Artists: When Rivers Meet
Venue: Swindon, Arts Centre
Date: 31st October 2024
"It was a fantastic night of performances both instrumentally and vocally, interlaced with many stories and hilarity from both the band and from the crowd interaction."
The Arts Centre is situated in the old town of Swindon, and there is a car park only five minutes’ walk away. It was first opened in 1956 and holds up to two hundred people seated. It has a mixed programme of concerts, comedy, dance, drama, exhibitions, musical theatre, and local amateur productions. When Rivers Meet have chosen this venue to perform at as a part of their Red Rum Duo Tour, which has Aaron and Grace Bond performing on their own. This is what they used to do when they first started out five years ago. Since then they have added on extra musicians to the band and achieved commercial success.
The venue was about two thirds full, and the Bond’s came on stage at 20.00. They opened with the John Lee Hooker song ‘Burning Hell’ with Grace on electric violin and Aaron on electric guitar. Then came the first of their more familiar tunes; ‘Battleground’ with Grace on vocals and Aaron both on electric guitar and foot drum. The sound was absolutely perfect; not too loud and the vocals and the instruments had been mixed sublimely. Grace showcased her vocals on this song. Followed swiftly by ‘My Babe Says That He Loves Me’ from the EP collection, which saw Grace on electric mandolin and slide and Aaron on electric slide guitar. In between the songs there was conversation between them and amusing heckling from the crowd that they both wittingly took part in. The pace slowed down with ‘Don’t Tell Me Goodbye’; an acoustic ballad that demonstrated their close harmonies. Then it was back to Blues Rock territory with ‘Play My Game’ and ‘Free Man’, Aaron showing what a fantastic guitarist he is. They told a story about the next song which was ‘Barton Hollow’. It had first been performed by The Civil Wars on the Jools Holland Show many years ago. They then finished part one of the set with three barn stormers; ‘He’ll Drive You Crazy’, ‘Friend Of Mine’ and ‘We Fly Free’. It was in between these songs that Aaron told the story about his newly acquired guitar (nick-named Raven), which is a replacement for his old cigar box guitar.
After a twenty minute interlude the band came back on stage and performed ‘Did I Break The Law’, that was much to the delight of the audience who participated by singing and clapping along to the tune. The set slowed down a shade with Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring Of Fire’ and ‘The Cowboy Song’, with Grace, for the first time playing harmonica. Then it was the lovely ‘Bury My Body’; a song that showcases their harmonies, and instrument playing. Aaron then narrated a funny story about meeting Samantha Fish backstage in London before they launched into ‘Dead Man’ which again got the crowd clapping along, followed by ‘Innocence Of Youth’ and ‘Walking On The Wire’. The set ended with ‘Golden’, ’Need To Be’ and a song that they used to perform at the beginning of their career called ‘From The Valley’. They came back after rapturous applause to perform ‘Preaching Blues’ by Son House; this was another song from their early performances. All in all they had been on stage for two one hour sets. The crowd gave them a standing ovation and The Bond’s stayed on after the show to meet and talk to people who had merchandise to sign.
A different side to When Rivers Meet this time around, and perhaps a show that not many people had seen before. It was a fantastic night of performances both instrumentally and vocally, interlaced with many stories and hilarity from both the band and from the crowd interaction. Go see them, you will not be disappointed.
Review: Paul Gregory
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