Levellers - with support from Mcdermotts 2 Hours (Warrington Parr Hall 09/04/05) Live Review

A lively and authentic Brighton brand of folk-punk from Mcdermotts 2 Hoursthat waspossessed with the spirit of The Saw Doctors and sprinkling of The Pogues, set the evening off to a friendly, enjoyable and entertaining start. The number that the crowd were eagerly waiting for ‘Dirty Davey’ saw the enclosed venue springing into action as it were St. Patrick’s Day. The rousing reception after half an hour of pleasing and lively folk based music coupled with captivating stage presence of Nick Burbridge ignited a fuse of excitement in the audience.

The variety of the Levellers was illuminated midway through when the menacing and colourful didgeridoo operator Stephen Boakes crawled out of the woodwork and onto the stage,to provide a haunting and piercing intro and accompanimentto ‘Three Friends’. He stayed on the stage frenetically prancing around in between playing for the old favourite ‘One Way of Life’ adding extra ebullience to the number. The climatic encore that included the utopia in song form ‘Beautiful Day’ juxtaposed with the scything, yet equally anthemic ‘Liberty Song’,bore out the fact thatwith this mixed bag of old and new passionately performed numbers, this folk/punk band still has something to say and many people still want to listen.

www.levellers.co.uk

David Adair