Review by Vanessa Monaghan.
A queue formed early outside The Sugar Club, then again it’s not often you’d get to see a Grammy and Golden Globe winner such as Ryan Bingham, in such an intimate venue.
Proceedings kicked off with an Australian Sideshow Bob lookalike, who was accompanied by Bingham’s drummer, Matt Smith. Eventually, thanks to a question from the audience, Liam Gerner told us his name.
Gerner proved himself to be an accomplished songwriter during his set with a classic singer songwriter sound with hints of artists like Adam Cohen, though it took a while to capture all the audience’s attention. The acoustic guitar and drum combination worked well, and even got a dancer going at one stage.
The choice of cover went down extremely well, the audience listening intently to Gerner’s cover of Steve Earle’s ‘Rich Man’s War’, Gerner continued the high point with a country tinged track called ‘Dear Heart’ while saying that his musical God was Van Morrison. The set finished with ‘Benny Seal’s Highway’, an up-tempo track that tips a hat to the Allman Brothers.
Ryan Bingham doesn’t take long to come to the stage, starting his set solo with the track ‘The Poet’ from his Album ‘Junky Star’. A great introduction with Bingham playing guitar and harmonica. By the end of the track the rest of the band join him on stage before they launch into ‘Day is Done’ filling the Sugar Club with a full country sound.
The band gel together well and give it socks on stage, looking like a country Kings of Leon. Down the sides of the venue, the standing audience didn’t need much encouragement to dance. During ‘Tell My Mother I Love Her So’, even support act Liam Gerner could be seen dancing.
Although Bingham may not be a household name here, many of the audience seem familiar with his catalogue. Amazing lead guitar and mandolin from Corby Schaub converted the unsure in the house.
Ryan seems to be an unassuming character, he doesn’t say much between songs, almost a bit shy. Introducing ‘Strange Feeling in The Air’, though he says there are still places in the world where people are looked at differently if they have tattoos, long hair, darker skin. ‘This song says fcuk all that’. The slow burner builds to a crescendo to roars of approval.
While his music can sometimes seem typical downbeat country, there are also many uplifting elements. The apt ‘Depression’ tells the story of losing losing jobs and having no work but still having a loved one. The 29 year old has a Tom Waits voice and has a brilliant knack of capturing feelings, giving his lyrics an old man’s feel. ‘Depression’ gives the band the opportunity to rock it up and really showed how think the line is between rock and country and gets the biggest cheer of the evening.
Musicianship throughout the show is second to none with amazing guitar and mandolin and a driving bass sound. Matt Smith is back on drumming duty and when you see him in this set up, you can see why Liam Gerner was so pleased to have him play.
A call from the audience for Bingham to play ‘The Wandering’ is answered. This gives bass player Elijah Ford a chance to shine. The overall sound may be country but when the full band sound is combined with clever harmonica line it becomes is distinctively Bingham.
Musically the band were flawless to this point but it is from here on that the audience reaction and in turn the band feeding off this, took the night to another level.
‘Bluebird’ sees the band Bingham stretching his vocals to get some high notes, the band rocking out and a lot of whooping and cheering from the audience. During ‘Hallelujah’ Bingham shows off his song writing and voice with some great vocal timings. Three quarters of the song is played with Ryan playing his guitar solo before the band come in. When they do this, you realise what a huge sound these four musicians have created on stage.
Bingham seems to be more comfortable on stage now, telling us he’s going to play the first thing he learned on the guitar with a little song at the end. The band launch into the mariachi to shouts of ‘Olé’ coming from all around the venue. The speed building revs the crowd who are loving every rise and fall of the music.
A call from the side of the stage tells Bingham the band have ten minutes left. His Texan drawl saying ‘I guess this place turns into a nightclub or something’. His urges the band to step up even another notch and Bingham encourages everyone to dance in front of the stage. And they do. Liam Gerner returns on electric guitar and turns the Sugar Club into what could have been a country club in the deep south. Fantastic energy in the venue, in some ways it was a pity it wasn’t a fully standing gig to start.
Bingham and his band leave the stage to deafening applause and cheers. The audience may mainly in their thirties or forties but this didn’t stop hinder the roars of approval. The band’s ten minutes are well and truly up but the audience shows no sign of stopping the cheering or leaving the venue.
On returning from a mega quick loo trip, this writer sees the band back on stage. No point trying to get back back to my seat I make my way towards the front of the venue, with what seems like everyone else in the place. Going with the stream of people I end up at the front of stage as Bingham begins his encore.
It is then that it hits me that this gig definitely needed to be in a standing venue. The intensity from the stage is immense and when they band got going this definitely was music that needed to be danced to.
Musicianship throughout the night was excellent and was further showcased in ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Bread and Water’. Bingham said that he wished he could play more. I wished I could hear more. He may have played for two hours, it seemed he could play for two more.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but this was an extremely enjoyable gig. When’s he playing here again?
