Gig review: SWEET CRISIS- The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 17 February 2024

February 21st, 2024 by andynathan

Cambridge based Sweet Crisis have been on the scene for quite a few years, peddling a classic rock imbued with large dollops of blues and soul. I’d only seen them before on a couple of impressive and well received support slots, so I was keen to catch a headline show for the first time when they were announced at one of my favourite venues, Noel Nevin’s Cavern in suburban Raynes Park, which punches well above its small size when it comes to an ever more impressive roster of acts. Unusually though they went on first, ahead of the support act, at 9pm to allow for keyboardist Rob Bullock taking an early morning flight.

The openers ‘Great Big Steps’ and ‘Black Magic’ summed up their distinctive sound, relaxed and with loads of space between the grooves, and tasteful soloing from guitarist Piers Mortimer. With a keyboard intro from Rob, ‘Love Me Like Sugar’ had a soulful feel, while after a long guitar intro the insidious groove ‘Ain’t Got Soul’ had singer Leo Robarts sounding a little like Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine.

They have an endearingly laid back stage presence, though that might not work so well on the bigger stages. Leo and Piers give each other good guitar and vocal support respectively and with their reddish tousled hair and beards even have a more than superficial physical resemblance.

‘Living Life on The Edge’ was an unexpected but far from self indulgent instrumental where Matt Duduryn’s very cool bass playing made a big contributions alongside the two guitars and both that and ‘Misty Haze’ conjured up the laid back feel of Wishbone Ash’s American exile period of the latter half of the seventies.

While the majority of songs came from their debut album which is a couple of years old now, they did try out a new song Get Fired Up’, which was short and punchy and had a bit of a James Brown or Sly Stone influence of pumped up funk. They are too good to need to rely on covers and yet ‘I’ll Be Creepin’ was absolutely made for them as their sparse, bluesy sound owes more to Free than any other band.

‘Rolling In It’ featured a Joe Taylor drum solo but again kept to a decent length before ‘Treading in Deep Water’, a mixture of vintage southern soul (especially in Rob’s keyboards) and Black Crowes -like sounds grew in pace as it went on. A slightly short set of little over an hour that had flown by ended with the title track of ‘Tricks On My Mind’, short and punchy but with a classic riff pitched somewhere between Free and Lenny Kravitz.

It will be interesting to see where Sweet Crisis go from here, especially as and when a second album is released, and the one new song tonight was a good omen. The blues rock field is ever more crowded but the way they conjure up a distinctly laid back groove can help them stand out from the crowd and this gig only strengthened my already favourable impressions.

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.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 20 October 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 22 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

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)