Featuring The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show, Amie Knight & Jordan Watts
I personally have not been to a gig since December, live music has been a massive part of my life since my early teens and I usually get to around two gigs a week. It has been the longest time I have ever gone without any live music in my life and it sucked. This pandemic has turned everything completely upside down, changing things that we all used to take for granted into a huge effort for its organisers. With the lockdown rules easing, every music promoter has had to re-evaluate the way they approach how they present their events. Tonight we are back at the Lighthouse in the company of the “Live & Unheard” team, who have been quick to get things in order to put on safe events with help from the ever-willing venue staff. The show is outside on the grass bowl adjacent to the main building, with plenty of space for people to safely observe the social distancing rules. Thankfully the stormy cold weather of last week has made way for blue skies and much higher temperatures.
The first act of the evening is former “27 Days” frontman Jordan Watts, who tonight is pairing up with “Pirates of Panama” guitarist Ed Van Egan. The two arrive on stage to a ripple of applause after being introduced by our enthusiastic host, Hangover Hill’s Matt Black. Jordan is dressed in flared trousers; a cape and dark sunglasses, looking every inch the Rock star he wishes to become. The duo kick-off, each with six-string acoustic guitars fed through a mix of pedals to create some nice atmospheric sounds. Jordan explains that the setlist tonight is made up of brand new songs which have only been written over the past few weeks. Opening with a number called “Wild and Free” you can hear a host of Rock influences pouring from the strings of the boy’s guitars while maintaining their own originality. “Every Heart You Break” is next and Jordan digs deep to deliver a passionate vocal and this continues throughout the heartfelt “Give It All”.
Things step up a pace with “Without a Fight, the boys go into ‘jam mode’, mixing the track with a few lines of David Bowie’s “Fame” and the Lenny Kravitz classic “American Woman”. For the final song, there is a complete change of pace as Jordan takes to the piano and Ed picks up his electric guitar. They have definitely saved the best ’til last and the audience is treated to a track called “Rain Falls”. A song so very different from what Jordan has delivered before, the vocals sound so much smoother and much less gruff. It’s a thoroughly impressive performance and gives us a glimpse into a future of an exciting new band that Jordan and Ed will be putting together.
In stark contrast to the opener’s Rock style; next up we have 23rd-year-old Dorset-based Country singer Amie Knight, who has already had chart success with two of her singles going into the top ten of the iTunes Country music charts. In the true Country style, Amie introduces each song with a detailed background, giving the audience a much fuller understanding of the lyrical content. From the opening number and despite not having played a gig in over a year; her voice sounds divine, effortlessly delivering perfect vocals accompanied by her acoustic guitar.
You cannot help but smile at the quality of her performance, with her voice substantially filling this bowl-shaped outdoor arena and commanding silence as she sings. The songs mainly cover the ups and downs of relationships with tunes like “The Train Song”, “I Had You First” and the enchanting first single from the debut album “I Don’t”, which has a particularly infectious chorus. There is also a brand new song called “Grey” written just recently, which was inspired by the colour of her Father’s ageing hair. Typically he was in the audience and the tune was dedicated to him with Amie saying ‘he’s the one at the back with the grey hair’, clearly her number one fan. The final number of the evening called “Hold On” is dedicated as a pick me up to anyone who is struggling, with the singer/songwriter using her incredible talent to lift everybody’s spirits in these difficult times. Amie leaves the stage to substantial applause from the well-entertained crowd.
Tonight’s headliners are a band who have been no strangers to this website, I have been fortunate enough to see them many times before and they never disappoint with live performances. “The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show” actually feature seven musicians and tonight we are treated to a set featuring a few subtle changes and the debut of some new songs from the bands forth-coming album “Going Nowhere Fast”. The first of these changes comes in the form of new member Charlie Waygood on drums (formerly Drummer with Wob Williams), the band previously performed with no drummer and had Steve Wareham on Cajón. Steve has now moved to an upright position centre stage, on percussion and backing vocals. They open with a brand new track called “Snapping Bones”, which is a great track to open with as each player’s individual parts are brought in gradually: first guitars, keys, bass, rhythms, banjo and then vocals bringing everything together to make a wonderous sound. Next is an infectious Country-sounding track called “Life’s Quite Bland”, where the frontman shows his great strengths in songwriting.
At the first initial listen the band sound like a Folk band, but peeling back their various layers you will find a host of influences from all over the place Punk, Folk and a large slice of Lennon–McCartney appreciation. The third new track “The Same Old Lines” is a delightful slice of their collective creative skills, its bright uplifting vocal featuring some excellent acoustic guitar work mixed with Alison’s violin. The band very unexpectedly play a cover, I cannot honestly remember them doing this before and the choice is even more unusual; The Beastie Boys “Fight for Your Right to Party”. The song itself has been radically reworked and it sounds as though it’s played to the beat of The Wonder Stuff’s “Unbearable”. Another of the new songs is “One More Drink will Kill Me” and Mark explained that he wrote the track the night before having colonoscopy, with it based on the fear of what the doctors would tell him after the procedure.
The band’s final number is their new single “Boomtown” or its full title “we were booked to play Boomtown but it didn’t happen in the end”. It displays the disappointment that the pandemic brought after the bands first major booking at this prestigious festival. One great thing did come out of the cancellation…..this song. It’s a classic and I’m sure it will be sung by festival crowds all throughout the Summer with its very catchy chorus. It’s musically brilliant and has so many great elements driving it and it is released on the 2nd July. As the band tried to leave the stage the crowd demanded more and they after a quick discussion; decided to play a song that they have not performed for two years, their 2018 single “Float Your Boat”. The song left the audience more than satisfied and though they were not the raucous audience this band are used to; it was a useful experience performing these songs in preparation for the festivals ahead, particularly their headline slot at the Wonky Donk Festival in July.
Set-Lists
Jordan Watts
Wild and Free
Every Heart You Break
Give it All
Without a Fight
Rain Falls
Amie Knight
The Train
Late Love
Greedy
I Don’t
I Had You First
Grey
Get Away
Hold On
The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show
Snapping Bones
Life’s Quite Bland
The Same Old Lines
Rat in the Palace
Fight for Your Right to Party (Beastie Boys)
Ghosts
One More Drink will Kill Me
Snakes a Snake
Boomtown
Float Your Boat
Videos
Live & Unheard returns to the Outside at Lighthouse Poole on 3rd July with a huge line-up of local talent featuring: Carley Varley (1pm), Marco Di Gaetano (2pm), Tim Somerfield (3pm), Jazz Wrann and the Ruby Welts (4pm) along with evening headliners Cherry Morris’s Pharaohs, Plastic Jeezus + Lee Rasdall-Dove Band.
TICKET OFFER: Book the daytime and evening events on 3rd July and pay only £20 for both. Discounts are automatically applied at checkout. Both events must be booked at the same time. Purchase Tickets for Daytime and Evening.
Links
https://www.facebook.com/TheTwoManTravellingMedicineShow
http://www.amieknight.com
https://www.facebook.com/jordan.watts.148
Words, Pictures & Videos by David Chinery (Chinners).
