The Dead South – Tuning Fork: January 30, 2023

The Dead South rolled into Auckland for a two-night stand at The Tuning Fork. Photographer Brenna Jo Gotje was there on Sunday and Marty was there on Monday.

Things being the way they were (and are) here in Auckland it was lucky that The Dead South made it to NZ from Melbourne on Sunday and that Brenna and I got there at all.

Delaney Davidson

The Monday night show was sold out leading to Sunday’s being added. When I arrived at The Tuning Fork last night, there was a hint of rain in the air, but we stayed high and dry and Delaney Davidson treated us to a scorching opening set that, in my opinion, might have bested the headliners.

Beginning with a tribal beat and a jungle roar Delaney’s opening tune, Movin’ On sounded more sinister than celebratory, tapping into the energy generated by our State Of Emergency.

With just his guitar and beat boxes on stage Delaney kept the groove going into So Long, tossing in some buzz-saw guitar playing along the way.

The beat went on and Davidson found a Hellhound On His Trail as he covered, or rather shattered, the Robert Johnson classic. And just to keep us on our toes, Delaney would shriek, bark and howl as he reinvented the blues in his own image.

Forty minutes later and I was sure The Dead South were gonna have trouble following that.

I was right.

The Dead South

The four-man band is a folk-bluegrass outfit from Saskatchewan, Canada. Nathanial Hilts (lead vocals and guitar) was host for the evening, ably assisted by Scott Pringle (mandolin) Danny Kenyon (cello) and Colton Crawford (banjo).

I’ve gotta say, these guys are doing alright in the merch department…it seemed that half the crowd was wearing Dead South T-shirts, and indeed, they do look mighty fine.

But once the band started playing, the merch sales slowed and all eyes were on stage as they got things going with Miss Mary from their 2016 album, Illusions & Doubt.

No doubt about it, these boys can play.

The joint was jumpin’ as the crowd sang along with the ‘la la la’s’ and jumped up and down to the oompa oompa beat.

Every Man Needs A Chew followed, with Nathan’s voice sounding a bit strained…this was, after all, the last show of the tour and I imaging his throat could use a rest.

By third song, The Recap, I noticed the lighting was coming from behind and the side of the stage, shining out into the crowd, but not really illuminating the band. Those flashing lights started to get annoying so I backed off to a safer location near the bar.

As the 90 minute set progressed, I became less impressed with what I heard. The sound was cool, but the songs seemed to lack something…nothing was connecting with me.

By the time they got to Black Lung, the crowd seemed to be lulled into a stupor, although things picked up with Travellin’ Man, which had folks singing along.

“Are you ready for an 18-mintes song?” teased Nathania.

Fortunately Gunslinger’s Glory clocked in well under that.

By the end of the set, after hearing all these songs about whiskey, run, cheatin’ and fighting, I felt like I was seeing something closer to a parody of country-bluegrass band, rather than the real thing.

Mind you, most of the crowd seemed to be having a fine old time.

“We want more! We want more!” they called out and the four gentlemen from Regina, Canada responded with a lovely version of You Are My Sunshine, a great old tune that reinforced my feelings that what was missing here was great songs to match the playing and the vibe.

Oh well, at least the T-shirts were cool.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Brenna Jo Gotje

The Dead South:

Delaney Davidson:

 

The Dead South setlist:

1. Miss Mary
2. Every Man Needs A Chew
3. The Recap
4. Time For Crawlin’
5. Boots
6. The Snake Man
7. Black Lung
8. Fat Little Killer Boy
9. Broken Cowboy
10. The Dead South
11. Travellin’ Man
12. Gunslinger’s Glory
13. That Bastard Son
14. In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company
15. Honey You
16. You Are My Sunshine
17. Banjo Odyssey