Concert Review: Dianne Swann at The Wine Cellar, 8 May 2021
Dianne Swann goes solo in front of a full house at The Wine Cellar.
When I first heard that Dianne Swann was planning to hold her album release show at The Wine Cellar, my reaction was…”really???”
I mean, The Wine Cellar is a fine venue, but it is small and I would have thought that Dianne would have had no problem filling up a venue twice that size…maybe The Tuning Fork?
And sure enough, the show did sell out quickly. Fortunately we were able to squeeze in on this Saturday night and catch all the action.
Not surprisingly, Dianne was backed by an ace band including her Bads partner Brett Adams on guitar, Karin Canzek on bass, drummer Tom Broome along with Ben King (guitar and vocals)…and the omnipresent Dave Khan on keys (mostly).
The crowd was in fine form, ready to celebrate the 8 songs that comprise The War On Peace Of Mind, Dianne’s first solo album following a long and stellar career with The Bads, The July Dolphin, Boom Boom Mancini and When The Cat’s Away.
Things got under
way with an intro that sounded uncannily like the theme song to 60s TV sitcom I Dream Of Jeannie.
Then we’re off with Reel You In (featuring a guitar-blazing outro)and then The Cynic before Dianne stopped to have a word, telling us that this was a “a little overwhelming”.
No matter, she was in fine voice and the band was cooking. We got two more album cuts and then a version of Marlon Williams’ Beautiful Dress. Marlon wasn’t there to harmonize, but Sandy Mill was.
Sandy had been DJing before the set and she stepped out from behind the turntables to join in for These Are Days and Losing The War On Peace Of Mind…those “sha-la-las” sounding oh so sweet.
Two more album tracks and the set concluded with a Bads tune, Him And Her.
Of course we weren’t going to let Dianne and this all star band off that easily and they returned to play another Bads song, Heartbreak Beach and finally a lovely Waiting For Your Love…written by James Milne (Lawrence Of Arabia) and recorded by The Reduction Agents.
I wasn’t familiar with that song and am glad I heard it.
That’s it! Smiles all around…the usual family-like vibe of The Wine Cellar kicked in as did Sandy’s DJing and we stuck around for a little boogie.
Marty Duda
Click any icon to view a full size gallery of photos
Dianne Swann Set List:
- Reel You In
- The Cynic
- Everything’s New
- Show Your Heart
- Beautiful Dress
- These Are The Days
- Losing The War On Peace Of Mind
- Please Leave A Message
- Rare Good Feeling
- Him And Her
- Heartbreak Beach
- Waiting For Your Love
