Dan Ward-Murphy @ The Troubadour Thursday 18th February 2010
- Category: Artists
- Published on Monday, 22 August 2011 13:06
- Written by Mario
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Additional Info
- Nick Deaves: Henry Gilbert and Dan Ward-Murphy
Dan Ward-Murphy @ The Troubadour Thursday 18th February 2010
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The Bill:-
Jake Hall (picked up a copy of his EP)
Anoushka Lucas (Another EP ... a good night!)
Dan Ward-Murphy
The Keitels
Dan’s Set List:-
The Queen Of Something New
So Simple
The Prettiest Girl At The Dance
Make A Woman Cry
The Sun Is In Your Eyes (f Jen)
She’s A Knockout
Act Of Defiance
The first of Dan’s appearances at The Troubadour as part of his bi-monthly residency (ie playing every two months) and introducing the new drummer James Titshall (replacing the excellent Prav who’s moved on to concentrate on other projects), along with recent-ish addition Henry Gilbert on bass and double bass, and of course the old hand Jen Delaney helping Dan out with the singing duties.
Had a nice meal upstairs before the gig, and a couple of happy hour cocktails before wandering downstairs to catch the end of the sound check and grab a table. Great to see the place so full and definitely impressed by Jake Hall and Anoushka Lucas, and bought both their EPs. The Keitels, on last, were pretty competent, the girl singer had a great voice, but they didn’t seem to be enjoying it much (and had apparently thought it was OK to talk loudly through everyone else’s set too!) so I thought that whilst musically it was good, the ‘show’ lacked a bit of sparkle!
Dan, on third, opened with the Queen Of Something New which got everyone’s toes tapping. Interestingly, I didn’t have the same reaction as last time I saw them, when my mind would fill in for the missing Helen on violin and Milo on cello. It seems really tight and ‘complete’ again now the re-organisation has had some time to bed in properly. This has perhaps shifted the sound a little from nu-folk to nu-country but it is definitely a comfortable fit now and sounding great!
First of three new songs, So Simple is (still) a beautiful song with all the DWM hall marks of harmonies as it lets the crowd settle into the set. Next up is the newest song, indeed the first outing for The Prettiest Girl At The Dance, followed by Make A Woman Cry, both of which are finely crafted songs with geat tunes and involving lyrics and are definitely keepers!
Jen takes the reins for The Sun Is In Your Eyes and it’s as wonderful as ever, and Dan closes the set with She’s A Knockout and Act Of Defiance, both of which sound fabulous in the new arrangements.
The crowd were at times a bit rowdy (but often are at The Troubadour) but most appreciative as shown by the leCDs they purchased, and the no. of names added to the email list.
Excellent Dan ... 10 out of 10!
Next playing at the Troubadour on the 1st April, which is also going to be when Julia Johnson is playing as part of her residency, so that should be a good night!
