Takeaway Thieves – Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool, June 16th 2018 (acoustic set)


Reviewed by:
Rating:
5
On 24 June 2018
Last modified:24 June 2018

Summary:

They may have stolen our takeaway but they left us with a six course feast!

You know when you see a band for the first time and you know they have the X factor? Well the Takeaway Thieves have the whole alphabet and enough letters left for the Countdown conundrum!

This Saturday lunchtime acoustic set recorded for a future CD release at the Waterloo Music Bar was only their second gig, the first being the night before after only nine rehearsals, opening up a five band bill to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of legend/leg end Stevie Rox, a man whose energy knows no bounds at every gig he attends and is a staunch supporter of the underground music scene. Their electric set lived up to that title and gave the rest of the bill a very hard act to follow.

I’m a firm believer in the strength of a song is determined when it’s stripped down acoustically so their full on rock set the night before was swapped for a drum kit and four bar stools. A very impressive turn out included the birthday boy himself who threw every pose and one liner that Dave Lee Roth would of been proud of as they kicked off with ‘Big Mistake’ whose main riff sounded huge in this form. A rich, soulful lead vocal from Peter McLoughlin flowed around the room backed by a dextrous solo from lead guitarist Ben Gibson.

Darker grooves came from ‘Backstreet’ fuelled by foot tapping percussion from the strangely named Kemosabi Sweendawg! A Tom Petty vibe seemed to run throughout the chords in  ‘Higher Fire’ and especially the soul searching vocals. Clocking in at five mins long, it never out stayed its welcome. ‘Sugar Stealer’, if at all possible got Stevie more animated than usual as the feel good rhythms matched the suns rays that were blazing through the Waterloo, the perfect summer driving song with all the windows down.

‘Stranger In This Town’, my set highlight was a spine tingling power ballad in the vein of classic Damn Yankees. A soothing vocal that got grittier to give it an edge when needed. Their set ended all too soon with ‘Stardust’ another breezy summer song. Wistful guitar lines preceded a bluesy jam midway that lead to a lung busting vocal outro. Many thanks go out to Simon Dunkerley for the permission to use his band photo and fittingly, Stevie is rocking out in it!

Set list :-

Big Mistake.

Backstreet.

Higher Fire.

Sugar Stealer.

Stranger In This Town.

Stardust.

Takeaway Thieves band line up :-

Peter McLoughlin – Lead vocals.

Neil Hunter – Guitar.

Ben Gibson – Lead guitar.

Adam Hall – Bass guitar.

Kimosabi Sweendawg – Drums.

Links: – 

Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

 

They may have stolen our takeaway but they left us with a six course feast!

About Dennis Jarman

Full time downtrodden album/gig reviewer and part time rock God!