WORDS AND IMAGES BY DESH KAPUR
The Zutons were playing The Tivoli in Buckley. Bonus! It’s one of my local venues, so I thought I would head down there and cover it for All Music Magazine…well, it would be rude not to. The venue is 20 minutes away, not my usual one hour plus drive, and a brilliant band to boot. Two birds. One stone. Awesome.
The Tivoli is a very special venue, very intimate, bringing you up close and personal with your music heroes and there are really not many of these venues left. The Tiv has been a venue since the 70’s Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin have both played there. In the 90s many Britpop bands performed there, The Charlatans, Shed Seven, Inspiral Carpets even Oasis who provided a very memorable set in 1994, which was later shown in their 2016 documentary Supersonic.
The Zutons are an indie rock band, formed in 2001 in Liverpool. The band are currently composed of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dave McCabe, drummer Sean Payne and saxophonist Abi Harding. They released their debut album, ‘Who Killed…… The Zutons?’ in May 2004 and achieved chart success with ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’ and ‘Valerie’, both taken from their second studio album ‘Tired of Hanging Around’ in 2006. Both singles reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart.
The band quietly disbanded in 2009, several months after they released the third studio album, ‘You Can Do Anything’ in June 2008, with no official announcement. They ultimately reunited in September 2016 for a one-off show, billed as “probably [the] last ever” in celebration of their friend, actor and former Tramp Attack frontman Kristian Ealey. The band remained in contact and here we are tonight.
The Tiv was nearly full when I arrived, most of the crowd were in their early forties and upwards, so a lot of fans who had been on the Zuton ride right from the beginning.
Kick-starting proceedings with the spaghetti western-inspired riff off ‘Zuton Fever’, singer Dave McCabe looks gloriously dishevelled, long brown curls and beard completed by a thick Scouse brogue, and Abi Harding looks stunning in a black mini cocktail dress. ‘Zuton Fever’ brings the now packed-out Tivoli venue to life and the night is off with a bang. The Zutons have always had a very distinct sound – a heady mix of sax and rock n roll, their own brand of ’60s retro rock, and live it’s something pretty special.
Dipping into the best bits of their back catalogue, the great tunes keep coming, interacting with the audience at times, but it’s the music doing the talking and going down a storm. Like any live band it’s the hits that get the biggest responses and sing-alongs, ‘Pressure Point’, ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’, ‘You Will You Won’t’ keep the crowd happy, but it’s obviously, always going to be ‘Valerie’ that brings the house down, the noise was so loud with cheers and singing that I thought they’d let another 500 people in!
So after an evening of breezy guitar riffs, stomping sax and gorgeous chorus, like all good things, the night had to end, But, as they say in Liverpool, it has been a boss night and I’m hoping we get to see and hear a lot more from the Zutons in the future.
SET LIST
1/ ZUTON FEVER
2/ WHY WONT YOU GIVE ME YOUR LOVE
3/ PRESSURE POINT
4/ ITS THE LITTLE THINGS WE DO
5/ CONFUSION
6/ DONT EVER THINK (TOO MUCH)
7/ OH STACEY (LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE)
8/ VALERIE
9/ YOU WILL YOU WONT
Note: Setlist incomplete
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
