Empire Affair/Blow/Dan Gordon

On The Rocks, Bournemouth

Bournemouth town is a town that just keeps on giving and giving, virtually every week there is a charity event put on the raise funds for a worthy causes, tonight’s fundraiser is at On The Rocks, the organisers are raising money for earthquake recovery in Peru. The funds are being raised by the entrance money as all of tonight’s acts have given their time for free, as well as kind donations from audience.

The first act to take the stage is certainly no stranger around these parts, Dan Gordon who is a quality local singer/songwriter who performs regularly here at open mic nights and across venues in Dorset. It is not easy being 1st on in a place such as this as most people in the place want to grab an early pint and a chat, but Dan gets on with the job in hand and lets his music do the talking with some great vocal skills on some well crafted original songs. Things get a little x-rated during “Turn Me On” but within the crudeness their is also a little tongue in cheek comedy which comes across well to the audience who give Dan some well earned applause as he leaves the stage.

Dan Gordon 1

Next up we have “Blow” who were formerly known as “Working Title”, they arrive here tonight after just performing a gig at the prestigious Joiners Arms in Southampton. They are a four piece rock band who seem to like the rockier side of 90’s Brit Pop with such bands like Kasabian, Oasis, and Radiohead helping influence the band’s sound. This band are sounding really great live, they seem to be very well rehearsed in performing their own original songs such as “Fantasy”, “Let Me Live” and an epic sounding “Cut ‘n Shut” which contains some great layered guitar work that really hits the mark. I must mention the solid uncomplicated rhyme section who both do a Stirling job and really compliment the band well. They have really injected some great music along with some positive energy into the audience who seem to have doubled in number since the band came on stage, the atmosphere in the place has now been upped nicely ready for the headliners.

Blow 1–2

The Killers “Spaceman” an obvious influence to “Empire Affair” was played over the P.A. as the band arrived on stage to a very warm welcome from the large excited crowd full of expectant fans and as usual there was no way that they would or even could disappoint. Lead singer Neil Talent with his masses of energy levels springs into action the moment the 1st note is played, he makes sure everybody in the room is paying 100% attention to the band. Guitarists Jack Woolston and Matt Park create an epic soundscape as a backdrop of the bands songs with anthems such as “One Night In Munich” and “December” keeping excitement levels high. The band’s development and evolution is shown with the debut of two brand new songs “Wilfred” and “Dancing On The Moon” which fit into the setlist well without any loss of momentum. The highlight of the evening has to be the band’s new single “Tornadoes” which has a killer infectious guitar rift that really uplifts everybody in the whole venue and Neil had everybody singing along at the tops of their voices. With a short tour of Croatia booked in November, maybe just maybe Empire Affair are destined to be that band that can proceed to the next level, with the masses passion and drive for what they do who knows.

Empire Affair 1–2–3

Set-List
Empire Affair
One Of Me
On Night In Munich
More
‘Wilfred'(working title)
Ride On
Animals
December
Can’t Get Through
Video Games (Lana Del Ray)
Sunrise
Tornadoes
Dancing On The Moon

Videos
Dan Gordon