Doomsday Outlaw, in many ways, seem to have been the MV house band. Not long after we started I reviewed (for “reviewed” read “lost my shit over”) their debut and any time I’ve seen them has seen me go all fanboy on the subject, this is no different. There’s no real trick to this. Just superb songs, superbly played. “In Too Deep” underlines this, “If This Is The End” which singer Phil Poole dedicates to his dad, has a mighty Richie Sambora flavoured solo, and they go right back to the early days for “Blues For Phantom Limb”.
Whilst all their albums have been superb, “Damaged Goods” – which came out this year- was an absolute cracker. Its two best moments, the stupidly catchy “One More Sip” and “Runaway” prove that and there’s time for “Bring You Pain”.
Every time I’ve seen them you ask yourself why Doomsday Outlaw aren’t massive. And I’ve said so many times I’ve lost count. It’s true, though.
Pablo van de Poel has been practising his British accent for the tour, and the Dewollf man has managed a passable Dick Van Dyke when he tells us before “Nothing’s Changing” that Wolverhampton is “hallowed ground” and goes on to list all the bands that came from this area that that they love. You can see Led Zeppelin and the likes, of course, but it’s a shame that only Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple was from the West Midlands conurbation because that is weaved through the 40 minutes.
Bookended by songs from the recent “Love, Death And In Between” album, “Night Train” transports you to the early 70s at a stroke. “Made It To 27” from the wonderfully raw “Tascam Tapes” is given a bit of a fleshing-out as befits their expansive sound in 2023. And that sound is never better underlined than on “Rosita”. Lengthy on record, it stretches to say over 20 minutes here, and that blissed-out jam is the band right now. They’ve things to say and the Dutch three-piece are doing it at their own pace. They’ve never seemed happier either.
And speaking of happy…
Jared James Nichols is one of those guys who appears lost without his guitar. Yet put it on him and he comes alive.
All his albums have been superb. The one he put out this year was next level. He clearly agrees, given that plays nearly all of it in the course of his 90 minutes here.
There’s a real quality about “Easy Come, Easy Go” and “My Delusion” and there’s always something so special about a three-piece power trio. English bassist Lewis Commons and drummer Ryan offer a real thrust to “Down The Drain” where my notes simply said that JJN “attacked his guitar” and he appears to.
There’s a real moment of poignancy when “Threw Me To The Wolves” is dedicated to Tom Leighton of Wolfjaw who passed away a couple of years ago (the band had come out on stage to “Starting Gun”, a Wolfjaw song).
There’s a standout moment with the mighty “Bad Roots” and quite simply, the man gets a guitar sound that is the envy of anyone who hears it, surely? The crunch of the chords is something else.
When he dips back to earlier stuff for “Honey Forgive Me” it sounds a little more mellow – not for nothing does he segue the Allman Brothers’ “Jessica” in, and there’s a little bit of Led Zeppelin in “Shadow Dancer”.
It is inescapable, however, and thus must be mentioned here, that it’s a little flat. Nichols tells a story about his Grammy award for “Keep Your Light On Mama” and it misses the target, but in truth, there had been little atmosphere all evening.
That’s not to do with the quality of the playing as the primal take on “Nails In The Coffin” and adding a touch of Tennessee to “War Pigs” rather underlines, but JJN may well if you asked him to be honest, would have had nights he’d enjoyed more than this.
He is, however, a stunning talent, and was born to play live.
