Shed Seven
Lee Harper
Check out the full gallery of pics HERE
Wow! What a night, a truly blistering set from York’s finest of sons, Shed Seven. From the off they had the sell-out and extremely good natured crowd on their toes as they launched straight into Room In My House and then Casino Girl, the place is absolutely rocking, shaking to its foundations in the opening bars.
Lead singer Rick Witter is looking in great shape and very clearly running on extra strength Duracell batteries this evening, his energy levels have not waned since I first ever saw them at Norwich Arts Centre way back in 1994. He is in good form and the voice is still very much intact as is the legendary Witter shuffle that is now synonymous with his stage presence. He really is in fine fettle as he leads the vocals on all songs with the crowd not too far behind him and at times occasionaly, wrongly so they are in front of him, much to his amusement
Witter’s regular dialogue with the audience throughout the set is something to behold and extremely refreshing to see. He picks out a young 14 year old down the front for a conversation on more than one occasion, at one point asking him what he remembered of the nineties! Its great fun and banter.
This is a band that are as the man said, still relevant and on it, making new music as a result of this tour that is mainly promoting 25 years since their classic A Maximum High (now available in various amazing vinyl formats) was first released, that will be their first new release since 2017’s Instant Pleasures.
Witter, Tom Gladwin and Paul Banks have all been friends since they were at high school as eleven year olds, not long after that they were trying to write songs together. The special chemistry and relationship that they very clearly still enjoy is evident and from their attitude and appearance, they are still very clearly hitting some good vibes, you just can’t help but get off on their sheer energy such is its positive output this evening
The tour is called the Another Night, Another Town – The Greatest Hits Live and the hits just keep on coming and the crowd are just loving it, She Left Me On Friday, Where Have You Been Tonight right through to the effervescent restrains of the bongo beating Dolphin.
On Standby and Bully Boy, takes the evening’s pleasure levels up yet another notch, it’s now gone onto the next level, other band classics such as Devil In Your Shoes and Ocean Pie also go down a storm.
Speakeasy see’s the band doing their U2 moment as they come front centre stage and do an acoustic version. As the evening draws to a rapturous conclusion they play Going For Gold, Getting Better, Heroes then a DISCO ensues as DISCO Down blasts out and then of course they close with the classic, Chasing Rainbows.
The young teenage boy down the front will remember tonight for a very long time to come, as the band leave the stage he is handed a set list, guitar picks and even manages to catch the drum sticks that are thrown is his direction from the drum kit at the back of the stage. Shed Seven are a proper band that obviously still really value their army of loyal fans so big respect goes to them for that and for putting a great show.
As far as Monday night gigs go, this really was a, yes you guessed it? A Maximum High.
