Review:Duke Special,The Louisiana Bristol 12.4.2013

The Louisiana prides itself on booking bands before they are famous.The walls are covered in pictures of people who have played there previously such as.Amy Whitehouse, Fleet Foxes, White Stripes, Corrine Bailey-Rae, Muse, Mogwai and Snow Patrol who were once a support band here.Whoever books the bands obviously knows their stuff.

We traipsed upstairs to see the show. I think it must be the smallest venue I have ever been in. The show was sold out so it was jam packed upstairs. The first act on was Nadine Shah and she was really good. I was watching her this afternoon on youtube and I think we will hear a lot more of Nadine in the future. The second act was Sadpaw and I think he must be a friend of Duke's because he played on a couple of Duke's songs later in the evening.

Finally at 9.30 Duke came on stage and by now the place was so packed you could hardly move your arms.The first thing Duke did was to invite twenty people to come and sit around him on the stage. That relieved the pressure at the front a bit and helped create a nice atmosphere. All evening Duke played the piano, sang and told funny stories.I think the first song Duke did was 'Slip Of A Girl' which is a really catchy song that I can't get out of my head since. Duke then told a really funny story that was inspired by a photograph he had seen of 'Rita De Costa' who made a career out of marrying wealthy men who died shortly after the wedding. Duke also handed out songsheets of some of the songs so the audience could sing along if they wanted which was a nice touch. Creaky Boat Blues is a great song for singing along to. I can't possibly remember all the songs.One song though i really liked though was Duke's version of 'I've Worn My Elbows Down To The Bone'by Ivor Cutler because I love Ivor Cutler's music. He is great and i'm really pleased Duke Special is into him.

Duke also sang a song I liked by My Bloody Valentine but i can't remember the name of it now. Another great cover version Duke did was 'Heart Like A Wheel' by Kate And Anna McGarrigle which was stunning. Duke has a great taste in other peoples music and I must say I like the way he sings in his Northern Irish accent which is great. A lot of singers from these isles put on a fake American accent, but Duke doesn't. Of Dukes own songs I am really impressed with'Last Night I Nearly Died, But I Woke Up Just In Time'. I can't get that song out of my head either. The song I liked the best of all though was the last song of the night called 'Condition'.The dark lyrics are brilliant. 'Sometimes its hard to make yourself think, its like the words are crawling back into the ink'.

Afterwards Duke kindly signed a CD for me. It is his new album called 'Oh Pioneer'.The title is obviously inspired by the book 'Oh Pioneers' by Willa Cather. I like it when people name drop books and things.Van the man is always doing that. I have been listening to the album while writing this and I urge you to check out Duke Special because he is a superstar. Its just that the world hasn't realised it yet. So thank you very much Duke Special, Nadine Shah, Sadpaw, and The Louisiana for a brilliant night out in Bristol.