If, like me, you love The Commoners three studio albums and their Southern Rock and Roots charm, a live album will probably have your attention too especially if you have been lucky enough to have seen them live in concert. But if you haven’t had that privilege then this is a damned good reason to make that live experience happen.
At just nine songs The Commoners first live album may not be a full headline set but it makes you think that these guys might just be the remedy you are looking for in an age where music of this kind tends to be either played by ever diminishing original members of heritage acts or just not done very well. If I’m brutally honest The Commoners, to me, give me all that The Black Crowes did three and a half decades ago! This is simply wonderful music, with a Southern U.S. Rock swagger but with melodies to die for and ballads that only the Crowes were brave enough to do.
Opening to the roar of the crowd, this is a no nonsense set that gets straight down to business. Opening with a vintage Crowes groove, searing solo and great vocal of ‘Shake You Off’ we’re right in the thick of what could go down as one of the best live records I’ve heard this Century. I don’t mean that lightly – The Commoners have it all – the chops, the attitude and most importantly of all the songs. I love the extended guitar intro to ‘The Way I Am’; and ‘Who Are You’ is full of Stonsey swagger you can dance to! Three tracks in you know that this is special. It’s also rather familiar with all tracks from teh latest album ‘Restless’.
The Rocking, relentless ‘Gone Without Warning’ is followed by a little respite as the beautiful melodies of ‘Restless’ take the intensity down a little, and it’s all done with minimal banter – just letting the music doing the talking and introducing the band. Like on the album the mellow ‘See You Again’ follows, it’s a perfect combination and a wonderful way to pace the set.
We get back to rocking with the wonderful Allmans-like guitar intro to ‘Devil Teasin’ Me’ and the wonderful groove and sublime guitar of first encore of ‘Fill My Cup’, whilst closing out with ‘Find a Better Way’ the song that introduced me to the band.
If I have one issue with an otherwise perfect live record it’s that it’s way too short, and aside from the final two tracks draws on songs from ‘Restless’. I’m sort of OK with that as I love that album, but as a first ‘live’ outing I’d love to have had a longer record and a few more from the equally wonderful ‘Find a Better Way’. I usually find that if your only ripe is that you want more you’re on pretty solid ground.
Interestingly my two favourite songs from ‘Restless’ are two of the only three tracks from that album that don’t get a look in here. I was shocked that ‘Too Soon To Know You’ didn’t make it as to me it’s just perfect, a song you can lose yourself in and is all that I love about the genre. I commented in the review that “it will be on my playlists for years.” I know it also got a huge reception on last years tour. There’s also no room for ‘All That We Have’ either which is also astonishingly omitted. The latter I probably understand due to it’s stripped back nature, but why no ‘Too Soon’? That is the real mystery, and could have nudged this to a 10/10…
9/10
The Commoners return to EU/UK in May 2025 for a four-week tour across five countries, bringing a brand-new offering in the form of a nine-song album The Commoners: Live In The UK, recorded live in the UK in 2024. The album has being released by Gypsy Soul Records on May 16th.
The album is available to pre-order on CD and vinyl HERE, and pre-save digitally HERE.
