Nick Capaldi Band/Ruff Dog Elliott

September 5, 2024 0 By Jon

The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne

Nick Capaldi is a Dorset based singer/songwriter who has released to date four albums, including his latest offering “You and All The Seasons”. As well as being a performer Nick, along with his wife Grace run the Echo Town recording Studio in Dorchester. Running your own studio as you can imagine comes with its own benefits. Nick can usually be found performing on his own, normally just acoustically and with the depth of instrumentation in his music, he cannot this way present his songs as he wishes. He has always wanted to perform his own original material together with a full band.

Well tonight after quite a lot organisation, Nick’s dream finally becomes a reality with a full band gig. Though this is no ordinary band, it’s a hand-picked set of top class local musicians, along with a couple of national treasures. The band comprises of Matt Black – Keyboards, Harry Bassett – Trumpet, Jamie Parker – Guitar, Peter Langdown – Backing Vocals, Lizbob – Backing Vocals, Patrick Martin – Bass, Ady Milward – Drums, along with Robbie McIntosh – on Guitar and BJ Cole – on Pedal Steel. The latter two have a accomplished CV’s and have played with a host of notable, high profile artists including Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, The Stranglers and many more.

Before we are blessed with the supergroup headliners we have the support from local troubadour Ruff Dog Elliott. He confidently strolls onto the stage and launches into his song called “Free Speech”, the crowd immediately warm to his good natured banter. Ruffdog is a guy who has had a varied life with plenty of stories to tell. He has plenty of political and social opinions within the lyrics of his songs, while also respecting other people’s opinions too. One of the toughest times in his life was when he lost his wife to cancer around for years ago. The song “Flowers on The Door” emotionally provides a tribute to her memory and the therapy needed to carry on. His debut album “Letters in the Rain” was released in 2021 and all the proceeds were given to a cancer charity.

Ruffdog Elliott 1–2–3–4–5–6

There is a newer tune entitled “Gammon n’ Chips” which features some hard-hitting lyrics about the recent unrest in this country and another about the homeless called “Midnight City Walker”, both featuring powerful thought-provoking lyrics. With a simple set-up along with a semi-acoustic guitar the singer/songwriter thoroughly entertains with his gruff voice and most gracious nature.

The best is saved until last where we are treated to a duet on a track called “Straight ‘n’ Narrow” with his new partner Norny, featuring Ruffdog doing his best Cockney Sparrer accent on this London inspired tune. The crowd give the pair a hearty amount of applause as they leave the stage after an impressive set.

After a 15 minute old school interval that even includes a member of staff selling ice creams on a tray at the front of the stage, the lights dim and the intro of “Bombai” signals the arrival of the ten musicians onto the stage and they kick off with “Bubble-Gum Heart”. Nick dressed in a striped sweater borrowed from Freddy Krueger and vividly colourful futuristic trainers borrowed from Marty McFly looks so pleased to finally unveil this link-up to the public. The full-bodied sound is acoustically near perfect, building something to behold – particularly Harry’s trumpet over the fine rhythmic instrumentation, atmospheric Pedal Steel and the melodic guitars stands out.

The sound tech tonight has a real job on his hands and nails the mix with each artist vividly playing their part. There is a nice surprise in the form of a early cover with “Love Of The Common People” which was a hit for Paul Young, incidentally BJ Cole used to play with Paul and I’m sure that is the inspiration behind covering this track tonight.

Nick Capaldi Band 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

“Perfect Reason” shows off Nick’s deep love for The Beatles and particularly John Lennon, while “Lovely People” takes its influence from the Brit Pop sound, quite Blur-esque. The emotive title track to Nick’s latest album “You and All Seasons” is a dreamy slice of creativity with some powerfully expressive lyrics, coupled with euphonious sounds. The delicious vocal harmonies and the delightful instrumentation on this song I’m sure are one of the reasons for this whole project to be put together. It is exhilarating watching all these fine musicians perform together making such a beautiful sound and I can’t stop smiling as I watch.

After another short interval the band return with a great cover of the legendary Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”; come on, who doesn’t like a bit Neil Young and the band do a great job giving the song the respect it requires. The utterly infectious “In My Shoes” and the sun drenched Reggae influenced “Change Your Hat” are second half highlights, while “Grace” about Nick’s wife is a beautiful love song with touchingly evocative lyrics. With Robbie McIntosh’s guitar solo on this is worth the ticket money alone. Another surprise is a cover of Chas & Dave’s “Ain’t No Pleasing You”, a song used as the theme tune for the Alf Garnett comedy “In Sickness and in Health”.

The evening has been a great success and those here I feel were very privileged to witness this special event in person.

Set Lists
Nick Capaldi Band
Set One
Intro: Bombai
Bubble-Gum Heart
Sunnie’s and Guitars
Love Of The Common People (cover by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins)
Perfect Reason
Lovely People
You and All The Seasons

Set Two
Harvest Moon (cover by Neil Young)
Ten To Midnight
Don’t Go Too High
In My Shoes
Change Your Hat
Rough Edges
Dumb It All Up
Grace
Ain’t No Pleasing You (cover by Chas & Dave)
First Of The Runaways

Ruff Dog Elliott
Free Speech
Flowers on The Door
Easy Dreamer
Gammon n’ Chips
Midnight City Walker
Straight ‘n’ Narrow

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