Re-Union

Wednesday 19 October - yes, I know I’m being a bit tardy with this one, but we’ve been very, very busy recently what with our boiler finally given up the ghost and stuff. Right now, regular readers (if I have any left) will recall that mid-October we had a rash of gigs starting on Friday 14 and ending with this one, so expectations were naturally high. In a change from the usual, we were at The Duchess, a venue that I’ve always had a soft spot for.

We arrived fashionably three songs before the end of the first support band, Mad Dog (and on FaceBore, and MyFace), possibly an allusion to the album by John Entwistle. Anyhow, I very much liked the cut of their jib, a bit like York's own 98Pages. Hailing from London, they consisted of ; Tommy Smith (guitar/vocals), Matt Johnson (bass guitar), and Brendan Lleak (drums). This was a very impressive start to the evening.

It would have been an act of kindness to have swapped the support bands around, something that Paul Blue of Fighting Wolves alluded to himself. It seemed that most of the audience agreed with him. Personally, I would have liked to have caught more of Mad Dog's act. Not that Fighting Wolves were bad, it’s just that their brand of nu-rock didn’t somehow fit in with the hard rock feel of the other bands. I quite like heavy, I quite like a bit of screaming, but it was all too much and my ears quickly tuned out. Sorry guys. Fighting Wolves come from London and consist of; Mark Easton (drums), Paul Blue (vocals/guitar), Micky D (vocals/guitar), and Dougie (vocals/bass). See how I put the drummer first? I don’t think it’s fair that they are always billed last in a list.

And so to the main event of the evening, the return to York after almost exactly a year (they were last here on 30 October 2010), The Union. OK, maybe, as a Thunder fan, I’m a bit biased, but last year they toured a superb debut album (The Union), and this year they were touring another brilliant offering (Siren's Song). Being fans anyway, we had pre-ordered the album and already had a few weeks of listening under our belts before this gig. Notwithstanding, the band blew our socks off with a powerful and energetic set comprising the best of songs from both albums. I always find it amazing how much better good bands sound live.

For the uninitiated, The Union consist of Pete Shoulder (ex-Winterville) on vocals and guitar, Luke Morley on vocals and guitar and Chris Childs on backing vocals and bass (both ex-Thunder), and Dave McCluskey on drums and pretty bloomin’ awesome!

Time to flex my memory muscles and see how much of the set list I can remember… The band came on to Part of The Union (The Strawbs) then immediately went into Watch The River Flow. This was followed by two songs off the new album; the incredible and slightly heavy, Burning Daylight, and the lyrically superb Black Gold. Back to the debut again for Saviour and Easy Street, before another new one; Blame It On Tupelo. We then had; Lillies, Obsession, The Remedy, Cut The Line, and Black Monday. Then they played the title track from the new album; Siren's Song. For their encore we got two more songs from the first album; the ballad-y Come Rain, Come Shine and their single Step Up To The Plate.

For me this was definitely 'gig of the year'. I would highly recommend both albums and jump at the chance to see them again live. Superb!