It comes as no surprise that my first attempt at a post-covid concert was cancelled. After playing the night before in Toronto, ticket holders were sent an email explaining that Charlie Starr, the band’s lead singer and guitarist of Blackberry Smoke (a band I stumbled upon on Spotify six months earlier), contracted covid and couldn’t perform. The concert was pushed back a couple of months and thankfully was still scheduled for a Saturday night making it ideal for preconcert edibles and/or a few pints without regret the next day.
The London Music Hall is a delightfully dingy venue which holds abut 1600 people. Most of it is standing room only on the floor but there are a number of reserved seats on the mezzanine level. It draws a good number of bands and promises a much more intimate experience providing you don’t mind competing with other patrons for a spot close to the stage.
Once again, covid alerts were still rather high and I couldn’t help at snickering while thinking about the typical demographic a southern rock band would attract. I almost expected to see shady peeps outside selling fake covid vaccine certificates as opposed to marked-up resale tickets for the show.
The band was kind enough to invite some local talent to open the show. Sarnia’s The Cody James Mitchell Band, who tout themselves as a band who plays Blue Collar music, kicked off the show with short but impressive set which paired well with what was to come.
When the smoke finally hit the stage, they busted into a 22 song set with music spanning their entire career characterized by frequent guitar changes, an abundance of sing along and a two song encore ending with Ain’t Much Left of Me. Once again, I found the noise level a bit much but, like the Glorious Sons concert a month and a half before, I attributed this to doing nothing but listening to spotify on my JBL speaker for two years prior.
In my opinion, Blackberry Smoke are one of the more underrated bands, not only in the country-rock genre, but in music in general. I can’t complain, however, as I have the benefit of seeing them in a small venue like the London Music Hall with only Stone Cold Steve Austin, a couple of setlist bunnies and a dude with a plaid shirt and a leather shoulder patch standing between me and the band.
Fare..Eat..Ales 