ahab take The Palladium by storm!

Bob Harris recently described ahab as “blistering”. Simon Mayo has called them “the real deal”. At the end of their set at The Palladium, the Bideford club’s crowd called ahab back for encores until they ran out of songs and had to play a couple of tracks for a second time. They really were that good.

A lot of people came along not really knowing what to expect. The media noise had made it sound interesting and promoter Mark was bubbling with excitement about them. But its all down to what happens on the night and not many people had expected to be spellbound by two sets of wonderful songs rooted in country and folk  and drenched with glorious four part harmonies that seemed so effortlessly brilliant.

I was once given a right old ear-full by a mate for saying that the gig we had just jumped, danced and sweated to - Peter Gabriel’s first solo tour as I recall - was the best I’d ever seen.

“You say that every time” he moaned. He was right too, I did tend to get a bit carried away, but I couldn’t help it. Be honest, you know that feeling don’t you? Even in these ever more cynical times, its still a real thrill to come away from any gig that you’ve loved with an almost teenage rush of excitement and satisfaction.

So it was with Dr Feelgood at The Palladium on Friday night, because they were blistering! There was a sell out crowd at The Palladium, which always puts you nose to nose with the band without any of that niggling sense of discomfort about being the only one “down the front” and brings out the best in any band worth its salt. To kick things off, The Muddy River Band – Archie, Marion and Ian - did Bideford proud with a support set that was slick, tight and just a bit too short really but they were the perfect primer for what was to come.