Live Review

Ryan O’Reilly – The Railway Inn, Winchester

• 24th Jun 2008

I arrived to a very empty pub, however this was not a sign of things to come as you might expect.

First up was Tali Trow, his band The Wellbeing were left in the Isle of Wight as this gig was turned into a chilled out acoustic night, due to the headliners Hijack Oscar cancelling at the last minute.Tali played a great set of mellow, melodies tunes including his new single ‘The Twilight People’, a wonderfully produced, funky song with great lyrics – out on the 23rd June. His guitar playing was just at the right level to match his impressive vocal range, his songs were all personal and he gave a small and funny explanation as to the writings of each song. Tali’s voice was clear, powerful and everyone was enthralled listening. I was very pleased to be mentioned as being on one of his tracks ‘Simple’. The new single includes 3 tracks. Each one has something a little bit different about them, including Spanish sounding influences and mad fast sections.

Next up was Alex and The Ligers. After some technical difficulties with the lead guitarist first turning off Alex’s pedal mid song, and then his own guitar not coming through the P.A, Alex’s band attempted an acoustic set with great success. He has a voice of experience and depth despite being in his 20’s. Although his lyrics were sometimes overpowered by the lead guitarist, the melodies were beautiful, simple and especially well matched when an interesting chord was put in. The drums were at a good level for an acoustic set and the band were tight and great to watch.

Finally was Ryan O’Reilly, who as usual provided some powerful heart filled songs of love and rejection. Watching him on stage is very interesting, as he turns from speaking like any other person into an American sounding blues/country singer. Sounding like a young Bob Dylan, Ryan also played harmonica and was joined by Tali on vocal harmony and lead guitar. Ryan also played some of his songs from a few years ago and it was great to hear them again as I haven’t seen him play for about 2 years now.

The acoustic night was a great success and the small but enthusiastic audience really enjoyed the music. All the bands were well matched for genre but each still had their own styles both musically and lyrically.