Review: Blackberry Smoke / The Holy Ghosts – The Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh (12th June 2015)

Photo (c) Gary Cooper

[Photo sets: Blackberry Smoke / The Holy Ghosts]

Kicking off the night to a packed Liquid Rooms are Edinburgh’s The Holy Ghosts. The band start off with “Twist of the Knife” from the excellent Ride Them Down album.

This band have a fantastic vibe about them and have the crowd going straight away. I first saw them back in 2012 supporting Pat Travers and they have come a long way since then in terms of stage presence and musically. They have a great front man in the form of Jacky Sand, always on the move and a great voice to boot, rocking into “End of the Line” from the multi-single of the same name

They slide into “Ride on Baby” and “Hounds Come To Call” again from the Ride Them Down album, followed by “Petty Crime” and end on “Ol’ Snake Hips” to a much deserved positive response from the crowd. A great local band and one to watch if you get the chance.

Next up is the main band Blackberry Smoke. Having seen them before and left with a massive smile, tonight was no different.

Photo (c) Gary Cooper

A packed and sold out Liquid Rooms was witness to one of the great live bands on the planet doing what they do best – playing amazing music and enjoying themselves. Starting off with “Six ways to Sunday” from the album The Whippoorwill, the gig just kept going with “Leave a Scar” from the same album.

Next up from the new fantastic new album Holding all the Roses is “Let Me Help You (find the door)”. They follow on with “Pretty Little Lie” and “Fire in the Hole” which leads onto one of my highlights of the night, “Rock and Roll Again” from the new album. This, along with an amazing version of “One Horse Town” totally made my night.

The band play up a storm with Charlie totally bouncing about with those manic sideburns and a huge grin all night, Paul playing away on guitar for all he’s worth with “Mr Cool” Richard on bass and his brother Brit pounding away on the drums. Brandon on keyboards fills out the whole sound that is totally and unmistakably Blackberry Smoke – they sound like no other band out there.

They end the close to 2 hour set with “Shake your Magnolia” before coming back on with a fantastic twin encore of “Holding all the Roses” and “Ain’t Much Left Of Me”. An amazing hot sweaty night with a band who always seem happy to play for you and always great fun to watch. The band are back later in the year, if you have not seen them why not? Go out and see them now!