I have noticed a number of people complaining on social media and in person lately on the amount of chattering at gigs in recent times. I have even witnessed it on a number of occasions myself and to be honest was a bit wary of actually not being able to hear much of this gig with it being an acoustic evening. I went with some trepidation, but all the same, with some hope, that because of the setting in The Diamond Rock Bar, the attending audience would be respectful and keep it to a minimum. Time would tell.
Kicking off the evening was TRUCKER DIABLO frontman Tom Harte, who I had the pleasure of seeing open for Mike Tramp back in April at the same venue and just like then, he certainly didn’t disappoint. Playing a mix of TRUCKER DIABLO classics including “Other Side Of The City”, which he opened the show with, to the anthemic crowd favourite “Drive”.
As well as performing songs from his 2018 debut EP “Life, Love and Everything In Between”, we were also treated to an unrecorded song entitled “One More Minute”, which he informed us would probably appear on a future recording, and rightfully it should, as musically and lyrically it’s a great song.
Harte finished his set off by performing a fantastic cover of the Bruce Springsteen classic “I’m On Fire”.
Then with “Danny Boy” faded to finish from the speakers, DANNY VAUGN took to the stage. Vaughn started things of by addressing the recent rise in people talking at gigs during performances and asked the audience not to talk, out of respect for him as an artist and for the people who paid to hear him, which got a huge round of applause.
What followed was two and a half hours of incredible music from an incredible musician. And unlike some others from around the same era, #cough Jon Bon Jovi #cough, he can actually still sing brilliantly live, with the bonus of not having a ridiculous price tag for a ticket.
Playing quite a selection of songs from his extensive back catalogue of material from the last thirty five years or so, to songs from his most recent solo offering “Myths, Legends And Lies”, Danny Vaughn was in fine form, and voice.
We were also treated to some stories behind what inspired him to write some of the songs. One story in particular was about a wino called Tony that used to hang around and perform some fancy shuffling with his deck of cards, leading Danny to pen the song “The Missouri Kid”.
Danny also showed his humorous side by telling some funny stories, and even at one point making the statement that if Nickelback were a great band, they’d sound like Trucker Diablo. Danny also pointed out that with his new single “The Shadow Of King John” he no longer has to do Thin Lizzy covers as he now has an Irish song of his own.
Danny finished his set by letting everyone know that he would be returning to The Diamond Rock Club on March 28th with his good friend Dan Reed as Snake Oil And Harmony.
A great night of music and stories that certainly kept the audience happy and for the first time in a while, an audience that was, on the whole, respectful enough to the artist by keeping talking to a minimum.
Review & Photography David Stewart for metalplanetmusic
