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Newbury’s evening of great Canadian ‘Roots Rock’




The Commoners with support, Madison Galloway

at Arlington Arts,

on Wednesday, July 24

Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON

AN evening of great Canadian ‘Roots Rock’ tonight.

Madison Galloway Pic: Brian Harrington
Madison Galloway Pic: Brian Harrington

Madison Galloway, on her first UK tour, opened proceedings, (heaven knows where that huge voice comes from) with the incredibly catchy Freedom.

Sadly, her set was just 30 minutes long, but she demonstrated beyond any doubt that she is absolutely an artist on the rise.

I hope to hear more from her in the future.

Performing as a power trio with Nik Hirst on keyboards and George Love on percussion, with mostly self-penned numbers and accompanying herself on acoustic and electric guitar, she belted out the tracks with unstoppable energy.

Devil In Her Eye and Love Like Yours were wonderful, and her final song, a version of She Talks To Angels (Black Crowes), was excellent, despite a missing capo necessitating downtuning to D.

Check her out.

The Commoners Pic: Brian Harrington
The Commoners Pic: Brian Harrington

The Commoners are a five-piece rock outfit from the Toronto area.

This is their third UK tour and it was immediately clear just why they have been gaining so many followers here.

Fans had travelled from Bristol and Wales to see them at Arlington, and they did not disappoint.

This was high energy, high power rock, think Black Crowes with a dash of Eagles at times, powerhouse vocals and some phenomenal lead guitar

They opened their relentless 90-minute set with the excellent Shake You Off, before including Who Are You? and Devil Teasin’ Me (which has been playlisted by Planet Rock Radio) and a selection of songs from their new album Restless.

Body And Soul was outstanding.

The Commoners Pic: Brian Harrington
The Commoners Pic: Brian Harrington

This is a band that hold nothing back, they give their all.

They vary the pace in true classic rock style, for example on the reflective Too Soon To Know You and See Yo Again about the death of a loved one.

They found space to slip in two covers, a blazing version of Yer Blues (The Beatles/Dirty Mac), and as a thoroughly deserved and enthusiastically requested encore, Feeling Alright, the Dave Mason song.

I look forward to UK tour number four.



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