Rebecca Downes and Band at the Tuesday Night Music Club ,Coulsdon

Images By Ken Jackson

Review written by Nigel Foster and shared with his kind permission.

The Rebecca Downes Band – The Tuesday Night Music Club -9 September Once again Richard Dunning had to put the ‘sold out’ signs up well in advance of tonight’s gig and Rebecca and her band deserved to be playing to a full house. The quintet of Rebecca on vocals and guitar, Steve Birkett on lead guitar and vocals, Nigel Darvill on keys and the powerhouse rhythm section of Neil Ablard on drums and Jim Peterson on bass hit top gear from the get go as they carved out a triple shot of blues rock that featured deep thick grooves, keys weaving in and out of the rhythm, hard shards of riffs all under Rebecca’s strident vocal. Falling is a song that was playlisted by Planet Rock and it is easy to see why a national radio station has had it on rotation. It rocks hard but has a strong melody that floats between the voice and instrumentation.

The quintet began to plunge the depths on the moody These Days. Rebecca’s deep descriptive lyrics were sung with heartfelt emotion. Languid keys developed a melody in time with the groove and Steve laid down haunting riffs. Rebecca introduced Breathe In Breathe Out and it was an instant crowd pleaser as the band wrapped themselves around Rebecca’s hurt vocal. Steve recreated the beguiling solo performed by the late Tony Clarkin and did it perfectly. His guitar tone with a Gibson was sublime. This brought to the first set to a close. If the opening set was quality if anything the second site was even better. The band were just so tight. The set opener, a new song, Hit The Ground Running soon developed into an anthem of considerable proportions.

The low slung groove built steadily and drew in fiery keys and Steve poured out a sad but expressive solo and all the while Rebecca’s voice held the melody. Head Over Heart rocked hard and free, Jim and Neil threw down a punched groove before they played a cameo solo where keyboards and drums dovetailed together perfectly. I instantly loved Hold The Reins as it began with vivid bluesy hues before it morphed into a hard rocker, courtesy of pounding drums and pulsing bass, fluid keys jumped on by Rebecca as she poured on a howling vocal.

Steve adopting the rock star pose poured on fuzzed up and sustained guitar lines. The gig ballad Sailing On A Pool Of Tears was a revelation. The rhythm section and Nigel dialled in together and lay under the dual guitar lines from Rebecca and Steve before he drifted off into a complex emotive solo. You wanted a straight ahead rocker you got it full on in the shape of Baby Get On. Pounding drums, booming bass and plunging keys all lifted up the power vocal. Believe was another standout song beginning with throbbing grooves booming out keeping pace with the vivid textured keys.

Steve had the slide bottle and a dark wood Gibson SG in hand now and the bottle was fully employed as it raced over strings. The bottle sparking off of the strings and at the same time the boot floored the Wah Wah Pedal so that dirty sound filled the venue. Lennon and McCartney’ s A Little Help From My Friends enabled the quintet to temporarily step back and ease off a little. Standing ovation number 1 followed and the band treated us to 2 more.

The latter being one of my all time favourite songs, Gimme Shelter. This song takes me elsewhere, a place where the music envelops me from the Jagger protest style voice to the rhythm section patterns and then that majestic guitar work, metronomic riffs plugged away building by stealth and then Steve tore down the barriers with a beguiling solo that moved from depressing the Wah Wah Pedal to get the guitar writhing in Steve’s hands. Rebecca sang with real emotion and feel. As the echoed guitar notes fell away everyone got to their feet a second time to acclaim The Rebecca Downs Band.