While students flocked to Walkabout for The Blanks and comedy lovers headed to the LPAC to see Greg Davies, the Drill Hall was jam-packed with folk fans.
The award winning Bellowhead performed to a sell out crowd on Tuesday 23rd November.
Although nearing the end of the “Hedonism” tour, having played every night for the past fortnight, the band were still full of energy and gave a fantastic performance.
The 11-piece band were supported by the folk duo Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell. This more traditional style is miles apart from the energetic big band Bellowhead which may not have been to everyone’s tastes.
The duo were very talented, no doubt about it, but the melancholy vibe didn’t seem like quite the right warm up for such a big sound as Bellowhead.
After a short set from Johnny and Lucy, it was time for the main event. As the 11 band members slowly filtered onto the relatively small stage, an excitement passed over the crowd.
The set began with an energetic start which continued throughout the show. Songs such as “Fire Marengo”, “Whiskey is the Life of Man”, “Kafoozalum” and “New York Girls”, showed that the band were happy to play the dance favourites and not focus purely on the new “Hedonism” album.
There were a couple of slower songs like “Cold Blows the Wind”, about a third of the way through the set, but who can blame them after such an energetic set?
A double encore was cheered for by the crowd, which seems to be a standard at Bellowhead’s performances, finishing with a cracking performance of “London Town” which got a huge majority of the Drill Hall singing and dancing along.
As usual Bellowhead put on a great show, their live performances are incomparable to the studio albums, and nothing can beat the electricity that runs through the crowd when joining in with favourite songs.
The Hedonism ale, made by members of the band, on sale in the foyer was a great personal touch that is rarely seen with other acts and it’s things like this that make Bellowhead stand out even more.