Dan Donnelly / Steve Knightly

Dan Donnelly, the Belfast born New York living singer/songwriter is Seth Lakeman’s first support act of the evening and is having a few technical difficulties, which eat into the time available for his set. He opens with ‘Love Will Save The Day’ playing to more of a huddle than a crowd and strumming over his trademark loops created by tapping the body of the guitar.

His music seems more full of emptiness than the last time I heard him where he sounded hurried and taught, now he seems more at ease and the tunes have more room to breathe. The music seems to hold more heartache tonight, and as if by way of an explanation he tells us about the next track, ‘Spare Change’ is a song about being bored out of your tiny mind. The crowd has filled out to about half full as he asks us if we’d like to hear a quiet song, there’s a few muted replies, Dan shrugs at the silent audience, grins and says he’ll play it anyway and if we don’t like it, we can go to the loo.



The song ‘Brooklyn’ is fragile and hushed and suits the quiet auditorium it also attracts many of the drinkers from the downstairs’ bar and come the next song ‘The Beach’ the crowd has doubled and Dan’s playing to a good sized audience. This seems to fill the emptiness in his music and as the last hushed repeated chant of “There is a light the never goes out,” melts into thunderous applause. The Irishman seems pleased and offers us a new song, we reply now with a fuller voice and ‘Lying in Road’ is presented for us, with ascending scales and a cross between blues and flamenco, Dan’s fingers blur before contracting to a rhythm of a slow moving steam train thundering over the plains replete with Woo Woo noises.

Dan tells us the next song is his last and thanks us for coming, telling us he’ll be flogging stuff in the lobby and hoping we’ll enjoy Seth’s set. It’s now the second time he’s supported him and then comes his best tune ‘Shine’ before a break into Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ to much applause, he leaves us with the words “Folk is the new rock ‘n’ roll” and telling us he’ll be flogging his stuff in the foyer, shortly.

A competent set, but it seemed to take him a while to get up to speed. He seemed more introverted than I’ve seen him previously and the music is more complex and emotional for it. He’s done well as a support act though and the crowd clap along to his final song and are abuzz waiting for the next act. I was certainly surprised to see the bar so deserted after his performance, with everyone having gone upstairs to see him.

I’m actually still in the bar waiting for Seth to start when I realise that there’s another support act, Steve Knightly, local artist and one half of West Country favourites Show of Hands.



‘Country Life’ gets a huge reception and his next tune is about the local river Dart, called ‘Cool River’ the song is gentle and bubbling and has the whole crowd caught in its currents. New song ‘Poppy Day’ is about the plant which not only brings so much pain but also so much relief and talks of the heroin fields of Afghanistan it’s a powerful anti-war and drugs song and ends with an ovation from us.

Next up a song about Tom Cobbley, Widdicombe Fair turned into a murder ballad directed by Tarantino. It’s a great tune although I didn’t know its name. Between his songs Steve tunes up and the crowd are hushed, there’s not even a hubbub of chatter, incredible considering such a wide ranging age group including both young trendy people and bearded old folksters.

To break the silence Steve tells us that a year ago he came along to see Seth support The Levellers and now he says looking out at the sea of faces, he’s filling the venue on his own. ‘Roots’ is a great traditional song which name checks nearly every busking track a guitarist has in his repertoire before heading for classic folk guitar and Levellers’-esque pace.

With harmonica donned we get a folk version of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ with local haunts in Exeter given a name check, the crowd are warmed up nicely for Seth and everything is indeed very alright. Steve’s a fantastic musician and a great warm up act, a terrific surprise and a special treat for the crowd awaiting Seth.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.