Many bands decide to, or are persuaded to come out of retirement for purely monetary or sentimental reasons – one or two are successful … sadly, the vast majorities aren’t (and they fail miserably).
Conversely, there are also bands, admittedly very few, who are coerced out of the wilderness because those ‘coercers’ truly and passionately believe that there is unfinished business, and that the bands in question still have the ability, quality and hunger to regroup and redeliver not only music from the ‘ good old days ‘; but to produce music that is not only new, but better than ever before.
Romeos Daughter are one such band!!
Re-emerging in 2009, largely thanks to a big Firefest helping- hand, Romeos Daughter, have seemingly seamlessly picked up from where they left off in the grunge-filled mid 90’s …… and they’ve rarely looked back!!
Armed with an impressive two-album (should have been more) back catalogue, and their recently released ‘Rapture‘ album, they nonchalantly walked onto the HRH AOR stage to a warm and rapturous (get it?) welcome, which mirrored their own personalities, both as individuals and as a collective unit,
From Andy Wells’s very first pounding drum beats of ‘Heaven In The Backseat’ it was clear to all watching that this was a band at the top of their game, and more importantly, a band that were enjoying every minute of their 21st Century renaissance.
Leigh Matty, obviously and understandably will always be the focal point of the band – She is constantly on the move, oozing sexuality and innocence simultaineously, whilst bringing the audience, male and female, under her spell. She is clearly having the time of her life !!
But the rest of the band must never be ignored, that’s for sure. Craig Joiner (guitar) and Ed Poole (bass) and Tony Mitman (keys) support Leigh with a deep, lush, rhythmic sound that is perfectly described by the title of their second song of the day….. ‘ Velvet Touch ’.
The band, moving up the gears with each song, then gave us a triple, honey-coated dose of Rapture – an album that very nearly became my album of the year for 2012 ( If you’re curious as to the one that did … there’s a clue in my next review ).
‘Bittersweet ‘, ‘Cannot Be The One’ and ‘Alive’ were delivered with such ease, sincerity and class. By this time the audience was mesmerized and totally under Leigh’s hypnosis.
The 1993 Delectable album was briefly represented by the crowd- pleaser, ‘Attracted To The Animal’, before returning to Rapture with the country-rockesque ‘Talking Love’.
Because Romeos Daughter are so pleasing on the eye, and their music is not of the in-your-face variety, I truly believe they could have played for hours, and no one would have tired or complained. Sadly, for me anyway, they couldn’t, and as they entered the final furlong (after all, it was Grand National day !! ) they picked up the tempo again with ‘ Inside Out ’ from their debut album, and the superb opener from Rapture, ‘ Trippin’ Out ‘
The penultimate song ‘ I Cry Myself To Sleep At Night ‘ was perfectly placed within the set. It gave us all a breather, and gathered us all in, ready for the sprint finish, which of course was ‘ Wild Child ‘.
Personally, I’m getting rather tired of the history of this song – at the end of the day, it’s a Romeo’s Daughter song, and it epitomizes the power, sexuality, sensuality, raunchiness, expertise and depth that this British band has always had on offer.
They left the stage to a rapturous ( there’s that word again } applause, and despite one or two minor technical issues the band showed, yet again, that they have certainly not reformed to make up the numbers.
One little break, lucky or not, is all it will take to fire Romeo’s Daughter to the next level – Maybe that will come with album #4, which I’ve been reliably informed is on the horizon!!!!
For more news on Romeo’s Daughter see:
Website: www.romeosdaughter.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/romeosdaughterofficial
Twitter: www.twitter.com/romeosdaughter
Setlist :
Heaven in the Backseat
Velvet Touch
Bittersweet
Cannot Be The One
Alive
Attracted To The Animal
Talking Love
Inside Out
Trippin’ Out
I Cry Myself To Sleep
Wild Child
Review by Dave Crompton
Photographs by David Wilson
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