Folk rock! About as trendy as Steve Davis wearing dungarees and talking about the history of feta cheese, it’s still a genre that has produced a lot of damn fun bands with plenty to say and arguably the Levellers have been at the forefront of the movement for some time.
In support of their upcoming greatest hits (because you can’t have too many greatest hits nowadays) the Levs played a series of intimate gigs, going as far north as Orkney and Shetland and stopping off in Aberdeen on the way up.
Taking to the stage looking like the least likely winners of ‘Take Me Out’ in history, the Brightoners are able to draw on such a strong back catalogue that favourites ‘What A Beautiful Day’ and ‘Fifteen Years’ are thrown away early in the set. Mark Chadwick’s voice is as warm and welcoming as ever and it soon turns a normally fickle Aberdeen audience into a bouncing mass in no time at all.
The recent material from Levellers has been very impressive for a band in their 27th year together but it’s the old material that really has the crowd in raptures. ‘Carry Me’ and ‘One Way’ have graced the main stages at many festivals over the years and in such a small venue there is nowhere to hide – the entire crowd shows their appreciation and bellows every word.
That’s not to say that the newer material is a disappointment; ‘The Cholera Well’ from the ‘Letters From The Underground’ stands up well sandwiched between ‘The Riverflow’ and ‘Liberty Song’ to bring the main set to an end.
The night ends as all Levellers gigs should do with Mark Chadwick leading the crowd in raising some devil horns along to ‘Devil Went Town To Georgia’. The Levellers have nailed gigs in much bigger venues than tonight so to carry the same energy to somewhere such as the Lemon Tree was always going to result in something special. Go see ’em before they’re back in front of a bigger crowd again.