Emperors - Lords of the Fly | livemusic.fm

Following some Blink182-Greenday clones from South West England, Tom Mckean and his fellow potentates took to the stage with their usual self-assured, laid back composure. I'd met Tom briefly before the gig, wrapped up in a big scarf to keep out the February chills and sniffles - which he was already suffering from! But no doubt a few whiskies from his homeland had chased away any vestiges of lingering malady, and by the time he took to the stage, all evidence of the winter blues had left his frame. A sizeable crowd had swelled to see Mr McKean and his comrades and to be honest they took a while to settle. However, by the time the emotive opening number Hold Onto Me had reached its crescendo, the inebriated crowd was singing and swaying along to the soothing sounds of the Emperors' frontman. By the time he'd steered us through A Little Something and This Is The Year there was an audible hush during the more quiet passages of these emotional journeys. In fact the latter number had been touchingly dedicated to the steadfast Emperors guitarist and sometime backing vocalist, Bobby Williams, who had originally written the song. McKean followed this up with a Johnny Cash inspired number - a song that had it's origins from when Tom (sans Emperors) had sent JC a CD of some acoustic demos he'd done, and was hoping that he might consider it for the American Recording sessions JC was doing at the time. However it came around that the Man died the same week the CD arrived ... It's little gems like these that keep a crowd interested, and once again the rogue-ish warmth of McKean worked it's magic on the audience. Like a Southern States whisky preacher, McKean is at his best when he takes his listeners on a roller-coaster emotional journey, from the lows to the highs, and from the dark to the light. He even has a signature hand-gesture that is reminiscent of a preacher exorcising the drab and dreary spirits from his congregation, re-invigorating us all for a few precious moments. Well it was either that or the shot of Jagermeister I'd just swigged down ... One Thing On My Mind had it's usual smattering of the sweet-toned clarinet sounds of keyboard player Andy Simms, while Tell The Angels was, as always, one of the stand-out songs of the set. Till The Day I Die featured some great drumming from Ian Ross, who also showed his versatility later by playing the mandolin on a lesser performed acoustic ragtime-jazz number Fever. Mckean and his lads even managed to fit in a few newer numbers such as Feels Like We Might Just Make It Out Of Here Alive which was much rockier than I remembered - and consequently a much more successful outing than the first time I'd heard it at the Borderline. This last number emphasized the fact that all the way through the set, the drummer, and no-fuss bass player Ed Miller, had given all the songs a tight platform from which Messrs Mckean and Williams could build their impassioned harmonies and melodies. As is customary, after some pantomime, The Emperors played their only cover number as the closing song - the Jolie Holland penned Old Fashioned Morphine. After the Emperors had left the stage the crowd was once again left hungry for more ... but like the final song, I still felt the lingering warm glow akin to the golden brown claws of the eastern dragon, as we stepped into the chill night air and wended our respective ways home. As I said though it was probably a couple of Jagermeisters on a "school night" that really did that ... http://www.theemperors.co.uk/