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Back in April, Those Damn Crows achieved a well-deserved No. 1 spot in the UK album charts for their new album, ‘God Shaped Hole’. Since then, they’ve been touring in support of the release, and showing that they’re also No. 1 when it comes to putting on a top-class show.
After support slots by James Bruner and Autumn Kings, both impressing us immensely (we’ve seen James Bruner before, but he seems to have really fine-tuned his performance and is going from strength to strength, while it’s our first time seeing Canadians Autumn Kings, but hopefully not the last) – and both being bands that we ought to feature in Black Velvet, Those Damn Crows take to the O2 Institute stage. Their 18-song set features a whopping nine (out of ten) songs from their new album. This makes the show refreshing and distinctive from past tours. It’s great to hear new album tracks live, especially as the album is such a superb collection of work. They kick things off with the opening song, the heavyweight ‘Dancing With The Enemy’. The five-piece of Shane Greenhall (vocals), Lloyd Wood (bass), guitarists Ian ‘Shiner’ Thomas and David Winchurch and drummer Ronnie Huxford bring with them an exceptional light show, which adds to their performance. Songs such as ‘Man On Fire’ and ‘No Surrender’ are perfect slices of hard rock. Their decade-plus existence has definitely not been in vain, as their hard work ethic has helped them to continuously advance and progress in all areas, and to become what is now a powerhouse of a band. ‘Find A Way’ is monstrously epic, while ‘Spit & Choke’ and ‘Turn It Around’ further signify how the quintet have honed their craft quite fabulously. “So, we’ve got a No. 1 album, ladies and gentlemen,” says Shane, before thanking the crowd for coming to see them and buying their record. ‘Glass Heart’ sounds sumptuous and stunning. “You might know this one,” the singer says before the lush single, ‘Dreaming’, with its chilled out, freedom-finding vibe.
Each of the members gets a shout-out; David’s is before ‘Who Did It’ (from 2020’s ‘Point Of No Return’ album), whose deep, heavy guitar tones forcibly command respect as the introduction to the song. Lloyd and David both go up the steps that lead to Ronnie’s drum riser during the song.
Shane is on his own for the melancholic ‘Still’, albeit with every member of the audience backing him every step of the way. “Here’s the boys, fuckin’ lightweights,” Shane laughs as his bandmates return for the powerful ‘Fake’. Shane plays the keys during ‘Murder And The Motive’’s ‘Blink Of An Eye’. He starts the song on his own before the band return to the stage to join him for the masterpiece.
With songs such as ‘Sin On Skin’ (which sees Shane head off the stage and go along the front row, before ending up in the balcony), ‘This Time I’m Ready’ and ‘See You Again’ wrapping up the show, it goes without saying, but they will definitely be seeing us again. Those Damn Crows are really a fantastic band, and if you haven’t seen them yet, you most definitely should.
Have a read of the current issue of Black Velvet by clicking HERE
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