The Temperance Movement - Bristol Review

Despite only seeing The Temperance Movement live as recently as November, I found myself travelling up to Bristol a couple of days ago to catch the band on their current headline tour to support the release of their third album A Deeper Cut. The tour last year, which took in smaller venues in places the band would not usually play (including an excellent show in Plymouth which was the one I attended), was excellent and allowed the band to debut quite a lot of the new material prior to the album's release. This current tour, which sees the band playing in larger venues again, sees even more of the excellent new material included in the set; showing that the band are extremely proud of A Deeper Cut. With news coming in yesterday at the album had reached Number 6 in the Official UK Album Chart, it looks as though the album is going to be a big success for the band. I enjoyed all of the songs that were played in Plymouth back in November, and I have only come to enjoy them more over the past week or so while I have been listening to A Deeper Cut in preparation for this show. The show in Bristol was at the O2 Academy, which seems to be the go-to venue in the city now for bigger acts. While I do not think the show was sold out, there were a lot of people in attendance. As with all of The Temperance Movement's shows, there was a good mix of people in the audience. The band seem to have a big cross-over appeal, with seasoned rockers standing side-by-side with those who would not usually be seen dead at a rock show! The band's upbeat bluesy rock has clearly struck a chord with a lot of people, and it is great to see them playing good-sized venues.

Before The Temperance Movement hit the stage the crowd were treated to 40 minutes or so from American rock collective Thomas Wynn and the Believers. The six-piece band played a varied set which mixed blues rock, Americana, country, and southern rock to create a dense sound that impressed from the off. I had purchased their latest album Wade Waist Deep in preparation for the show, but had only had a chance to listen to it a couple of times beforehand. As a result, I knew a few of the songs played but there were still a few played that I was nor familiar with which were presumably from older albums. Thomas Wynn (vocals/guitar) fronted the band and shared vocals with his sister Olivia (vocals/percussion), with the four other musicians on stage all helping to create the band's sound. Aside from Thomas Wynn's fuzzy guitar sound, which included a few great solos, it was Colin Fei (keyboards/vocals) that really dominated the sound with lots of strong keyboard work. His Hammond organ often shone above everything else, which helped to give the band an organic and retro sound. The sound was mostly good throughout their set, but sadly Chris Antemesaris (guitar/harmonica) was almost inaudible throughout. This was a shame as he seemed to be adding a lot of harmonica throughout and it would have been good to hear this properly. That aside however, I really enjoyed the band's set, and the title track of their most recent album stood out the most. The country twang of this song combined with the soulful chorus is a winning combination, and the reception that they received at the end of the song (and indeed their set) showed that there were plenty of people in Bristol that were into what they were doing.

After a fairly quick changeover, The Temperance Movement came on stage to run through a fantastic 90 minute set that included most of their new album, as well as choice cuts from their previous two releases. The show started in identical fashion to the one in Plymouth last year, with Caught in the Middle and The Way it Was and the Way it is Now getting things off to a strong start. The former in particular is a fantastic uptempo track, with a simple driving riff from Paul Sayer (guitar/vocals) and a big chorus delivered with ease from dancing frontman Phil Campbell. There were another couple of new numbers played, including the gospel-infused Love and Devotion which featured Thomas Wynn and Olivia Wynn adding some additional backing vocals, before a couple of older numbers were played. Be Lucky in particular really stood out. It has a great southern groove throughout, with Sayer and fellow guitarist Matt White really locking in together well before one of the band's best choruses was sung back at the band by the large crowd. Some more excellent guitar playing was showcased during Another Spiral, which on record is a bit of a ballad, but live it is greatly expanded to include a stunning outro guitar solo from Sayer. I really like the fact that the band really let rip live and often extend their songs to include some additional jamming. Sayer is an excellent guitarist, and this extended solo really gives him a chance to show his skills to the fans. Unsurprisingly there was a big cheer at the end of this song, which shows that those there really appreciated the talent on show. Three songs from 2016's White Bear followed, including a powerful version of Battle Lines, but the rest of the set from then onward focused on the new album and the band's self-title debut. Built-In Forgetter was one of the main highlights of the back end of the set. It is one of the album's most upbeat songs, showcasing the band's bluesy sound perfectly, and it saw plenty of movement from the crowd. The closing two numbers were also both highlights, with the laid-back rock strut of Only Friend and the delicate beauty of A Deeper Cut contrasted with each other perfectly which made for a diverse close. The ballads on the new album are probably the best that the band have done yet, and the album's title track is probably the best of the best. While it seemed strange to end of a fairly low-key note, it worked surprisingly well and had the crowd calling for more as the band left the stage. There was time for a couple more however, and two uptempo tracks were chosen for the encore to raise the energy levels one final time before the end. The quirky Backwater Zoo, which saw Campbell sat behind his piano, is a fun upbeat number that translates well live; and this transitioned into Midnight Black, the lead single from the 2013 self-titled album, which took on a whole new energy live and saw the evening to a close in a frenetic and powerful way. The setlist was:

Caught in the Middle
The Way it Was and the Way it is Now
Love and Devotion [w/ Thomas Wynn and Olivia Wynn]
The Wonders We've Seen
Be Lucky
Ain't No Telling
Another Spiral
White Bear
Three Bulleits
Battle Lines
Know for Sure
Built-In Forgetter
Higher Than the Sun
Only Friend
A Deeper Cut
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Backwater Zoo
Midnight Black

Overall this was another fantastic night with The Temperance Movement. Seeing the band previously so recently did not affect my enjoyment of this show in any way, as the setlists and vibes of the two evenings were quite different. There are still plenty of dates left on this tour, both in the UK and over in Mainland Europe, and you get the feeling that the band are just warming up with even greater things still to come.