Gig Review: Shed Seven at Rock City

It didn’t take long (three songs maybe) before the spectre of the veteran York quintet’s arch-nemesis was raised. With dozens of appearances at this much-cherished Talbot Street institution under their belt, wily frontman Rick Witter and Co have consistently hovered near the top of the venue’s hallowed leader board for number of appearances, yet are regularly thwarted by those grizzled eighties rockers, Spear Of Destiny, who have an equally long-standing love affair with one of the nation’s favourite rooms.

At a summer festival recently where both acts were booked to play, Witter regales the sold out crowd with much mirth, about how he thought it was time he grasped the nettle: "So I went over to Kirk (Brandon - the band’s singer) and had it out with him - it was okay though, he said we’d get the record soon enough as he’d be dead before us!"

Despite the jocularity, it easy to see why it matters so much to the indie five-piece when you see swathes of middle-age gig-goers having the time of their lives bellowing back every single word of a series of classics, which are unleashed from their armoury.

With plastic glasses repeatedly held aloft, wives and girlfriends hoisted on shoulders and even a pink umbrella bounced about a well-oiled crowd, Shed Seven’s relationship with their followers and Rock City is incredibly special.

What is equally as impressive though is that it is not just a lusty trip down memory lane, the Sheds are one of the few so-called heritage acts who are also putting out new material of real quality too.

Opener Room In My House, taken from 2017’s well-received Instant Pleasures is accompanied later in the set by a scattering of promising sounding cuts from forthcoming long-player, A Matter Of Time.

But of course, it is their huge cannon of sing-along hits which are best-received. Speakeasy and High Hopes are both joyously aired, while She Left Me On A Friday is preceded by an amusing tête-à-tête with a front-rower called James who doesn’t seem to want to play ball with Witter’s repartee ("James, have you ever had a partner? Has she ever left you on a Friday?").

When a list of dedications, sent in via social media, are generously read out as the rest of the band takes a breather, it hits home further how much this band means to people - fortieths, fiftieths, wedding anniversaries, children’s births and general tough times are referenced, showing the place and the importance music has to celebrate, commiserate and generally soundtrack people’s lives.

A rousing Going For Gold segways brilliantly into Elvis’ Suspicious Minds, while the epic On Standby and the ebullient Bully Boy maintain an electric momentum.

Surfing on the back of shaggy-haired guitarist Paul Banks’ guitar licks, new cuts F.K.H and Starlings provide further intrigue into the previously mentioned seventh album (slated for release in January), before the traditional closer Chasing Rainbows provides the kind of yearning, epic and communal choir moment that causes spines to tingle and hairs to stand on edge.

With a tour slated to mark their thirtieth anniversary pencilled in for 2024, it shouldn’t be too long before we get to do it all again and perhaps their place at the top of leader board will be strengthened to boot - the magnificent Seven deserve nothing less.

Shed Seven performed at Rock City on 21 October 2023.