dry the river. live.

who: dry the river

when: 16 november 2011

where: moles, bath, uk

support: bite the buffalo, i dream in colour

after seeing dry the river at the haldern pop festival in august and supporting bombay bicycle club at the o2 apollo in october, it was finally time to go to a proper dry the river headline gig.

bite the buffalo were kicking off the night. brother duo stos and dimitri goneos are originally from zambia. they live in bath now and certainly know how to rock. with stos on guitar and vocals and dimitri on drums and also on vocals, they create a sound that can easily be described as rock with a nice punk edge to it. there was no doubt that they had the audience on their side. lacking a bass player didn´t seem to be an issue at all, they had fun and owned the stage.

i dream in colour were up next. i´ve read tons of reviews about them and everyone seemed to absolutely praise lead singer richard judge´s vocals. i, for my part, had some problems with his vocals. it took me a lot of getting used to but they´ve managed to find the perfect way between highlighting the music on the one side and richard´s vocals on the other side. their studio sound is mostly dominated by some great guitar riffs, but the live sound was based on keys a lot as well. indie-rock band iI dream in colour includes richard judge on vocals, guitar and keys, peter judge on drums, michael thackeray on guitar and steve daniels on bass.

dry the river are definitely one of the best uk bands of 2011 and they absolutely deserve all the support, no doubt about that. haven´t found two songs yet that sound similar which is not surprising, simply because their music has so many different sides to it. their sound is based somewhere in between rock, indie and alternative with that special classical twist.

taking into account that dry the river arrived at the venue around 20 minutes before the doors opened because their van broke down on the way, they delivered an absolutely stunning set. besides, the audience didn´t seem to care anyway as long as they were playing. the guys themselves were probably more annoyed by the lack of a proper soundcheck than anyone else.

didn´t really matter in the end because the crowd absolutely loved them. starting with “no rest”, we were in for a (first) treat when “shield your eyes” followed. i´ve heard this song for the first time when they played it at the bombay bicycle club gig and instantly loved it, so it was great to hear it again. “family tree” and one of my favourites, “bible belt”, were up next. especially “bible belt” gets to me every single time. the way it starts off slow with lead-singer peter liddle´s stunning and fragile vocals accompanied by will harvey´s wonderful violin, is just amazing and once matt taylor (on electric guitar) and scott miller (on bass) join in with backing vocals, you just have to love the song. dry the river´s debut single “new ceremony” and the title track of their new ep “weights & measures” (including the little unplugged bit at the beginning) followed, before they ended with all-time favourite “lion´s dDen” which is always a great way to end their set. this song just shows what they´re made of and how well they play together.

my personal highlight of night was the encore. “shaker hymns” has been my favourite dry the river song ever since i saw their gospel oak session. jonny warren´s drums guide you through the song like no other instrument does. the three-part harmonies here are spot on and the combination of slow and fast elements is great. it doesn´t sound like the violin and the drums are working against each other but instead one completes the other. all in all, a rather short but simply fantastic set by dry the river.

i shall see them again in st. gallen this saturday and for another headline show in london in january. till then i´d like to advice anyone who somehow managed to make their way around dry the river up until now, to check them out. they´re more than worth it. promise. 

 

scott miller and peter liddle (dry the river)

jonny warren (dry the river)

matt taylor and will harvey (dry the river)

you can connect with dry the river via their website or their facebook page. make sure to check either one (or both!) of them out for the latest news and tour dates.