LIVE REVIEW : DAVE DAVIES AT THE BARBICAN 11/04/2014

After returning to the stage in the US last year, Dave Davies made his  UK comeback at The Barbican last Friday, 13 years after his last concert in this country. Following a stroke that almost cost him his life in 2004, he had to relearn to speak and play guitar.

I'd thought that the choice of venue was maybe a bit optimistic capacity wise. When Dave last played in London in 2001 it was at Dingwall's in Camden (a much smaller venue) but the stalls in The Barbican were pretty full up by the time opening act Laura Howe and Pixi Morgan came on stage at 7.30. They first met Dave Davies at the beginning of this year while they were busking on the streets of Devizes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-UUt57LJ0k&feature=share), after which he offered them the opening slot of his gig at The Barbican. Blending covers and originals over their 40 minutes slot, they displayed remarkable vocal interplay (Pixi's singing was similar to The Dubliners) and won the crowd over with their enthusiasm and freshness.  

Dave's backing band came on stage to the sound of a rather pompous intro music and then launched into a hard rock version of The Kinks 1966 B-Side "I'm Not Like Everybody Else". Dave joined them in the middle of the song and then plunged straight away into "I Need You" which was followed by "She's Got Everything". While the first song has been a live staple in Ray Davies's set list over the past few years, it was nice to hear some lesser known Kinks songs. We got to hear "Young and Innocent Days","Strangers" , "Susannah's Still Alive", "Creeping Jean". The hits weren't ignored with Dave's signature Kinks song "Death Of a Clown" getting an airing (slightly spoilt by an unnecessary dig from Dave to bass/keyboard player Tom Currier). Songs from the latest album weren't particularly great (I'd have to check the recorded versions to formulate a definitive opinion) but "Flowers in The Rain" from Dave's 2002 Bug album was as good as any Kinks song. After finishing the main set with fine versions of "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" and "All Day and All Of The Night", Dave came back to close his vibrant UK return with The Kinks mosty well known song "You Really Got Me".