Artists: The Revival Tour
Venue: Leeds University
Review by: Mikey Baird
ON its 33rd day on the road, The Revival Tour reached Leeds.
Now in its fifth year the Revival Tour is a gig quite unlike what you may have seen before.
The brainchild of Chuck Ragan, longtime frontman of highly respected Florida punk rock legends Hot Water Music, the tour sees Ragan takes out a group of handpicked troubadours – this year made up of Bedouin Soundclash’s Jay Malinowski, Emily Barker, Cory Branan, Rocky Votolato and The Dead Coast Band.
The spotlight is not put on any one member, instead ten of them squeeze onto the stage and deliver three hours of perfect Americana and folk.
Every so often members will leave the stage leaving a solitary player to play a few songs only for people to once again rejoin person by person until everyone returns – each singer getting a chance to play centre stage before introducing the next person.
There are no supports, everyone is the headliner here.
It’s hard for the crowd not to feel part of the camaraderie on the stage.
Everyone comes across as having the best time and that feeling is contagious.
As Chuck Ragan points out, this is the only time you will see this group all together, as next year a whole new bunch of musicians will join the tour and you feel lucky for witnessing the spectacle.
It was like going to an Open Mic night with your 10 best friends, all of who are more talented than you but that doesn’t matter as their talents are a witness to behold and you are just proud to have been a part of it.
