King King put on their Sunday best.
Oxford’s always buzzy Cowley Road features a world tour of restaurants, bars and music venues. The o2 Academy feels right at home here with tonight’s show upstairs in the smaller of it’s 2 live rooms.
Openers the Ashley Sherlock Band are performing this evening in the form of a duo as timekeeper Danny Rigg is not available for these shows. The guys adapt admirably. Sherlock brandishes an acoustic six-string whilst Nick Baxter ably plugs any gaps in the sound with his smooth, musical bass work.
It’s Sherlock’s voice that is the not-so-secret weapon though. Given the space provided by the stripped-back format, he’s able to deliver each song with a full breadth of expression and emotion.
The guys get straight into their rhythm with “Time” from 2023 album “Just A Name”. The interplay between guitar and bass provides a delicious platform for Ashley’s fine voice to soar and break with each twist of the song’s narrative.
The band recently dumped their record company because “they’re idiots” and have since prepared 12 songs for an upcoming, self-released album. The bulk of tonight’s set comprises 4 of these tunes.
There’s a theme of broken hearts, loss, and doomed relationships running through the new numbers, which gives them a gravity that extends beyond two instruments and a voice.
In amongst the break-up and betrayal comes “Down”, a song about drinking performed this evening as a celebration of 2 years of sobriety. “Sorry Hotel”, “Snakes” and “Heard It All Before” complete the quartet of unreleased material – each one setting expectations for the new album sky high.
Whilst the lyrical themes are downbeat, the music is delightful, and the set feels warm and uplifting with Sherlock’s between-song patter amiable, frank and amusing.
The all-too-brief slot is closed out by my favourite tune from Just A Name – the excellent “Dear Elizabeth” – with Sherlock finally firing up the fretboard and dishing out some tasteful, silky guitar licks. The perfect way to end a thoroughly enjoyable set.
Setlist:
Time / Sorry Hotel / Snakes / Down / Heard It All Before / Dear Elizabeth
https://ashleysherlock.com
Photography and words by: Andy Balcam
King King are also a man down tonight. In their case it’s band leader Alan Nimmo’s big brother Stevie who has decided to hang up his gig boots and spend more time with his family. Alan gives us all a minute to let the irony of that one sink in!
The remaining foursome produce a huge sound. In the engine room Jon Lodge coaxes irresistible grooves from the tubs and Zander Greensheilds holds down a groovy low end whilst Jonny Dyke fills the room with Hammond swells you can feel in your chest along with some sonorous work on the Fender Rhodes.
Be-kilted ringmaster Alan Nimmo has a shocking cough tonight and, between songs at least, looks like he should be tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle.
Fair play though, once the music kicks in, you’d never know he wasn’t tip top as his vocal roar is every bit as rich and powerful as it ever was and his guitar playing is supreme.
No messing about – “Moving Away Day”, “Fire In My Soul” and, my personal favourite, “Cried Out For Love” launch the Sunday night set into the stratosphere with their pounding beats and towering choruses.
The first of many highlights tonight is “our version of the blues” – a show stopping rendition of “A Long History Of Love” where both Dyke and Nimmo take stunning solos building the song to a thrilling crescendo.
Stomping single “Strong” gives way to a brace of new numbers “Too Late” and “Never Lose Your Faith”, which are promised to be part of a long-awaited and much anticipated new album coming our way in March.
Between songs Nimmo is a charming, mischievous host drawing the crowd into his world with stories both sad and laugh-out-loud funny. Sipping tea from a King King branded mug (“when did we ever get product placement?”) he informs the throng that he’s the least rock and roll member of the band, although that wasn’t always the case – “If I’d known I’d live this long I’d have tried harder!” he smirks.
The 100-minute set reaches it’s climax in epic fashion with fist-pumping, sing-along banger “I Will Not Fall” and encores of the truly moving poem to aging and reflection “When My Winter Comes” and inevitable closer “Stranger To Love” which produces yet another guitar masterclass from Nimmo and a euphoric response from the Oxford massive.
Exceptional stuff.
Setlist:
Moving Away Day / Fire In My Soul / Cried Out For Love / Waking Up / A Long History Of Love / Strong / Too Late / You Stopped The Rain / Rush Hour / Never Lose Your Faith / I Will Not Fall / When My Winter Comes / Stranger To Love
King King
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Photography and words by: Andy Balcam
