Barrence Whitfield & The Savages // Norwich Arts Centre, 01.05.14

Gotta say I’d never heard of Barrence Whitfield until I saw him on ‘Later…’ last year. Pretty good, a typical Jools Holland act perhaps, but great live, I imagined. Turns out Barrence has been releasing albums with various versions of the Savages since the 80s, but his latest album ‘Dig Thy Savage Soul’, only the second they have released since reforming in 2010, appears to have introduced the band to a whole new audience.

Fast forward seven months or so and the chance arises to test out the ‘great live’ theory. It has to be said that the newfound exposure hadn’t exactly translated into ticket sales – a respectable crowd certainly, but by no means full. The Savages are made up of guitar, bass, sax and drums and make a sound that can best be described as Rock ‘n’ Soul – think Link Wray jamming with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. First number 'Ramblin’ Rose', made famous by the MC5, was a great opener. Barrence’s shrieked falsetto, backed with a serious groove pretty much set the tone for the whole night. Original guitarist Peter Greenberg laid down some mean guitar – soloing on every song like his life depended on it. Tom Quatrulli on the sax was also hugely impressive, giving everything an authentically garage rock feel.

Highlights were numerous, especially as the set leaned heavily on the new record. ‘Corner Man’, the song played on Later, was dropped third song into the gig - a bold move, I thought. Not a bit of it; this simply served to whip the audience into shape. 'I’m Sad About It' and 'Hangman’s Token' were sensational – ass kicking, hell raising, down ‘n’ dirty stuff. Willie Meehan was a riot, reminding me of The Sonics' garage classic 'Strychnine'. The drums were hit HARD, the bass player stood right at the front of the stage employing the ‘instrument as weapon’ stance and we lapped it up.