Gig review: THE ANSWER – Islington Assembly Hall, London, 16 November 2023

November 23rd, 2023 by andynathan

It’s been quite a year for The Answer after breaking their five year hiatus to regroup and record a new album ‘Sundowners’. At a 100 Club gig in the Spring that largely showcased the new album I was initially unimpressed, but they went down a storm in their return to the summer festival circuit. Their performances at Firevolt and Stonedead persuaded me I still wanted more, so faced with one of those annoying gig clashes, them or Brave Rival, I went for seeing the Northern Irishmen for a fourth time this year.

One of the other incentives was that the support were another band I’ve got into this year in Kira Mac. However during opener ‘Save Your Whiskey’ my attention was rather distracted by noticing that since seeing them at Stonedead, one of their guitarists Alex Novakovic was now absent leaving Joe Worrall to handle all duties by himself. With a bass intro from Bret Barnes, ‘Dead Man Walking’ had a serious bottom end worthy of Black Stone Cherry.

Eponymous singer Kira, as well as being a striking visual presence, is an accomplished communicator, even if she did slightly her Northerner schtick, and had no trouble during ‘Chaos is Calling’ in getting a crowd chant of ‘hey-hey’ going after the ‘take it to the level below’ line. There were some excellent but concise solos from Joe on the likes of ‘Play the Game’ and ‘Mississippi Swingin’ while I was glad that a gig companion who had not heard them before shared my view that ‘Scorned’ is Shania Twain gone rock!

The great thing about the band is how quickly their hooks and choruses cut to the chase and a couple of songs from the forthcoming album in ‘Farewell’ and ‘Climbing’ had a heaviness to them yet never lost that commercial edge. An all too short 40 minute set ended with ‘One Way Ticket’, and though they could certainly work on the variety of a rather samey set of numbers, they won a number of new friends, setting them up nicely for a second album and tour in 2024.

Disappointingly the crowd at the Assembly Hall was sparse, maybe inevitably with the sheer volume of tours at this time of year, but had filled to around half full when The Answer came on stage.

They opened with one of the new songs in ‘Blood Brother’ with an almost tribal beat from drummer James Heatley and hints of the Black Keys, before ‘Nowhere Freeway’, among their best songs but the melodies slightly dulled by the admittedly excellent work of bassist Mickey Waters being too high in the mix.

Cormac Neeson, looking dapper in a cream jacket and long mane held in place by a trilby, as usual mixed his booming singing voice with gentle bonhomie between songs, However this was a night for surprises. Not only was ‘New Horizon’ in the set for the first time in a long while, but for the first time ever the band had added a keyboard player in Cara Bruns- who also received the accolade of a round of happy birthday! The usual forceful ‘Under the Sky’ seemed even better with the added organ flourishes which as a member of a Deep Purple tribute act Diva Purple she was well qualified to provide.

She combined well with guitarist Paul Mahon and despite literally lurking in the shadows for much of the set the guitarist produced some great slide work on a resonator guitar during ‘Sundowners’. It was the perfect illustration of the type of song I was initially not too keen on but have warmed to the way they have experimented with fresh sounds and textures. ‘Keep Believing’ seems to have had a new lease of life while ‘Want You To Love Me’ extended into a jam.

A full length set, at a generous hour and 35 minutes, allowed the band to change the mood with some more reflective and atmospheric songs in ‘Comfort Zone’ and even the title track of the controversial Gaelic influenced album ‘Solas’ with some great wah-wah infused guitar from Paul. ‘Spectacular’ restored the tempo, then in yet another surprise they premiered a brand new song ‘Wild Heart’: even at first listen it was one of their most commercial songs in a while with an almost danceable feel.

Going from last to first, ‘Brother Paul’, as Cormac called him, whipped up a storm of heavy riffs on ‘Come Follow Me’ which saw many of us punching the air. At this point one of my gig buddies and I agreed that they bottled a rare magic on their debut album ‘Rise’ which maybe we didn’t fully appreciate at the time. I wonder whether in hindsight it was a millstone they could never quite match in their subsequent career.

While the new album was not as prominently featured as at that ‘100 Club’ show, they still played one of the best tracks in ‘Livin’ On The Line’ though it still has me thinking of the Black Crowes’ ‘Sting Me’. Then another ‘Rise’ classic in ‘Preachin’’ saw Cormac’s party piece, diving into the crowd, getting us to crouch on our ageing middle aged knees and rise up with him.

A couple of encores presented a nice contrast – ‘Always Alright’ had a mellow feel to it before growing into life then another unexpected blast from the past was the hard hitting ‘Demon Eyes’, again those earlier blues rockers sounding all the better for the unexpected addition of keyboards.

The Answer have always been solid concert performers so I knew this would be a good night out, but it proved to be one where the surprises made it one of my favourite Answer gigs.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)