July 20, 2021

Concert Review: Sam Loveridge at The Thirsty Dog, 17 July 2021

The Sam Loveridge Band topped the bill at the Thirsty Dog on Saturday to showcase a set of new songs from their forthcoming album and to celebrate the release of their single. The set showed their ability to put on a performance that built up and maintained high energy and showed off their great musicianship. The new and old songs fitted together well to create a powerful fourteen song set.

Tim Prier

Before Loveridge and band took the stage there were two support acts who played short and enjoyable sets. The first set was Tim Prier on acoustic guitar who played six songs. He picked and strummed in a folk-pop acoustic guitar style and made good use of on stage recorded loops for rhythm.

Prier’s set of mostly self-penned songs about love and loss kicked off and followed the themes of his bluesy vocal take on Foy Vance’s Upbeat, Feelgood. The set ended with another cover, Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets. On this song his strident guitar strums established the beat and over that he was able to showcase his vocal versatility. It was a well-received set from a performer who had a friendly and positive stage presence and this was great way to start the evening.

Remember

Prier was followed by Remember, who are Oscar Hemingway, Vocals and Acoustic Guitar, Georgi Dobrev, Guitar, Julian Speck, Bass and Thomas Parker, Drums. Remember played a short set of Brit pop influenced punchy songs. They were a tight band adept at switching speed mid song and producing great guitar melodies.

The seven-song set was over quickly, with all songs delivered with confidence. The opener War of Words had a great circling guitar pattern and the recent single, Good Reason stood out for the way the Speck’s bass and Hemingway’s vocals interacted to emphasise the lyrics. The song of that I enjoyed the most was the more acoustic sounding Throw Me Over. This was an impressive set by a band with a clear control of their songs dynamics and the ability to carry off well the pop and rock styles of Brit pop.

The Sam Loveridge Band

The Sam Loveridge Band has expanded its membership and become an official band. The core five piece is Sam Loveridge guitar and vocals, Sam Nash, Bass, Jono Annandale, Banjo, Bhagirath Prutvi, keyboard and Chris Townsend, drums. They are joined for the start and end of the set by Ema Barton, backing vocals and Jesse Loveridge, violin.

The stage was very crowded with all seven band members on stage for the opening Getting Old. The sound was a bit cluttered for the first few songs. However, soon the influence of each of the instruments on the overall sound could be heard clearly, with the keyboard work of Prutvi, drums of Townsend and Nash’s bass underpinning them. Over the top of this solid playing the interplay of Loveridge’s electric guitar and Annandale’s banjo was constantly interesting.

The wordy lyrics were delivered quickly in Loveridge’s distinctive voice and the band were able to shift comfortably between the fast pop of Better Days, the stomp of Outrage Crowd and the country vibe of Killing the Dolphins. These switches in style and tempo represent a move from the more folk orientated sound Loveridge has used in the past. Overall the band played a powerful upbeat electric country rock that reminded me of the Americana of bands like Drive By Truckers.

The set ended with three songs that had all band members back on stage, Better Man which had the violin, electric guitar and banjo meshing together to powerful effect, Run Into You which used the keyboard to dramatic effect and finally I Wanna Dance which ended the night on high. The set left me looking forward to hearing the album versions of the eight new songs played tonight.

This was varied evening of guitar based music at The Thirsty Dog from performers who looked to be enjoying themselves and ensured the audience did too.

John Bradbury

Click any icon to view a full gallery of photos of Sam Loveridge. All photos copyright Veronica McLaughlin Photography.

Set Lists

Sam Loveridge Band
Getting Old
Boy
Rust
Be Free
Past Ages
Better Days
Outrage Crowd
Do You Feel Blue
Killing the Dolphins
Crown
No More
Better Man
Run Into You
I Wanna Dance