Written By: JULIET HURWITT
Photos By: JULIET HURWITT
Call me greedy, but I make no apologies for seeing Blue Nation for the second time in eight days. The first time at Hook, Hampshire, was for their very first headline show on The Ordinary People tour to promote their new album of the same name. That turned out to be a very special night. Would Reading on the third date of the headline tour be as special?
A nice early 6.00pm start to a Sunday night in a sold-out venue, the support was a band I hadn’t heard of before (though that doesn’t say much) called Mikey Ball & The Company (MB&TC), a five-piece rock band from Bournemouth. They came on stage to intro’ music with a heavy drumbeat, and Mikey (singer/guitarist) wasted no time connecting with the audience, ‘forget it’s a Sunday night, let the kids put themselves to bed’ and the band were ready for a Saturday night style party. The evening began with Misunderstood, but if this introduction to MB&TC was anything to go by there was no misunderstanding that the rest of the set was going to be excellent. And it was. MB&TC played original songs, including their single The Morning from their first, and current, album Through the Night. We were reliably informed that this single got into the charts! In Melbourne! Australia! It’s still an achievement though, so I’d take it too. There was a good selection of songs from the album that included Runnin’, a fast upbeat song to keep us dancing, and King of the Lonely Throne a slow, bluesy number that the audience swayed along to. Overall, we were treated to eight varied songs including some that don’t feature on the album like Long Gone Love before their final song One More Night which is also the final track on aforementioned album. There was great connection between the band members, even teasing themselves when being introduced, ‘I’m the idiot’. When the audience was asked if they were having a good time there were resounding cheers and yeses! And no, we weren’t lying to him. MB&TC were one of the many reasons why you should always see the support band, and I would definitely take One More Night to watch them again.
Talking of support bands, Blue Nation (BN) have been the support act to many a well-known band in the blues-rock circuit, but tonight it was all about them. The main, overall difference is that instead of the 45 minutes support slot, we got to hear a wonderful 90 minutes of BN songs. Now with four brilliant albums completed, I bet one of the hardest tasks was choosing which songs to include and in what order. But choose they did, and the Reading gig commenced at a nice early 7.00pm with Hand Me Down, also the opening track on that new album The Ordinary People. This had been preceded by intro’ music that included wonderfully-weird-Indian-chanting to bring the band onstage. Personally, I like an intro’ as you know that the band is about to start. The next three songs were from The Kaftan Society, after which Neil (singer/guitarist) asked Luke (bass) to ‘talk to the lovely people’ while he fixed the issues with his amp’ not working. This was discovered to be completely due to the cable not being plugged in properly! With that sorted the gig continued. As expected, most of the songs were from the new album and some of them like Time is a Thief is already familiar with the fans, as it’s the latest single.
Aside from the wonderful music, BN are (in)famous for their onstage chats. I can vouch that these are completely unscripted, as some people think, as tonight’s banter was completely different from that at Hook, although there was a reference to the type of shop that Luke wanted to open in Hook, but we won’t go there again!! Impromptu topics included discussing their favourite song on the new album. Their producer Trevor was in the audience tonight, which is high praise indeed for the band, and the next song Run Straight Ahead is apparently his and Luke’s (?) favourite, whereas Neil’s favourite is Once In My Life. Then the audience was asked what their favourite song was, to which there were naturally many different answers, demonstrating what an outstanding album it is. Later we’re asked ‘who’s been to Birmingham’ to which someone replied ‘it’s a shithole’ but apparently she came from there. With laughter ringing around the room, Luke (I think it was) announced that people would now have to be interviewed to be allowed to be BN fans, or the self-named Blue Meanies – the collective noun for BN fans. BN have audience interaction down to a fine art, and once you’re used to the chatting it’s so much fun going along for the ride, or ‘down the rabbit hole’ as BN refer to it.
The songs continued with poignant lyrics in Come Back Home and the most important person to Neil, and each other if truth be told, was ‘right here by my side’ in the shape of Mr. Luke Weston, and Echoes about the poor mental health that many suffer from. The final song tonight as part of the ‘encore’ when they didn’t go off stage just to come back on again (much prefer that), was the soulful starting Down By The River that soon increased in speed and intensity to finish the set on a happy high. Long queues at the merchandise stand ensued.
I’d also like to mention the wonderful vocals from Neil. It’s almost as if you don’t notice at first how good they are, but the more you listen to him, the more you find yourself just listening and being mesmerised by the clarity and range of his voice. Luke is an excellent bass player and compliments the main vocals by singing on backing vocals. The third member of the band is drummer Nick, who mostly sits quietly at the back of the stage, often seen with a bemused look on his face as he watches and listens to his bandmates. A perfect trio.
There were many people there wearing t-shirts from festivals that BN had appeared at this year, so I assumed they were now taking the time to check BN out again. It shows that the band’s hard work is paying off. A special mention should also go to a very young man who was there, and stood at the front, centre stage, sang, played air guitar, and watched both bands for the whole night. When I say young, I’m referring to Samuel (hope he doesn’t mind the mention) who when asked his age told us he was 7¾! Yes, you read that correctly – seven and three-quarters years young. His Dad told us that Samuel doesn’t follow a football team, he follows rock (complete with his little ear-defenders)! He was rightly labelled as ‘the star of the show’ which produced the biggest smile on Samuel’s face. Amazing.
I can’t urge anyone enough to go and see BN live. They’re on tour until mid-December, and although not always as headliners, they are supporting some other great acts – double bubble if you like. BN have been on an upward progression for quite a few years now, and with our support we’ll see them reach the success they deserve. Check out those socials now for a date near, or even not so near, you. You won’t be disappointed. You may even see me there for a third helping as all BN gigs are indeed very special!
