Shakenstir » Drive-By Truckers in Liverpool

For a band to have survived and prospered for over fifteen years indicates that there’s something pretty special goin’ on… Add to this no less than nine studio albums, including two in the last two years (it was 2010’s wonderful A BIG TO-DO that alerted me to the band), and it’s no surprise that even in these difficult economic times (with very fews gigs actually selling out) a good sized, enthusiastic audience was guaranteed. However, one thing stood out like a sore thumb and that was the nature of the audience which generally started at around 30 years and finished in the 50s, with young faces as rare as hens’ teeth. This is really no surprise at all given the fact that the band can’t get arrested on UK commercial radio stations, and are criminally absent from BBC’s Radio 1 and 2 playlists due to the stations’ preference for the manufactured, medicocre, with beats…

It’s a crying shame because as this Georgia, United States band proved on the night they should have much wider appeal through a veritable dictionary of subject matter (dark, light and occasionally funny) and southern rock vibe. Josh Pearson (of Lift To Experience fame) was supposed to provide support but had to bow out due to illness and rather than let fans wait around the Truckers started their show at around 8:20 pm and continued through to 10:30pm. That’s a pretty long gig but one that the band handled so easily and well, including twenty-four songs drawn from fifteen live and studio years.

Opening the show Mike Cooley performed ‘Carl Perkins Cadillac’ which was written to celebrate Sun Records’ boss Sam Phillips who promised a cadillac to the first label artist to achieve a Gold Disc, which Perkins won, much to the surprise of company execs who thought Elvis Presley would walk it… It proved to be a storming opening gambit before things got more emotive and dark with a tale of problematic modern living called ‘The Righteous Path’.

This compelling two-hour show included six songs from the band’s new album and disappointingly for me only one from last year’s cracking album A BIG TO-DO. That said, I was more than happy to become aquainted with both brand new and older songs like ‘Ray’s Automatic Weapon’, the gorgeous ‘Everybody Needs Love’ and tale of a ’professional lady’ called ’Birthday Boy’.

In vocal terms Patterson Hood dominated the evening punctuated by a very different vocal style from Cooley. Sadly Shonna Tucker only sang a single song (’Dancing Ricky’) which is a real shame since she has a distinctive voice which is shown in all its glory on the slow-burning 2010 song ‘You Got Another’. I admit a large number of songs I did not recognise, however, whether rocking out or in calmer contemplation Drive-By Truckers proved to be one of the finest country-rock bands I’ve seen, with a back-catalogue second-to-none.

During the performance I had to dash downstairs to catch the NME new bands show which underlined the massive difference that skill, experience and great song-writing can make. Needless to say I stayed only very briefly and returned to the Truckers for some real talent, real music. It was one helluva show folks…

SETLIST

1. Carl Perkins’ Cadillac

2. The Righteous Path

3. Birthday Boy

4. Ray’s Automatic Weapon

5. Sounds Better In The Song

6. Your Daddy Hates Me

7. Get Downtown

8. Dancing Ricky

9. Everybody Needs Love

10. A Ghost To Most

11. Heathens