It is clear that Danny just loves playing live. He communicated this with every move he made, creating a connection between himself, his band and the audience which went a long way towards making this a thoroughly entertaining and engaging gig.
Leading lights of UK (Anglo) Americana scene, Danny and the Champions have just released their fifth and possibly strongest studio album What kind of love which looks likely to further augment their reputation. Danny himself is known for having a great voice. Tonight it sometimes sounded like a youthful Neil Young, and in one country soul number echoed Janis Joplin at her plaintive best. While there were moments when it sounded a little rough, the ‘I’ve-lived-life’ quality it was given only enhanced its attractiveness.
Some years ago Danny made a change and moved the Champions more towards the rock end of the country rock spectrum. While the current line-up includes steel guitar and sax, the band were very guitar driven, the bass guitar interlocking with the drums over which soared very hot lead guitar licks. The band’s sound and arrangements merged well with Danny’s emotive vocals and the combination made for a powerful vibe.
Highlights of the night included the instantly catchy ‘Clear Water’ and the soulful ‘What kind of love’ with the simple but profound line, ‘What kind of love is the right kind of love for you’. From their back catalogue, there were storming versions of ‘Restless Feet’ and ‘The Colonel and the King’ about Elvis. It was also very alluring that quite a few of Danny’s songs were about friendship, something that seems very important to him.
The large audience, as well as the band, seemed to having a great time. They were so much with the band it was as if they were an extra member in the line-up. Somewhere around the middle of the 90 minute set, the crowd willingly accepted Danny’s invitation to follow the sax player round the room in a conga. However, the highpoint of their participation was their beautiful singing of the chorus to ‘Henry the Van’, a Danny and the Champs classic that is arguably really about that topic of friendship.
If we were being hypercritical there were one too many long lead guitar solos and one too many ‘whoa oh whoa’ early seventies choruses. We can easily forgive Danny and the Champions that though, on a night when their love of music and for playing it live, lit up the Bully.