Gig review: King King at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

No nouvelle cuisine for these guys, they could have strode on stage at Reading Festival in 1978 and not been out of place, playing a sweaty iron bru of tunes that conjure to mind the likes of Free, Whitesnake and other blues-based heavy rock bands of that era.

From the ‘She don’t gimme no lovin’’ start to their performance to an encore of ‘Let love in’, Alan and the band deliver the goods with good natured bonhomie and no little talent.

For the crowd in the Brudenell, this was just what they wanted. No surprises, meat and two veg music to go with a few beers and denim memories. Led by charismatic Glaswegian guitarist and vocalist Alan Nimmo, fans from all over Yorkshire and beyond were treated to an enthusiastic, sweaty display on a hot May night.

The excellently played songs, liberally overlaid with fretboard workouts from Nimmo, benefited from keyboards with more than a hint of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord influence.

Kilt-clad Nimmo claims Paul Kossoff as an influence, and this shows – I found myself thinking of Kossoff’s post-Free outfit, Back Street Crawler. Add to this a taste of Dire Straits in the less all out rock sections of the show and you can tell there’s plenty for you to get your teeth into.

Support act, Canadian one man band Steve Hill was in Leeds for the third time in less than a year. None the worse for that he played his excellent blues, culled from the same mine as ZZ Top and The Groundhogs, while also playing percussion and singing – who says men can’t multi-task?

A live act well worth paying to see in his own right, Hill finished doing his one man version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience – an ideal starter before the royally received King King.