Romeos Daughter rocked into town last night (the town being Stoke-On-Trent at the Eleven venue. I know it’s not a city but city doesn’t flow as well as town), along with Mick White’s ‘White Skies’. Unfortunately I only caught the last 2 songs from White Skies, but they went down a treat.
If you have never been to Eleven before, please do as it’s a wonderful little venue. Romeo’s Daughter have a handful of gigs in September pushing out their new album ‘Sliptream’, which is another slice of Romeo’s Daughter heaven (in the back seat). More on this soon.
Me and the fam go back a hellova long way with the RD guys, and with every single performance they have never let me down. There’s a simple reason for that. In Craig Joiner they have a wonderfully talented songwriter and excellent guitarist to boot. All the songs played at this gig have incredibly catchy hooks. Even if you haven’t heard songs from the last 3 albums, there is a bloody good chance you will be singing them on the way home in the car afterwards.
So, what did we get. In Leigh Matty RD have one of the sultriest singers in rock! A voice of pure velvet (touch), and a tight as a drum rhythm section of Andy Welsford and Steve Drennan, with the man who is the glue that holds everything together, Craig Joiner.
Opening strongly with 3 songs from the early days, it’s ‘Heaven In The Back Seat’ and ‘Velvet Tongue’ which evokes strong memories of me and the good missus her indoors seeing RD at the Royal Court in Liverpool many moons ago. The first half of the set was loaded with songs from the last 3 albums, all of which should have made RD the darlings of (Radio) 2 – ‘Bittersweet’, ‘Alive’, ‘Enemy’ and ‘Radio’, interspersed with 2 new songs, ‘Fate’, and ‘Over You’ the latter which has the heaviest riff Mr Joiner has written for RD, and is a firecracker.
In the middle of the set things got a bit surreal with one lady sauntering onto the stage wanting to tell RD how good they were (and was lucky that she wasn’t taken out by the Merch guy). This was followed up with a guy in the crowd wanting to pick a fight with anyone and finally another inebriated gig-goer wanted to give Leigh Matty one! Nice.
Anywho, the last half of songs was a bombardment of tunes taken mainly from the debut and ‘Have Mercy’ from ‘Delectable’ culminating in ‘Stay With Me Tonight’, and their most known song to hoards of rock fans who think it’s a Heart song, ‘Wild Child’.
The Romeo’s Daughter debut album set the foundations for what was to come. They have only released 5 albums and an EP, but bloody hell, what a legacy and quality they have produced that makes them an incredible force when seen live.
It was yet another cracking gig, apart from a couple of dickheads. Catch them in November, you’ll love it.
Set list –
Heaven In The Back Seat
Attracted To The Animal
Velvet Tongue
Bittersweet
Fake
Radio
Alive
Enemy
Over You
Have Mercy
Tripping Out
Colour You A Smile
Inside Out
Cry Myself To Sleep Don’t Break My Heart
Encore
Stay With Me Tonight
Wild Child
Romeo’s Daughter are –
Leigh Matty
Craig Joiner
Andy Welsford
Steve Drennan
Needle In The Groove 