Celebrating over twenty five years together the Levellers take to the road once again for the release of their Greatest Hits album, and this time around they have one or two tricks up their sleeve along the way.
First though She Makes War opened up proceedings looping her ukulele to create a backing track whilst showcasing songs about the tried and tested subject of relationships from days gone by – the singer songwriter however seemed out of place ahead of two more uplifting bands and although she had a nice voice and friendly banter, She Makes War did however come across as more suited to your local open mic night, with the experimental side also a little lost on the big stage.
The Selecter on the other hand really got things going, having originally formed back in the late seventies Pauline Black and Arthur Hendrickson may be the only original members in the reformed line-up but that didn’t matter as they were ready to get the party started with some good old fashioned 2 tone Ska. It’s near impossible not to skank along to the classic ‘Three Minute Hero’ and we can all relate to the lyrics in ‘Time Hard (Everyday)’, whilst a cover of ‘Train to Skaville’ by the Ethiopians gave the rest of the band a chance to shine complete with some superb keyboard playing from the young Greg Coulson and the dub bass lines of John Thompson. The musicianship also came through on an extended version of the James Bond theme tune and Pauline Black was in great voice for the slower ‘Missing Words’, but it was the hit ‘On My Radio’ and ‘Too Much Pressure’ that got the crowd dancing again as the Selecter proved to be an inspired choice for the Levellers main support slot.
The last time I saw the Levellers it felt as though they were just going through the motions, it may have been down to the venue being more like a school assembly hall than that of a gig but from the opening notes of ‘Beautiful Day’ you could tell this evening was going to be something a bit more special.
It was then straight into one of several tracks from the Levelling the Land album as the group performed ‘Fifteen Years’ before frontman Mark Chadwick announced maybe not all the songs on the Greatest Hits tour were necessarily hits, at which point saw Pauline Black return to the stage for a rendition of ‘Together All the Way’ and you could see the band were enjoying every moment.
It wasn’t just Pauline Black from the Selecter to make a second appearance either, their horn section also helped out on a couple of numbers whilst ‘This Garden’ brought didgeridoo player Stephen Boakes into the fold as Laura Kidd (aka She Makes War) contributed additional backing vocals. It’s a shame the Levellers didn’t make more use of their mischievous didge player – he added another dimension to the band acting as a great visual element, covered in illuminating body paint, as well as the musical contributions but I can only imagine it takes some effort to keep up the breathing needed for such an instrument.
The set continued to be upbeat and you could feel the energy from the crowd, many singing to every word on the likes of ‘One Way’ and ‘Carry Me’ as the band too were having just as much fun with bass player Jeremy Cunningham constantly pogoing throughout the gig with a big smile on his face.
As the main set finished the Levellers had already performed an impressive concert, but there was still time for the inevitable encore as the confetti canons fired out into the crowd and Mark Chadwick once again had the audience participating with devil horns for the Charlie Daniels cover in ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ before returning for a second and final encore in ‘The Riverflow’.
So with the Selecter as the perfect support act and the Levellers back on top form, what better way could there be than to end a grey and wet weekend by brightening it up with a night of quality live music.
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