Written By: JULIET HURWITT
Photos By: JULIET HURWITT
Nestled in the Berkshire countryside is the most unexpected, wonderful, performance venue called Arlington Arts Centre. Previously host to many a great artist on the NWOCR circuit, tonight there’s a sold-out performance for a date on the Dom Martin, Buried Alive Tour 2024 UK/ Ireland with special guests Blue Nation. I don’t know how it happens, but Blue Nation has a knack of supporting bands that complement them perfectly. For this part of their tour, they’re opening for the amazing Dom Martin.
As customary, Blue Nation played the first three songs back-to-back and then they started talking to the audience. Responding to Neil’s question of ‘who’s seen us before?’ and ‘who hasn’t?’ the cheers were definitely louder for the ‘yeses’ from this almost 250 strong audience. The usual disclaimer for the newbies is to ‘just come with us’ which is a prologue to mean ‘we talk a lot onstage’ and is one of their trademark features. The music continued with Time is a Thief dedicated to a friend who is no longer around, and one of the singles from their 2024 Ordinary People album. The current single Run Straight Ahead had been preceded by a chat between Neil and Luke about the previous night’s gig at The Water Rats (London), and Luke telling us that was where Karl Marx used to hang out, which resonated with him as has the same political views. ‘And this is why we don’t let Luke talk,’ teased Neil. The band then goes off-piste when Neil turned to Nick and Luke and asked, ‘OK with you boys if we play a song we’ve not done on tour?’ Nods of agreement led into Every Single Time. I loved seeing this great connection between them, being willing and able to adapt on a whim.
The most poignant part of the set, and rightly included each time, is the song Echoes; Luke explained about the high rate of suicides in the UK, the plight of poor mental health, and how important it is to reach out and talk to friends. A lady later bought the Ordinary People CD because it has that song on it. A donation bucket is always available on their merchandise table.
Blue Nation closed their set with Down by the River, a slow, bluesy start that increased to a grungy, upbeat chorus, that ebbed and flowed beautifully between the two tempos.
My only disappointment was we only had them for forty-five minutes; I’d got quite used to enjoying their headline ninety minutes shows. As more fans join the ranks, it won’t be long until the ninety outnumber the forty-five, and Blue Nation will soon be on their own full headline tour.
Dom Martin’s stage was perfectly set to continue the evening with mesmerising, dirty, grungy, blues and rock music. Joined by Ben on bass and Aaron on drums, this trio are also perfectly synchronised (apart from one amusing moment). The first thing Dom told us was how much he’d enjoyed watching and listening to Blue Nation, and he could have done so all night. High praise indeed.
From the moment Dom started with Unhinged to the moment he finished with 12 Guage, there was nowhere else anybody in that auditorium wanted to be. There were funny moments when for example, Ben played the second song in the wrong key and Dom teased about how often they’d already played it. Pretty sure nobody else noticed. There was a song written about psychopaths in Lefty 2 Guns that musically was a beautiful ballad that kept you mesmerised all the way through, but while listening you heard the danger and menacing tone in the lyrics. Howlin’ was written in tribute to Howlin’ Wolf (an American blues musician), and another to Rory Gallagher (Irish musician), all demonstrating the scope and diversity of subjects in his songs.
There were moments when I lost sight of Dom only to find him walking around the whole auditorium, still playing whichever one of his four guitars he’d picked for that moment, literally bringing his music to the people. There would have been one especially happy lady who found Dom sitting next to her, still playing his guitar, and enjoyed a seated chair dance with him. Back onstage there were moments of long musical interludes when you weren’t sure if it was part of the song or if the three were simply jammin’ together. Whatever, we didn’t care, and the audience lapped it up as it was brilliant. Did I mention that Dom Martin is a great singer too? Well, he is, and sometimes it’s only the person who’s written the songs who can deliver them with their true intended meaning and feeling. Saying that, there was a wonderful cover of Little Wing that I’m sure Jimi Hendrix would have enjoyed too.
Whether lost in the moment playing and singing, or when sitting to watch Aaron’s drum solo, or interacting with the audience, the whole set showed why Dom Martin has deservedly won so many awards. Great talent, great songs, great musician and genuinely nice person. My favourite comment was when Dom said to us, ‘You’re the rockstars not us, we come to see you. If you hadn’t come out tonight, we’d be playing to an empty room.’ True, but I think it’s a chicken-and-egg situation.
It’s often said that ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ and tonight just flew by. Both bands were awesome, and those who were there to see just one of the bands will undoubtedly now be a fan of the other.
The Buried Alive tour is to promote Dom Martin’s live double album of the same name, due for release on 13th December 2024, and available to preorder. Whether you want to relive one of the gigs you’ve already been to, or are going to, or just to get the vibe of being at a Dom Martin gig, I suggest you find and click that preorder link now and look forward to that album in time for Christmas.
