05 December 2015 (gig)
06 December 2015
In just 9 months Dan Patlansky’s exposure in the UK has gone from practically zero to a massively successful album (Dear Silence Thieves) to a tour as special guest to Joe Satriani, two sold out shows at the Borderline and next year he will be special guest on King King’s latest tour.
So the chance to see him once more at the Borderline was so attractive that I braved the wind flying up London’s Charing Cross Road, the massed crowd of Xmas shoppers and sightseers, and the vagaries of the Tube system (Tottenham Court Road – grrrrr) to catch him – and he went ahead and confirmed why his reputation is so high at the present time.
The capacity crowd was treated to songs from ‘Dear Silence Thieves’, from his forthcoming album ‘Intro Vertigo’ (set for release in April 2016) and his 2012 release ’20 Stones’ and there was a real difference in tone and content between the songs, showing just how capable he is as both a songwriter and as a guitarist.
He opened with a new one ‘Drone’, an instrumental that go his fingers warmed up and the band in line and then tore into ‘Bring The World To Its Knees’ which on record is a hard edged Blues but here was on the edge of heavy metal and left the crowd in awe at just how much power a three piece can bring. ‘Run’ from the forthcoming album was again filled with massive power, Patlansky tearing notes out of his Strat like a madman and creating a huge soundscape. The audience at this point was virtually cowering from the power – and lapping up every second.
By now the crowd was intent on everything coming off stage and when he turned to a more Blusey number with ‘Hold On’ and took the volume lower and lower there was pindrop silence in the hall (at the Borderline??)until he brought the volume back with a crash and the crowd took a collective breath as normal service was resumed.
He showed that he can do a groove thing with a wicked version of ‘Stop The Messing’ and then a beautiful slow Blues, ‘Your War’, with a lovely tone and a sense of despair about it that had the crowd spellbound.
Track after track showed different sides of Mr Patlansky, none bad, even guitar insanity on the closer ‘My Chana’.
My only complaint was that ‘Backbite’ which was one of THE tracks of 2015 was less sharp and aggressive, possibly less funky than on the album.
He is a remarkable musician and his star can only continue to rise – this was a great night.
Picture by John Bull
