Young Gun Silver Fox - Bristol Review

The yacht rock duo Young Gun Silver Fox were easily my musical discovery of 2022. A chance comment on a musical Facebook group I am a member of led to me to 2020's Canyons, the band's third album, and I was hooked from the off. 2022's Ticket to Shangri-La (which I reviewed here) came out not too long after - and picking up their fourth album on release really cemented my love of the group. I soon went back and picked up the band's other albums - and in 2023 I saw them live twice. Both of the shows took place in London - once at the Lafayette as part of the short initial Ticket to Shangri-La tour, and once at the Electric Ballroom later in the year which was billed as the band's biggest headline show to date at the time. Both shows, despite being similar setlist-wise, were excellent. Given the intricacies of the band's layered and sophisticated sound, I did wonder if they would struggle to replicate their songs live. I need not have been worried, though, as the songs flourished live, despite being slightly re-arranged at times, with the core duo of Andy Platts (vocals/guitar/keyboards) and Shawn Lee (guitar/percussion/vocals) joined by other musicians - and very little of the nuance was lost in the process. I was not able to get to the band's London show last year, as it clashed with other plans, but when they announced a UK tour earlier this year for May I knew that I had to get to one of the shows. The band have not always been the busiest when it comes to live shows, but they seem to be changing that slowly - with a couple of relatively lengthy US tours having recently been undertaken, alongside plenty of festivals and other European shows. I think that this current UK tour is the band's most extensive as a headline act - and luckily for me it included a Bristol date. Bristol shows often work well for me, as they often mean needing to take less time off work than travelling further afield does - and it can often be more affordable to get there and stay there. I was not sure what the band's fanbase would be like outside of London. They have certainly played headline shows elsewhere in the country before, but they have generally seemed to focus on larger one-off London shows over the past couple of years - but I was pleased to see that The Fleece, the venue of choice, was pretty full throughout. When I first got to the venue it was looking around a third or so full, with everyone quite spread out - but by the time Young Gun Silver Fox took to the stage at around 9pm there were quite a few people in attendance. The Fleece is not the biggest venue, but I generally enjoy nights out there - and the turnout was likely one which pleased the band given that this was their first headline show in Bristol. The reason for the tour was of the recent release of the band's fifth album Pleasure - which I will be reviewing here in due course.

Opening the show, and playing for around 30 minutes before Young Gun Silver Fox took to the stage, was the Australian-born singer-songwriter Joel Sarakula - who I was not familiar with before this tour but seems to operate within a similar musical landscape as Young Gun Silver Fox. I always feel a bit sorry for support acts who would usually be backed by a band having to perform solo - as their music is clearly not made to be showcased in such a stripped down manner. Despite this, though, Sarakula, his keyboard, and his drum machine did a pretty good job at showcasing his particular brand of yacht rock - even if these performances likely lacked the depth of their recorded counterparts. He was probably let down the most in the harmony department, as vocal harmonies are such a big part of the genre, but the bouncy keyboard melodies and breezy choruses certainly held the attention of much of the crowd for 30 or so minutes. It helped, too, that Sarakula came across well when speaking in between songs. He had quite a bit to say about each song and just generally came across as a likeable person - which suited the poppy music he writes. Even stripped down, it was clear that his music is very much of a type. This is no bad thing - particularly as there are not exactly a tonne of bands writing yacht rock in the 21st Century. I enjoyed his set quite a bit - so I intend to check out some more of his work going forward, as you can never have enough yacht rock in the collection.

Half an hour or so later, the lights went down and Young Gun Silver Fox took to the stage. Launching into something of a jam, this opening acted as the intro to Winners - a track from the last album which I had not seen the band do live before. With the exception of Winners and half of the new album, though, the setlist was generally made up of live favourites from the past. Given that the band tend to play their best songs live, at least in my opinion, this was not an issue - and it was great to hear so many of the new songs included given that the album is so new. The main disappointment, though, was the lack of a proper horn section. I had expected this, as touring with a horn section likely adds quite a bit of extra expense, but when comparing the show to the previous two the lack of a horn section really stood out. They did have local musician James Gardiner-Bateman on saxophone for a handful of songs, who had played live with the band before, but he was featured sparingly - meaning that some songs with prominent horn arrangements went without. I got the impression that Gardiner-Bateman was something of a last minute addition to the evening, so they likely just ran through a handful of songs at soundcheck - but he still added a lot to the songs he did play on. He added some jazzy overtones to Winners - before laying down a great solo during the first new cut to be played: Burning Daylight. Before this, though, the bouncy pop of Kids and the AOR-tinged Rolling Back brought the best out of Platts, who knocked it out of the park vocally despite clearly battling monitor issues all night. As has been the case at the band's previous gigs, too, the live sound mix was excellent. All of the instruments were well-balanced in the mix - whilst Lee's and Paul Housden's (bass guitar/vocals) harmonies were also audible and sounded tight. The was plenty of bass in the mix, too, which helped the songs to groove along nicely - particularly on the more rocking pieces such as the disco-influenced Born to Dream. Platts and Lee took a bit of a mid-set break around half way through to present their first single You Can Feel It in a stripped down acoustic manner, which worked surprisingly well, before the rest of the band came back out for a barnstorming rendition of Simple Imagination - which acted as the night's jam, with more saxophone soloing and plenty of groovy interplay between the musicians on stage. Given the poppy nature of the material, this occasional stretching out showcases the band's power - which carried over into the lead single of the latest album Stevie & Sly which rocked surprisingly hard live. It is becoming a real favourite of mine and live it really hit the spot. The rest of the main set largely focused on smoother vibes, though, with the ballad Love Guarantee and the plaintive personal favourite Lenny being standouts of this final portion of the set. Another new number, the more Elton John-esque The Greatest Loser, brought the main set to a close - with the band walking off somewhat abruptly after it, almost as if some of them had not realised that was it. An encore followed, though, with two songs turning into three following chants of 'one more song'. Mojo Rising and Kingston Boogie (which definitely felt a little neutered without the horns) were clearly planned, but after some chat the band decided to pull Long Way Back out of the vaults - and the slow-burning ballad, which was elongated somewhat, proved to be a reflective end to a strong night of music. The setlist was:

Winners

Kids

Rolling Back

Burning Daylight

Late Night Last Train

Born to Dream

You Can Feel It

Simple Imagination

Stevie & Sly

Love Guarantee

Lenny

Tip of the Flame

The Greatest Loser

-

Mojo Rising

Kingston Boogie

Long Way Back

Despite the lack of a horn section, and I think that I had been spoilt by their previous shows in that regard, the band still delivered an excellent set last night in Bristol. The crowd were clearly all into it, too, as there was a lot of singing going on - and the atmosphere in the room was excellent. Young Gun Silver Fox are a band who always conjure up a strong vibe with their music - and it is good to see them more active on the touring front and looking to play in new places. Hopefully they will be back to Bristol in the future - and in the meantime I will be enjoying Pleasure a lot.