First things first, water £2.70 a bottle (rip off) Richmond Fontaine T Shirt £10 (bargain!) and beer is the usual £4 plus. 

It was a predominantly male audience (more so than your average gig) - much to Laura Gibson’s horror, when she remembered that her T-shirts on the merchandise stall were covered in bunnies. Not that she really needed to worry as she had all the big butch guys (with sensitive hearts) eating out of her hand and singing along by the end of her set. Doubt she sold many T-shirts though.

 

Laura Gibson is a fine Americana / folk talent. Distinctive songs and vocals, and possessing a cute shyness, like Laura Marling way back when. This Laura delivered a lovely set of original songs plus Leadbelly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Perhaps to tie in with the current Nirvana over-hype machine which is on the roll) but a good gravelly version, none the less. Some nice home spun tales as well.

As the audience gets their plaid shirts to the fore, bang on 9pm Richmond Fontaine are on stage and straight into a full run through of the latest album The High Country. The band features Deborah Kelly from Austin’s The Damnations on vocals and spoken word. The set is lovely and the album, built around life in a logging community in Oregon, has a lot of atmosphere which in turn creates a cinematic picture in your mind as the album progresses.

 

You know when bands say they are taking a break for five minutes and come back 20 minutes later? Well Richmond Fontaine were actually back within five minutes, being the professional outfit that they are, and that the fans love. They followed The High Country with a plugged in Post the Wire and another complete album run through. You really did get the impression from the look on their faces, that as the band were playing their 2004 album it was simply evoking memories of years gone by for them, and no doubt the audience.

 

More songs followed from the vast back catalogue and well over three hours after the gig started we were climbing into our trucks and 4x4s and heading home.

 

A truly great show.

 

Pete

 

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