Wednesday 6th November 2024

Albert Hall, Manchester, England

The evening starts, ominously, on a sour note. At 6:40 p.m., twenty minutes before doors, a steward steps out to speak to those of us who are at the front of the queue, waiting patiently in the autumn chill.

“Hi guys, just so you know, there’s no support act tonight. The main act will come on at 8:45 p.m.”

The steward moves away and repeats the same to those further down the line. Still within earshot, I crane my head back to make sure I had heard him right. Many in the queue grumble, early birds rewarded with no worms. Some peel off to go find a bar or a place to eat. All of a sudden I have two hours to kill.

I look up at Marcus King’s name lit up on the board outside the Manchester Albert Hall and contemplate leaving entirely. While I’ve been a fan of King’s music for years I’m not one of his devotees, and I had bought a ticket for tonight largely out of curiosity. I retained the hope that, as with other gigs I’ve attended, the live setting would allow for a different perspective that would deepen my connection to the artist. Coming just twenty-four hours after I attended a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert that raised the bar for my understanding of the magnificence a live act can generate, Marcus King already had a Herculean task to not make his own night feel ordinary in comparison. A vastly unfair comparison, to be sure, but the steward’s announcement – the management’s decision – has not made it easier.

There had been no communication in the days or hours beforehand that this would be how it was, and whether it’s a last-minute change or something that was always in place (we’re not told the reason), it seems a poor way to treat fans who queue for a show that states doors are at 7 p.m. Based on the grumbles I hear, I’m not the only one to feel this way. As one man puts it, “why would he not just go on a bit earlier? Say, at 8 o’clock?”

For my part, I of course decide to stay – this would be a peculiar review if I hadn’t. I bury my feelings of pique deep but, when the doors open at seven, no one sees much of a need to rush inside. The night is not especially cold and we’ve not been made to feel any warmth. In the shuffle of the crowd, two men who had been queuing behind me have found their way, by honest means, in front of me. They stop themselves and apologise, but I allow them to go ahead. We agree with a rueful smile that there’s no need for haste.

Inside, I make my way up to the balcony area and settle down on the step seating, my back against the rear wall. The next hour and forty-five minutes pass slowly. As the venue fills with people and the people fill the time with chatter, music plays out over the sound system. There’s a litany of soul music – ‘I’m a Ram’ by Al Green, ‘Family Affair’ by Sly and the Family Stone – as well as some left-turns (‘Caught Between the Moon and New York City’ by Christopher Cross sneaks in there). Though it passes slowly, the time admittedly passes easier than I thought it would when the steward made King’s announcement. But I still can’t help but feel that the stereo fills ears where an opening act should be. Whatever the reason for the decision, it reflects poorly on those involved.

Fortunately, the audience never seems to grow unduly restless, and by the time Marcus King and his band do finally arrive on stage it is to hearty cheers. And when they begin to play, all is forgiven.

It’s hard to review the set of music that we are delivered here in Manchester’s Albert Hall tonight. Partly this is because of the loose jam nature of the music, incorporating soul, blues rock and a bit of country into a relentless stream of aural goodness. But it is also partly because Marcus and his band dive straight into that stream, plunging deep with the opener ‘The Well’ and scarcely coming up for air for the rest of the night.

‘Hero’ and ‘Beautiful Stranger’ are early highlights, and by the time of the eighth song, ‘Rita is Gone’, one of my favourites, it is possible to start to form an opinion. “Rita is gone,” Marcus sings, in that classic soulful wail of his, and so is The Marcus King Band. Only drummer Jack Ryan remains of the original line-up that played this song on the self-titled album from 2016. The replacements are stellar – Eric Vogel on bass and Mike Runyon on keys, while Drew Smithers plays like Duane Allman reborn on electric guitar – but I do find myself rueing that I missed out on that original incarnation live; the bursting, exuberant potential that still came through on the studio recordings. It felt very much like The Marcus King Band, rather than Marcus King and his band, which is how tonight feels. A band in synergy capitalised in name, in contrast to a band that is subject to its King. One which tore through ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with That’ and the songs on the Due North EP.

This is not to speak against the music tonight, which is excellent, but more a comment on where Marcus King is at this moment in time. The albums that King has created since he decided to release as a solo artist have taken time to grow on me, in contrast to that astonishing immediacy of the earlier Marcus King Band records. It is why my decision to attend tonight came from curiosity and from a hope to deepen my connection to the artist, rather than the kid-on-Christmas-Eve excitement I’ve felt ahead of other gigs. It feels like we’re not necessarily seeing Marcus King at his peak, but in a holding pattern. One only has to look to another young guitar virtuoso given to live band jams to see how King may not have seized his moment in the way some of his contemporaries have – Billy Strings has gone stratospheric where King has, in some ways, stalled.

This is reflected in the songs. While the band tears through the setlist, a mix of covers and original material both new and old, with considerable skill, soul and jam-band dexterity, I can’t help but feel like Marcus King doesn’t yet have that one knockout song that will floor you and leave you asking for more. ‘Goodbye Carolina’, played towards the end of the set sweet and pure, comes close, but the specialness of the music tonight comes from the band’s sometimes soulful, sometimes storming play on each number, rather than any one number proving itself prime.

To write such things seems strange when the band is on the stage, rocking and swinging through a heady brew of soul, blues and country. ‘8 a.m’. Merle Haggard’s ‘Workin’ Man Blues’. A short but resonating acoustic cover of Tyler Childers’ ‘Shake the Frost’. A one-two-three punch of songs from the Mood Swings albums, every swing a hit. The music thrills everyone in the hall, myself included. King might lack that one knockout song – for now – but he’s a solid hitter who always stands a puncher’s chance.

The band save their best for last, the final song of the main set a storming extended cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Moby Dick’that allows each musician a moment to shine, whether that is Eric Vogel’s slapping bass solo or Jack Ryan’s powerful drum solo. The synergy continues into the deserved encore: ‘Wildflowers and Wine’, a slow and soulful piece of gold from El Dorado, rolls straight into a lusty cover of the Percy Sledge classic ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’, featuring a great, showy “guitar hero” solo from King.

The final song of the night sees the band cut loose on a cover of The Allman Brothers’ ‘Ramblin’ Man’, with King shoehorning Manchester into the lyrics (to cheers) and trading some thrilling guitar lines with his Skydog regen Drew Smithers. As the song continues to play, King leads the audience in praise of each of the musicians in turn. For his part, Jack Ryan raises his hand in acknowledgement without missing a beat.

The song ends to roars and cheers. King throws his guitar pick into the crowd like a coin into a fountain. His puncher’s chance has come up trumps, and he raises his cowboy hat in salute. He and his band have hit hard tonight. As the crowd filters out into the Manchester night, I find myself thinking that if I am right and Marcus King has not peaked, has not yet done his best work, then that should excite all those who venture to hear good music.

Setlist:*

(all songs from the album Mood Swings and written by Marcus King, unless noted)

  1. The Well (Marcus King/Dan Auerbach/Ronnie Bowman) (from El Dorado)
  2. Sin’s a Good Man’s Brother (Mark Farner) (unreleased)
  3. Hero (King/Auerbach)
  4. 24 Hours at a Time (Toy Caldwell) (unreleased)
  5. Beautiful Stranger (King/Auerbach/Paul Overstreet) (from El Dorado)
  6. This Far Gone (King/Tobias Jesso Jr.)
  7. Inglewood Motel (Halestorm) (King/Peter Levin)
  8. Rita is Gone (from The Marcus King Band)
  9. Are You Ready for the Country? (Neil Young) (unreleased)
  10. 8 a.m. (from Carolina Confessions)
  11. Workin’ Man Blues (Merle Haggard) (unreleased)
  12. Honky Tonk Hell (King/Gabe Lee) (unreleased)
  13. Save Me
  14. Mood Swings
  15. Bipolar Love
  16. Die Alone (unreleased)
  17. Shake the Frost (Tyler Childers) (unreleased)
  18. Goodbye Carolina (from Carolina Confessions)
  19. Fuck My Life Up Again (King/Dexter Wansel)
  20. Lie Lie Lie (King/Auerbach) (from Young Blood)
  21. Moby Dick (Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones/John Bonham) (unreleased)
  22. Encore: Wildflowers and Wine (King/Auerbach/Bowman) (from El Dorado)
  23. Encore: When a Man Loves a Woman (Calvin Lewis/Andrew Wright) (unreleased)
  24. Encore: Ramblin’ Man (Dickey Betts) (unreleased)

* according to setlist.fm