“I’ve got my steps in tonight,” laughs Laura Evans, looking around KK’s Steel Mill before she plays “State Of Mind” — the title track from her last album. “This is the biggest stage I’ve ever played on.” If she’s daunted, she doesn’t let on. Just her and Joe Hazel — “my one-man band,” as she calls him — but that’s all she needs. There’s something about a two-piece that always feels raw. “Solo” shows it, “Fire With Fire” does too — a breakup tune that still manages to come with a grin, because Evans never stops smiling.
She clearly loves the music she plays, and is a fan too. Chris Stapleton’s “Arkansas” has swing and groove stamped all over it. New songs have been added in: “Superman,” a love song to her husband and destined for the next record, out this month, and “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” which brings a dose of pure soul.
She’s got that relaxed air, chatting about her dogs, asking the front row about theirs, before snapping straight into something heavy like “ATM,” which bites hard. Her cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Me Like A Man” is the set’s most blues-soaked moment, and it fits perfectly. There’s talk of selling more vinyl so she can buy Joe a Wetherspoons breakfast, but you get the feeling she won’t be joking about needing money for food or about stages this size for long. They are where Laura Evans belongs.
Then King King stroll out, as ever, to “Highway To Hell,” and it feels like it’s been too long. It has, actually — a couple of years since the last time MV clapped eyes on them — but “More Than I Can Take” reminds you exactly what we’ve missed. “Let Love In” comes early on a wave of warmth, not at the end where it used to sit, and bassist Zander Greenshields is rocking a Whitesnake T-shirt. Which is about right: King King aren’t quite rock, aren’t quite blues, but exist somewhere between.
Most of these songs are like old friends. “Lose Control” is a prime example, even if Alan Nimmo jokes about how much time has passed since it was written. There are a few newer ones too: “Stronger” is everything you want from modern King King, complete with a solo to knock you back, while “The Long History of Love” sits in the middle, Johnny Dyke front and centre, stretching it out. “Hurricane” flexes its muscles, “Lay With Me” drops it all down again, and then there’s “You Stopped The Rain,” the kind of song bands would kill for. “Rush Hour” just about tops it, still one of the most staggering things they’ve ever done.
“I Will Not Fall” turns into a twin-guitar Thin Lizzy moment at the end, Alan and Stevie Nimmo side by side, before “Stranger To Love” closes as it always does. Alan’s solo — turning the volume right down until you can hear a pin drop — is still a thing of beauty, just as it always was.
In between all this, he talks openly. About how they thought there’d be a new album by now. About how there isn’t, because he won’t release anything until it feels right. “When you do get it,” he says, “you’ll get the best of us. We’d never do anything shoddy.” That feels right, not just for the band but for tonight too. King King are still a mark of absolute quality.
Pictures by Keith Tracy
