Live Review

Levellers – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

• 1st Dec 2009

Is it really going to be news to anyone that the Levellers are great live? Even after 20 years they are still one of the better bands you’ll likely to see on stage.

So it seems somewhat of an easy job to review them as you show up and wait in anticipation for what songs they are likely to have on their set list that evening. They have so many tunes to pick from it is almost like a lucky dip! And having glanced the set list on stage – and there are around 20 songs for them to get through – it includes the likes of favourites One Way, 15 Years, my own personal favourite Three Friends, and an encore that includes The game and of course end favourite Liberty Song.

I don’t think the band make a conscious effort to be known for what they wear, but it does seem like de-ja-vu when they appear on stage as when they did at the beginning of the year at the Kentish town Forum. Each of the band members seems to be wearing the exact same clothes. And I know cause I was looking at the shots I got from that gig and compared after this one. But it isn’t a fashion show or an Inspector Gadget wannabe contest. The levellers are here, and they sound pretty damn good.

The best way of course to enjoy a Levellers show is to get right in there and jump around. If you stand back you run the risk of ending up next to a group of lager louts or annoying drunks who insist on singing along in a very tired yet loud voice and leaning on you sporadically throughout the evening. That is the best way to spoil you night, so Move as fast as you can like we did to get away from them.

Back to the band… Well it’s a thumbs up to one and all of the band members on stage. They know what they are doing and how to enjoy themselves and their constant jumping and dashing about the stage shows this as well as putting in a wonderful musical performance.

I don’t know if they have a new album due in the next year having just released their Albert hall performance on disc, but the good news is that they are never long off stage whether they have material due out or not. And with next year marking 20 years since their debut album fingers and firmly crossed for “A Weapon Called The Word” album specific gig! With that dream come true we can then get excited the year after for “Levelling the Land!”