The Commoners/ Madison Galloway Newbury Arlington Arts Centre 24-7-24

 

First up in front of a good Wednesday night crowd was Madison Galloway who I am sorry to say I knew nothing about. 

And that was my loss as the 3 piece (drums, keys and backing vocals and Madison on guitar and vocals) made a huge sound and the applause grew across the set.

Playing bluesy rock n roll with Madison stage centre small in stature but huge in vocal talent and guitar playing her original songs that included The River and Devil In Her Eye all impressed.

A guitar issue meant that the last song played was a cover of The Black Crowes of She Talks To Angels and we were left wanting more.

With her self titled album just released one to check out for sure.

The Commoners are fast rising after 2 support slots in the UK in the last 14 months with Troy Redfern and Samantha Fish/Jesse Dayton and now with the release of their third album Restless the jump to headliners on this summer tour with a couple of Festival support slots added for good measure.

The 5 piece from Ontario Canada are as follows Chris Medhurst on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ross Hayes Citrullo on lead guitar, Ben Spiler on bass and vocals, Adam Cannon on drums and backing vocals and Miles Evans-Branagh on keys and backing vocals.

The Roots-Rock quintet provide listeners with a hearty dose of Southern-style swagger accentuated with slide guitar, organ swell, and heartfelt vocals showing their influences that include The Black Crowes, Derek Trucks, Marcus King and The Allman Brothers.

They are a band the sums off all their parts and you can see their delight in playing their new album as we get 9 of the 10 tracks in total with the first 7 played back to back.

Not many bands at any level could get away with that but with the crowd obviously well versed in the new songs that has only been out 19 days and with the quality of material so high it felt like a greatest hits show and the band can be complemented for that.

Starting with the final single taken from the album Shake You Off and the band are on fire with Chris nearly in the crowd and the sound is spot on a usual for the venue with the feel in the room tropical.

Who Are You with it's big stop start guitar riff is up next before Devil Teasin' Me which from my first listen I thought would be a live favourite and I wasn't wrong. It's big guitar riff backed with Hammond organ to fill in the gaps leads to a great chorus and again you marvel at the band being this road ready to play a new album is mind blowing.

My album favourite Body And Soul sees a slight drop in tempo and the band interplay is stunning.The rhythm team hold it all together with Ross playing an extended slide guitar intro and guitar add libs throughout and Chris's impassioned vocal in the chorus and back to more Ross magic and his extended fast fingered guitar solo mid song is a thing of beauty. Wow.

Too Soon To Know You has a Black Crowes feel before the title track from the new album Restless has a slower acoustic feel to it and again gives Chris a chance to shine with his vocal delivery full of melody and intent.

See You Again is introduced by Adam who tells us the story of how he lost his father during the first UK tour and the heartfelt words can be felt by anyone who has suffered the loss of someone close.

Deadlines is the first song not from Reckless after about 40 minutes which show the quality we are dealing with here.

The Way I Am is introduced by Chris as being about the pain in the ass singer before Gone Without Warning ups the pace with the rhythm team again laying it down with plenty of keys added to the mix. Ross plays another great guitar solo and extends it in the outro alongside Chris's vocal. Superb.

An excellent cover of The Beatles Yer Blues leads to the last 2 songs of the set both from 2022's Find A Better Way that introduced mot of us to The Commoners.

Fill My Cup and Find A Better Way both show what the band was capable of before Restless and we asked for more which we got with a cover of Dave Mason's Feelin' Alright as an encore.

The Commoners with Restless have produced the soundtrack to our summer and with live shows that can match you all need to get along and catch a ride to one of the best new bands on the planet.

All photos credited to Paul May and used with thanks.