Dan Golder went along to the Andy Doonan gig last week …
Up and coming soft rock artist Andy Doonan’s latest venue was the 360 club, part of the Library pub in Hyde Park, Leeds.
As I walked up the stairs into the main room of the club the first thing that struck me was the wide variety of people that had decided tonight’s gig was for them. The spectrum of style ranged from Neo-Mods to Grebs with everything else in between, whilst the age range seemingly spread from 18 to 50. Andy and his co performers it appeared catered for everyone.
Doonan and his band were 2nd to perform out of the 4 talented acts that the club had to offer. The ‘Jack Edwards band’ that preceded Doonan’s had sufficiently warmed the crowd up with its electric rocky style so the stage was set for the now almost full venue.
After 5 minutes or so to prepare Doonan’s band were ready. No words were needed to introduce himself as he launched into probably his most coveted song, ‘Here you are’. The smartly dressed artist immediately showed his talent by captivating the audience as soon as he started singing. The upbeat, semi acoustic song had a very passionate feel to it and the band’s overall chemistry portrayed this.
Following a well appreciated round of applause Doonan thanked the crowd and then launched into his 2nd song of the evening ‘Stumbling’. Andy carried on his emotional, engaging style in a song which although at times was very uplifting – inspiring happiness with the upbeat instrumentals that made it near impossible not to bop your head or your foot to the beat – had a paradoxical nature with its touching lyrics.
Doonan’s next 3 songs switched things up slightly, one of which was a Stereophonics cover of ‘You make me feel like the one’ which to me, sounded every bit as good as the original. The band played in perfect harmony and when the music broke down and the spotlight was on just the vocals, the crowd seemed to hang from his every word. The next variation was to begin the song ‘Sky fire’ a new release for their EP, as more of a ballad with minimal instrumental backing apart from Andy himself and his keyboard which for this one, replaced his guitar as his weapon of choice. However, as the song progressed the band became more involved and the musical story progressed brilliantly, really satisfying the audience as it did so. The last of the 3 was a song named ‘London City of Lights’ which Doonan described as an ‘old song rocked up’ which was more full on than his previous songs but still had a sense of nostalgia about it.
The band then reverted back to a style more similar to how it began its set and finished up with 3 more songs named ‘Wonder’, ‘Dancing with Ghosts’ and ‘Absent’ which definitely didn’t disappoint.
It is hard to be critical of Andy Doonan who seemed to have the confidence of a much more experienced front man whose intricately-crafted musical stories grab the reader merrily by the scruff of the neck. Some people may argue that a lot of his songs are very similar but I felt that each one subtly had its own unique vibe to it which for me conjured up images of a mass crowd at a major festival singing along and simultaneously waving their arms through the air to the beat.
If you haven’t heard them yet, it is about time you did – they have all the workings of a great band!