REVIEW – King King @ The Corn Exchange, Devizes – Tuesday 21st April 2026

Acoustic Tuesday

by Andy Fawthrop

Not my favourite night for going to a gig but, hey, sometimes you just have to roll with it. On a night to fit in with their current short seven-date UK tour, Tuesday it just had to be, and King King rolled into town with their stripped-back “acoustic set”.

First up, alone on stage, was support act Felix Rabin, a young man with plenty of talent. The Frenchman gave us a cracking first twenty-five minutes, and did an excellent job at paving the way for the main act to come. Here was a man with a mic, a few loops and pedals, a stomp-box and a (gasp) electric guitar. Over just six or seven songs, he easily won over the audience with a wide variety of songs, ranging from full-on loud, almost screaming anguish, through to some really thoughtful and tender material. With an easy, comfortable, personality he fully engaged the audience. The loud applause and the long queue at his merch desk at the end were both fully deserved. A worthy support to the main act for the night.

After a somewhat over-long interval, during which we were able to “enjoy” the Corn Exchange’s excuse-for-a-bar, it was time for the main act. With beer, cider and (cans of) Guinness at £6/ pint, served in plastic glasses by less-than-friendly staff, this is the venue’s Achilles heel. The offering is so limited, depressing and expensive. Such a shame, when the overall surroundings of the hall are great, the entertainment was top-notch, and the sound quality delivered from stage was clear and crisp. Pity they can’t offer music fans something better. However, I digress.

King King are a British blues rock group, formed in in Glasgow back in 2008 by Alan Nimmo and Lindsay Coulson, both formerly of The Nimmo Brothers. The band has released five studio albums and two live albums. The current line-up features Alan Nimmo (guitar and lead vocals), Stevie Nimmo (guitar and vocals), and Jonny Dyke (keyboards). In this acoustic-only line-up, there was no room (or need) for bass and drums. Back in 2014 British Blues Awards, the group won five awards including the Best Band and Best Album Awards. Normally, in their full electric line-up, they’re widely praised as one of the UK’s premier blues-rock bands, and known for their high-energy live performances.

Full disclosure: I’d never seen King King before, so I’d no idea what to expect. However, I quickly gathered that the almost-full hall of the Corn Exchange was well packed with plenty of their fans. By the time I took my seat I’d already had several fanboy conversations with folks I knew, and seen plenty of King King t-shirts. The merch desk was also pretty busy. So I was coming at this with a completely open mind and open ears. “Come on,” I thought, “show me what you can do!” Suffice to say, dear readers, I was not to be disappointed.

So not a full-on blues/ rock band then, but an acoustic version of that band. Last night, which Alan introduced as “an experiment”, was all about keeping things much more stripped back, intimate (compared to their usual format), and with a strong focus on the quality of, and the stories behind, the songs themselves.

For the next ninety minutes, through a flowing single set, they demonstrated very clearly their superb musicianship, vocal harmonies and song-writing skills. There was plenty of inter-song chat, building up a picture of their back catalogue, but never straying into that tedious trap of doing more talking than singing. There was plenty of cheeky humour, music business anecdotes, and an easy patter and interplay with the audience. The songs really spoke for themselves. Hauled up from various parts of their back catalogue the two Nimmo brothers, both seated with acoustic guitar, introduced songs of great power. The acoustic format allowed the vocals to really shine through, but never at the expense of some great work from the guitars and keyboard.

There were some nice riffs, some great choruses, plenty of audience participation. Most of the audience didn’t need much winning over in the first place, but as a newbie I was fairly quickly convinced too. Gotta say that I really loved it, and now feel prompted to go and see the band in their more “normal” full electric format. Another time, another date – but hopefully not on a Tuesday!