REVIEW – Blood Brothers @ Long Street Blues Club, Con Club, Devizes – Friday 13th October 2023

Lucky For Some

Andy Fawthrop

We don’t believe in all that Friday The 13^th unlucky malarkey, do we?  Still it was unusual to be at Long Street on a Friday night, rather than the usual Saturday, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow when the big names like this are on tour.  Ian’s agent gave him the shout for a gig in Devizes amidst a crowded Autumn/ Winter tour schedule, and so “yes please, we’ll have some of that” was the obvious answer.

Ian’s confidence in booking these guys was amply rewarded with an absolutely packed house, providing a great atmosphere.

The evening opened with special guest Adam Giles Levy.  His opening blast was a powerful acapella version of Vera Hall’s “Trouble So Hard” (as made famous by Moby).  Unfortunately this was the best thing he did in his 40-minute set.  Once he took up his guitar and started singing his meandering songs, things went rather downhill.  The style was loud and brash, and the songs seemed formless and open-ended, whilst his loose vocal and guitar styles sounded discordant and self-indulgent.  The inter-song patter was rambling and only audible to those at the front.  There was some perfunctory audience participation, but I didn’t feel that he ever had the crowd actually with him.  Applause was polite and perfunctory, rather than enthusiastic.  To me it was just a noise, and I was glad when it finally stopped.  I really don’t like giving a bad review to anyone, but I just couldn’t warm to this guy, and I wasn’t enjoying my evening.  I felt the big crowd deserved better than this.  Asking around I got a lot of mixed reviews – some thought he was OK, but the majority gave him a firm thumbs-down.  Not just me then.

Fortunately things bucked up considerably after that as Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia, playing as the band Blood Brothers hit the stage.

Mike Zito (53) is an award-winning American blues guitarist hailing from St. Louis.  His career is one of playing with multiple bands, collaborating with other great musicians, and recording and touring frequently.  He writes most of his own material.   His label-mate Albert Castiglia (54), hailing from Miami, is one of Mike’s many collaborators, and the pair have teamed up for this “Blood Brothers” tour, for which they recorded an eponymous album released back in March earlier this year.

From the first number the mood picked up considerably, and the place came alive.  Announcing their intention to “play every damn song” off the record, they did exactly that over two glorious 50-minute sets.  Two lead guitars, two contrasting vocalists, with bassist Douglas Byrkit and two drummers (Matt Johnson and Ephraim Lowell) was the recipe for a very high energy performance.  The crowd were completely onside, with massive appreciative applause right from the very first number.  Like all good bands they varied the pace, alternating fast and slow tracks, light and shade in the vocals, and mixing up some great driving boogie-woogie numbers with more nuanced and subtle songs.  Both guitarists took their solos, introducing some blistering and catchy riffs, but it was obvious from all the body language on stage that these guys obviously enjoyed playing together, complementing one another perfectly, trading licks and grinning broadly all the while.

There was chat, there was inter-song banter, there were humorous stories about the genesis of some of the songs.  And it provided just the right leavening between songs so you could get your breath back.

A standing ovation and encore were the only conclusion possible to such a great night.  And the final number of Neil Young’s barn-storming “Keep On Rocking In The Free World” was probably the best live version of that song that you’re ever likely to hear.

A great night and a really stonkingly-good gig from a real powerhouse band.

Future Long Street Blues Club gigs:

Friday 3rd November 2023                           Susan Santos & Alastair Greene

Saturday 18th November 2023                   Russ Ballard Band

Friday 24th November 2023                        Chicago Blues Trio

Saturday 16th December 2023                    Fullhouse play Frankie Miller

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