20 June 2013 (gig)
23 June 2013
To celebrate the launch of his new album ‘Cracking The Code’ Petit came to – where else – London’s famed 100 Club, his spiritual home.
I spoke to Petit briefly and he pointed out that he was featuring songs from the new album although he knew there was a risk that the fans may not take to material they didn’t recognize. He also had a new band with him – Sam Odiwe on bass, Chris Williams on drums and Jon Moody on keyboards – and this came over as a stripped down and raw set-up.
In the event, his call was right on and while the crowd weren’t familiar with the material they seemed to be lapping it up and by the reprise of ‘Riot City’ they were dancing and giving back some great vibes.
I’ve seen SDP more than a few times and here he seemed to be at his most aggressive musically. His guitar style is always punchy and right on the mark but this time out he was really putting all his angst and heart into his playing; the result had a real power without being overly loud.
He has knowledge of Blues music that most musicians can only dream of and the change-ups showed that his new songs are developments from his last album, ‘The Crave’, but he hasn’t left that behind – he has just taken it down to basics and kicked into a higher gear.
‘Muzzle’ from the new album is real aggro in a song and live it comes over as hard as a punch to the throat while ‘Wonder’ is a typically full-on dirty-Blues with fine keys from young Mr Moody. The riff is faintly reminiscent of all the great British Blues you ever heard and shows that Petit knows where he is coming from.
In all, a fine introduction to the new album – review next week – and suggests that Stephen Dale Petit is still growing, developing and moving forward.
A fine support set from Charles Shaar Murray playing some excellent classic Blues.
Set List
1. RIOT CITY
2. WONDER
3. GET YOU OFF
4. HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN
5. MUZZLE
6. APPROXIMATELY PERFECT HEARTBREAK
7. SHOTGUN VENUS
8. SLIDEWAY
9. BLUE AS ANYTHING
10. RIOT CITY
11. MONEY
