GOZER GOODSPEED – LIVE REVIEW

Gozer Goodspeed – Live @ The Inn On the Shore, Cornwall (14/10/2016) 


Live music is struggling right now. It’s the same story all over the UK in towns and cities; venues are closing at an alarming rate and pubs are preferring DJs or karaoke as a cheaper alternative when it comes to weekend entertainment. So it should be applauded when a venue bucks that trend and reintroduces live music to its agenda. Downderry’s Inn On the Shore is such a venue and Plymouth based bluesman was the man to kick off this new era of live music on the South-Cornwall coast.

With nothing but a guitar, a bag of songs and a hat (to be clear, he had other clothes too), Goodspeed set about a set of songs filled with the spirit of blues but touches of country, folk and good old fashioned rock’n’roll. Original compositions like ‘You Make Your Own Townhouse Bed’, ‘Faraway, Blissed Out & Free’ and ‘Attuned’ got the crowd’s attention with deft guitar touches switching to impassioned slide work with capo in full effect and the flick of a wrist. Goodspeed’s original compositions are superbly crafted, excellently performed and smoothly delivered on the guitar with his vocals keeping everything on message.

What I really enjoyed about this performance was the consummate ease with which he could incorporate well known melodies, snippets or full blown covers. At various points throughout the set, Goodspeed blended his own music in to tunes by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Violent Femmes, Paul Weller, Bob Marley and, bizarrely, the All Seeing I. The full cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Satellite of Love’ was a particular highlight of this side of Goodspeed’s set but my feet really got stomping to originals like ‘The Blue Man & The Headshrinker’ and ‘Rattlebone Colour’. There’s a new EP on the way in the new year and based on some of Goodspeed’s new material it’s well worth keeping an eye out for.


Live Dates:


29th October – The B-Bar, Plymouth w/Paul Armer + Jamie Yost

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