'm largely ignorant of Nadine's music, having only dipped into a little of her back catalogue out of curiosity when she was announced as the support for Barry's tour. I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily, though for the purposes of this review it means that apart from a couple of songs that Nadine introduced I have no idea what she played!

I don't know if it was the relatively early start or the propensity for being fashionably late and/or sinking a few pints elsewhere before going to a gig, but I was amongst a very few to witness Nadine's set...

 

... a shame, because it was an enjoyable half-hour, particularly her performance of Vertigo. Applause was polite, though there were a couple of enthusiastic men near the front. "I recognise a couple of faces," Nadine smiled after one such robust display of admiration. Bristol has been something of a second home for Nadine, having recorded her two albums with John Parish in the city and gigged here previously.

Having been blown away by Ellen Beth Abdi's performance up the road a week or so previously, Nadine Khouri's support slot was a more modest, low-key show by comparison but enjoyable nevertheless. I'll be investigating further.

The main event starts promptly at 8.45pm, Barry joined on stage by (I think) Ian on bass and Kyra on drums, the man himself switching between electric and acoustic guitars and managing keys, beats and backing via a handily placed pad.

More people have turned up at this point, though it's far from a sold-out gig. "I was told only ten people were coming," jokes Barry at one point. "We're all here!" some wag replies. A shame because in a just world, Barry should be playing larger venues, crammed with an enthusiastic audience. 

 

As it was, I didn't think I'd get to see Mr. Adamson live in concert at all, so I was glad to have the opportunity and in such an intimate setting. He didn't disappoint.

 

Four songs from new album Cut To Black, released the week before and, being the opening night of Barry's UK/EU tour, performed on stage for the first time. I've fallen deeply for the album and had played it at least a dozen times before arriving at Strange Brew, so the songs are very familiar to me.

The set opens with (vinyl) side one closer, These Would Be Blues, a downtempo, gospel-tinged exhortation to "lay your burden down", Barry emoting in true cabaret style. We're then treated to the title track, followed by Demon Lover, which channels Etta James and Marc Almond in equal measure. Last of the quartet is Manhattan Satin, Barry's tribute to the New York City that he first visited in the late 1970s. 

Despite his own admission of first night nerves, this was a perfectly pitched opening sequence, the stripped back sound of the 3-piece band suiting the songs and the location.

"Right, that's enough of the new album," Barry states, before diving into his back catalogue for the next five songs. That said, it's not a deep dive and quite specifically targeted. Aside from the sole encore, this is a set of almost-exclusively 21st century songs. Half of the songs are from Cut To Black; curiously, a quarter are from 2008 album Back To The Cat and two are from 2021's Steal Away EP. No songs from Moss Side Story, Soul Murder, Oedipus Schmoedipus, even previous album No Where To Run. And yet, the chosen songs and sequence all made sense as a whole.

The Beaten Side Of Town is the first of the Back To The Cat selections, before Barry pulls up a stool, swaps electric for acoustic and plays Sundown County. Midway though, Barry announces "And this is the other side", before switching to a cover of Hot Love by T. Rex (with some audience participation), and then returning to Sundown County for the final section.

The Climber, also from the Steal Away EP, is the second and final solo acoustic number, before Barry goes, er, back to Back To The Cat with Straight 'Til Sunrise and Civilization.

 

The Last Words Of Sam Cooke, released as a single in March and enthusiastically received by this here blogger, follows next. It's a stunning opener to Cut To Black but really hits the spot here, ten songs in. One Last Midnight follows, with it's fruity organ intro that immediately calls to mind Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan and a rousing chorus

Wildfires out of control!
We hardly see the sun now.
Wildfires out of control!
We hardly see the sun.
Shots fired wide of the goal,
The game it should be won now.
Wildfires out of control!
We hardly see the sun… anymore.

 

It comes as a shock that this is introduced as the final and Barry ushers the band off stage to the sound of applause that keeps going until the inevitable return to the stage for an encore.

 

We only get one ("It's way past my bed time!" Barry admits) but it's a doozy: Jazz Devil, from 1998's As Above So Below. And then, that's it, lights up and the inevitable shuffle to the door and walk back to the car. I check the time, it's 9.55pm. What an hour (and a bit)!

As the set draws so heavily on Cut To Black, I've intentionally edited and overlaid the respective tracks in today's selection, in the hope that you'll be encouraged - if you weren't already - to go and buy the album from Barry's website or Bandcamp. Whilst you're there, you can also pick up all of the songs featured here as well as Barry's extensive and brilliant back catalogue.

 

1) These Would Be Blues (2024) 

2) Cut To Black (2024)

3) Demon Lover (2024)

4) Manhattan Satin (2024)

5) The Beaten Side Of Town (2008)

6) Sundown County (ft. Big Walt Daniels) (2021)

7) The Climber (2021)

8) Straight 'Til Sunrise (2008)

9) Civilization (2008)

10) The Last Words Of Sam Cooke (2024)

11) One Last Midnight (2024)

12) Jazz Devil (1998)

 

1998: As Above So Below: 12

2008: Back To The Cat: 5, 8, 9

2021: Steal Away EP: 6, 7

2024: Cut To Black: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 

Strange Brew (50:26) (KF) (Mega)

 

In early celebration of Barry's birthday on 11th June, I've reactivated the selection I curated for his 65th last year.

Post script: due to motorway closure, I had to take the scenic drive home, including a detour past Yate Town Football Club, which seemed to have an unusually large number of cars exiting as I drove past. Turns out I missed an opportunity to see these guys. More leg end than legend, I think an hour in the company of Mr. Adamson was the better deal!