2022 has been Dare’s most active year in some while. Spring saw the release of their first album in six years, and their most convincing in a long time, in ‘Road To Eden’ and now came an extensive autumn tour, covering some provincial venues rarely served by top bands, and this show at Islington Academy. Though they have had some support slots, most notably with fellow Brit AOR greats FM, by my reckoning this was a first London headline show since one at the Underworld in 2002.

Sadly, and not unusually these days there was a disappointing turnout in the main room of the Academy, at my guess not far into three figures, though I know of several melodic rock ‘gig buddies’ who would have been there but were seeing Chez Kane next door in the worst of all possible gig clashes.

As he seems to at so many gigs these days, blues rock troubadour Troy Redfern was support. Sometimes he is with band, sometimes without but it was a halfway house this time as he had a drummer in Finn McAuley and between them they created an impressive racket on openers ‘Scorpio’ and ‘Sweet Carolina’. ‘Waiting for Your Love’ was the most accessible tune before he finished a half hour set with ‘Sanctify’. There was plenty of mean and dirty slide guitar work on a resonator style guitar allied to Troy’s rough hewn vocals, even if the set needed more variety.

There are different theories of what makes a successful support band, but if you go with the received wisdom that they should be musically compatible then he was a strange choice as his style could not be further removed from Dare’s laid back melodies. Nevertheless, and doubtless reflecting the gusto of his performance, he received a decent reception at the end of his set from a crowd that may have been sceptical.

On the other hand Dare delivered exactly what their loyal fans had been anticipating. The set opened, as does the album with its rockiest song ‘Born in the Storm’ – my only reservation at this stage being that the sound was too loud before swiftly settling down- and ‘Cradle to the Grave’ with the wonderfully warm tones of Darren Wharton. The singer has barely changed over the years though a combination of his trademark curly hair and some outsized shades I could not get the image of Ian Hunter out of my head

There was a generous selection from previous album ‘Sacred Ground’ and ‘Home’, ‘Until’ and most notably the heartland rock style storytelling ‘Days of Summer’ demonstrated that the band seem belatedly to have struck a perfect balance. The slightly folky and atmospheric feel of 21^st century Dare remains, but with a sharper edge in the hands of guitarist Vinny Burns, now several years returned to the fold, and another returnee in Nigel Clutterbuck, solid on the bass as well as assisting with backing vocals, after their early 2000s lineups bizarrely went without a bassist.

Darren’s distinctive voice, breathy and almost whispered, makes them stand out from generic AOR contemporaries and he was also an affable figure, introducing the stories behind songs including ‘I’ll Hear You Pray’ about his late father. Impressive songs from ‘Road to Eden’ included the ballad ‘Lovers and Friends’ and both the title track and ‘Fire Never Fades’ where the guitarist, smiling a lot more than I remember back in the day, was let off the leash in his fluid style.

Even a pair of songs from those gaelic-influenced days of the early 2000s (where as Darren reminded us they were championed by the late great Terry Wogan on Radio 2) in ‘Silent Hills’ and ‘Sea of Roses’ felt more convincing than in those days where I somewhat lost interest.

However an hour into the set it was time to go further back, beginning with ‘Wings of Fire’ from their heavier (and soon to be re-recorded) ‘Blood from Stone’ second album – all the better for Darren not attempting some of those higher whoops on the intro – which was followed by the opening pair from the classic debut ‘Out of the Silence’. ‘Abandon’ I can never tire of hearing but ‘Into the Fire’, with Marc Roberts’ keyboards prominent, the tension building as the atmospheric verses lead into a soaring chorus, was arguably even better.

However the fun was rudely interrupted when Darren suggested they may have to stop because of a curfew and there was time to slip in just one song in ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ with some more vintage Dare melodies.

Fortunately though it affected the pacing of the show, this was a false alarm and anti-climax was avoided with a good half hour or more of encores, in which Darren invited fans to shout out requests. It opened with ‘The Raindance’ where after some cheesy rain related banter he eventually explained was about refusing to be repressed. I realised what an original, even unusual, song it is while Vinny’s solos were exquisite.

With Darren paying tribute to his mentor Philip Lynott and explaining the moniker was taken from the ‘Fighting’ album cover, ‘King of Spades’ segued into the celtic instrumental section from ‘Black Rose’, then the Lizzy connection was maintained with the heaviest of the set ‘We Don’t Need a Reason’ with a galloping rhythm that demanded bouncing up and down.

The song has always been uncannily similar to ‘Emerald’ so it was ironic it was followed by the band’s own reimagining of the said Lizzy classic, but with twin guitars replaced by keyboards emulating low whistles and other traditional Gaelic instrumentation. Talking of which, the anthemic ‘Return the Heart’, which probably set the template for what was to become Dare’s favoured sound, was a fitting end to the set, eventually clocking in at an hour and 50 minutes.

In that time they crammed in 20 songs in what in many ways was the definitive Dare set. It was certainly the most enjoyable of those I’ve seen since the band’s original moment in the sun and they really appear to have belatedly hit upon the perfect balance of styles.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Album review (and interview) (Road To Eden, 2022)
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