It was a fairly conventional gig presentation on the evening
with no support and Rod playing a pair of forty-five minute sets. The audience
was heavily frequented with knowledgeable fans and no sooner had the invitation
for requests been made, inhibitions were dropped and a deluge of popular songs
headed in Rod’s direction. This was following an introductory section where
several tunes from the new record were showcased live, first time for probably
a majority of the audience. Rod commented that this was his most personal album
to date and the riches that could be found in an album titled FORTUNE were
aplenty.
Cutting an imposing presence as he strolled on stage, Rod
was soon into his stride and portraying a vocal style instinctively matched
with the grit and reality of the songs. ‘Maybe
That’s What it Takes’ led off a succession of tracks from the new record, followed
by the autobiographical ‘Elbow Grease’
and a family sociological piece based on ‘Uncle
John’. The highlight from this opening segment was a song Rod acknowledged
as being a co-write with Ryan Culwell and ‘Spare
Change’ impressed live as much as it did on record. The new album may have
only been out for a few weeks, but it still contained a track shouted out for
request and ‘Jeremiah’, an alternative
take on the view of conflict, was a worthy choice which Rod used in the second
half. ‘Until I’m Satisfied’ and ‘Alicia’ were other new songs to appear
following the break, with a brief comment about the circumstances of the latter
which far from disguised its identity.
Away from the new album, many old Rod Picott favourites were
not going to be left out and rightly so. He was also on top form with wit,
insightfulness and audience engagement as it plainly came across that he is a
seasoned visitor to our shores, fully initiated in British quirks. ‘Welding Burns’ and ‘Rust Belt Fields’ have almost become the tracks which define Rod
Picott as a singer-songwriter alongside the impressive Slaid Cleaves co-write ‘Broke Down’. Of course many folks seeing
Rod for the umpteenth time would have been fully versed in most of the stories,
including the film credits and ‘Angels
and Acrobats’ being the only happy song, but an infatuation with Howlin’
Wolf videos was a new one.
Other requests that helped Rod develop a spontaneous evening
of entertainment included ‘Black T-Shirt’,
‘Down to the Bone’ and ‘Mobile Home’.
This latter song written about Rod’s immediate life after graduating school
early was a familiar one, but for some reason really shone this evening. ’410’was one of a number of tracks from 2011's WELDING BURNS album,
which just left ‘Bring it On’ to
close the evening as the sole encore inclusion. This was an end that came too
quickly, although they often say leaving an audience wanting more is not a bad
place to end.