Richard Dawson

Early on in the show, Dawson answered an audience member asking where his acoustic guitar had gone, replying that his bassist had accidentally stepped on it. The honest answer was indicative of Dawson’s warm and friendly stage presence that resulted in frequent diversions during the gig, but sadly also highlighted the absence of chiming acoustic tones and missing pieces of the songs’ identities.

Dawson’s yelping vocals are always a joy live, and a cappella folk songs were also a good change of pace, even if they did disrupt any sort of rollicking momentum a little. Recently released album ‘Peasant’ holds some of Dawson’s most melodic, arresting songs but something felt missing in the live versions: tracks sounded thinner and more brittle. Final song The Vile Stuff (an older fan favourite) was in fact the best by far, feeling more energetic, fleshed out and vital: it was just a shame that the rest of the gig felt flat and sonically underwhelming by comparison.

The Old Market, 26 June 2017

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