“I don’t blame you. I was starting to trip out too…the mushrooms are turning on me,” states Charlie Starr tongue in cheek, the Blackberry Smoke frontman lifting the mood back up following his halting of the show when a member of the Eventim Apollo audience collapses down the front. His genuine concern for the man and subsequent joking around show just why the audience packed into the famous walls of the Hammersmith venue loves the band so much.
Blackberry Smoke – Bones Owens
Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith – 14 September 2024
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Blackberry Smoke are a band of and for the people, shorn of all pretence and rock ‘n’ roll posturing, born from a demand for egos to be flattered. The Atlanta outfit are much too grounded for all of that but still capable of putting on a show for the fans, the music doing the talking whilst the only concession to any trappings on stage restricted to the huge banner behind them and three squares of carpets at the front by the microphone stands.
Bones Owens
It’s been an evening for stripped-back and raw rocking out, tour support Bones Owens bringing his visceral take on lo-fi muscle that kicks like a mule. Fronting his trio, the singer/guitarist tears into the numbers with relish, and whilst ZZ Top’s early work is a touchstone, there is much more of the heaviness of Cream at their most explosive present in a tightly packed set.
Opening with the Stonesy swagger of Get It On and the undeniable bounce of Lightning Strike, the three-piece slipped into a natural groove that spoke of both their hours on the road together and also the freshness and raw excitement of playing rumbunctious blues rock.
With acclaimed new album Love Out Of Lemons and stompers like Come My Way, the bulldozing Rambler and a punishing Bout Time, Owens and crew easily won over the crowd and has made himself one to watch in no uncertain terms.
Blackberry Smoke
Following Owens is a tough mountain to climb, but Blackberry Smoke take on the challenge with the self-confidence of a band who knows they write some of the finest Southern-tinged rock of the past five decades. Not that the band have been around that long, Starr pointed out that the band have been going for twenty-four years, and it took them twelve to play this side of the Atlantic, uttering, “We waited until we were almost teenagers before coming to see you.”
Recently, things have been tough for the Georgians, having lost drummer Brit Turner earlier this year after his two-year battle with cancer. But the band were committed to carrying his flame with them, their fallen brother’s spirit still part of what has made Blackberry Smoke what they are.
With fresh album Be Right Here so well received by both critics and fans, this legacy shone, and with a half dozen numbers taken from the release, there is well-placed confidence in this new material that matched the welcome familiarity of the old.
Managing to capture laid-back Summer nights and rolling barroom boogie with equal aplomb, the band came out swinging. Big numbers like Live It Down, Hammer and Nail and Shakin’ Hands With The Holy Ghost crackled with electricity.
With some fine soloing by Starr and his interplay with guitarist Paul Jackson and keys player Brandon Still, there was more than enough to take in with the sonic waves, the performances there to enhance the songs at their core, never overwhelming them.
The beautiful Azelea and a tasty Whatcha No Good, complete with its touch of Stairway To Heaven-style refrain near the end, were just two contrasting highlights that show the outfit’s dynamic range.
The joyful Ain’t Much Left Of Me / Mississippi Kid closed the night in truly epic style, the uplifting feeling and human heart at the centre of all they do truly connecting with all there to witness the show.
Instead of a wild-eyed preacher, Hammersmith got the avuncular and wise-cracking Starr but the effect was much the same as thousands were touched by the power of music this group of friends make.
Real life may have been outside those doors, hammering to break in, but for tonight, everyone was a friend here for a good time and to witness some kick-ass bands kick up dust. Blackberry Smoke are masters at this sort of thing, and you can’t ask better than that.
