Sometimes, whether you like it or not, you have to start in the most obvious place. So, tonight, when The Longest Johns launch into, “The Hammer And The Anvil” (and you do not know how much I wish this was a Judas Priest cover) frontman Robbie Sattin, plays the percussion, by bashing on an ironing board. It’s alright though, because as he points out, looking at the list of people that have played this room, there is a fair chance Billie Eilish may have used said appliance.
I’m not sure what we do with that, other than to say: Welcome to The Longest Johns.
Is around 2 1/2 years ago but I first clapped eyes on the Bristolians. They were opening for skinny Lister in this very room. To put that into perspective this room is now rammed just to see them.
They have just put out their fabulous new album “Voyage”, It is obvious they like you too, given how much of it they play this evening. And equally, it is obvious from the reaction to the songs, but most of the crowd feels the same,
A new one kicks us off as “The Llandoger” performs opening duties as it does on the record. But it is the next two that perhaps give the biggest clues as to what makes the five-piece so special.
“Shawneetown” is almost primal Blues, but “Hoist Up The Thing” is even better because it sees them admit that they’ve never been sailors. Which considering you make your living singing sea shanties is truly wonderful.
Roughly split between the serious and the fun “Whiskey Is The Life Of Man” is the former, while “Mutiny” Is very much from the latter column, and that is to the shows credit.
Their cover of Proud Mary is as good as any’s ever been, but the thought that they are just skilled songwriters, is also writ large through the likes of “Skadi’s Hammer” and when they go back to the very early days, for “Bones In The Ocean” it proves they’ve always had this ability. It’s just that they also like to have knockabout fun. Things take another weird turn, in “Got No Beard” but for all the laughs, the vocal interplay is stunning.
Of course, as Andy Yates says, it is unlikely they’d be here without that viral TikTok hit and they do play “Wellerman” but not in the encore like many would, instead they end the set with a raucous “Leaving Of Liverpool”.
They do come back for an encore, and “Ashes” which sees phone torches thrown to the sky, sees things take a darker turn. But they can’t end like that, not this band, and they race through “Retirement Song”, although there is no way surely they are settling for a life not on these open seas just now.
When I saw them back in 2021 I said: “There might be someone, somewhere who doesn’t enjoy The Longest John’s. We need to check these people for a pulse.” That is a line so apt (if I do say so myself) that I’m going to use it again. But moreover, although they are a genuine headline puller in their own right, The Longest Johns are not you would guess, anywhere near finished with venues this size
The best thing about them, is was and always will be that they never take it too seriously (except there is such craft in these songs) and wherever this goes they will just enjoy riding the crest of this particular wave. They have paid 12 years of dues to be overnight sensations, and The Longest Johns deserve every bit of adulation.
