Pete Atkin (ac gtr, kbd, lead voc)
Tim Fish (el gtr)
Dave Lewis (bs gtr, voc)
Simon Fish (dms)
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The 'warm-up band': (L to R)
Pete Atkin (ac gtr, kbd, lead voc)
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The Shrinks and friends: (L to R)
Pete Atkin (keyboard)
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Review by Leslie Moss
If you'd had an evening and five nicker to spare last night, you would have
had a treat in store for you at he Polish Club in Bristol at 8.30pm (well,
9pm actually, since one of the artists was late, having to be in court -
the legal side of the bench, not the criminal side!).
Pete was performing in two capacities - as a member of the Shrinks and as
front-man for the warm-up band. As Pete previously posted, this was the
first occasion on which he was playing his own material with a real band
since the seventies tours. The warm-up slot (for that is what we are
talking about) lasted around half an hour. Pete was accompanied by three
Shrinks members, Dave Lewis (bass guitar), Tim Fish (lead guitar) and Simon
Fish (drums). For me, this was a real treat as the only time I had seen
Pete perform with a band before was on the A&R stage at the Donmar Warehouse.
Fellow Voices Andy Love (thanks for the lift, Andy - sorry I fell asleep on
the way back), Janice Sim and Steve, Carole and Alexis Birkill were joined
by Janice's friend Dawne. Janice noted down the set list which I did not,
so I am relying on my memory here.
Pete's set was all taken from the Lakeside Sessions albums. With no
introduction except a "one two three four" from Pete, the band headed
straight into a powerful opening rendition of Sudden Arrivals. What a great
sound! Dave Lewis' creative driving bass lines perfectly supported by a
furious Simon Fish, and tasteful lead lines from Tim Fish enabled Pete to
focus on a strong rhythmic keyboard, allowing him the unusual freedom to
concentrate on his vocals. Shrinks fans who were unfamiliar with Pete's own
material sat up and paid attention.
The set closed in equally strong fashion, with My Brother's Keeper getting
the feet tapping all around the Club. Pete varied the pace a little during
the set. On Over The High Side (one of my personal favourites) he swapped
the Roland for Shrinks frontman Dave Brown's electro-acoustic guitar and
the three guitars plus drum combination was just what the song needed. The
rest of the set was on the keyboard: a great performance of Dreamboat where
you could hear the schooner rolling in the waves. The set was completed
with Get It Out Of Your Head (great walking bass from Dave Lewis) and
Canoe, the only song I felt was slightly smothered by the arrangement.
Pete Atkin band setlist:
Sudden Arrivals (kbd)
The Shrinks set was a full two hours, much of it good-time country-rock.
Pete played a solid keyboard groove in most of the material, not detracting
from the frontmen (special mention to Guy Prichard for some delicious
finger-picking). For my taste, there was a slight lack of variety in the
sound that made the set lose a little interest towards the end. Maybe the
vocal duties could be shared around a bit more - Dave Brown's voice is
excellent but we didn't hear enough of Guy Prichard (not to mention Pete
Atkin!). But that said, what a tight outfit! A great live sound that had
many of the audience on their feet dancing.
All in all a really good time - two-and-a-half hours of quality, highly
professionally-performed music for a fiver fer crissake! Pete with a
backing band is an entirely different experience from his solo work and,
judging from the audience reaction, more engaging to the uncommitted
listener. Let's hope that it's not the last time we have this opportunity.
Maybe if next year's XoD were to be held Bristol way the Shrinks could be
persuaded to come and play too?
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