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.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/gozergoodspeed/?fref=ts
Live Dates:
29th October – The B-Bar, Plymouth w/Paul Armer +
Jamie Yost