Nate Bergman is a man of many voices. Just listen to his album, and you get some raspy folk, country rock god, and even a spot of gospel mixed with a burst of soul. Tonight, Bargman stripped back to just him and a guitar—two guitars, in fact, as he swapped between acoustic and electric for the selection of tracks he played tonight, some taken from that album.
Tattooed and dressed in black, his explosive opening with the track ‘War On The Working Class’ got the audience’s attention, and he kept them enraptured throughout the 45-minute set he was allowed. Just his third solo gig supporting Amigo The Devil, he undoubtedly won some new fans tonight.
His relationship with the audience was immediately put at ease by his friendly manner, requesting the audience to act as backing singers as he couldn’t afford to bring his band over with him. Commenting that the next song was a happy number, Bergman wanted the audience to join him on ‘Wish I Was’ with a pre-chorus sing-along of “I Wish I Was Dead”.
For the new single ‘Deep End,’ Bergman quickly switches to an acoustic, a song about what happens when a relationship doesn’t work out after jumping in. ‘Sweet Elle follows this interesting change to the usual songwriting subjects, as it’s written about the love of a friendship. Bergman is back on electric guitar for this track, which he has only played live a couple of times. Both tracks were welcomed with huge appreciation.
Now, Bergamn normally has a full band, so tonight was one of the few solo shows he had performed many of these tracks, not that you could tell. It’s telling of his songcraft that the tracks here tonight sound awesome with just Bergman, and anyone who has heard the full-band versions will testify to how brilliant they sound.
Acoustic for Ode to Manchester (Needs for Leeds) stuck in Manchester during the pandemic and how he was accepted into the local live music scene. It was a nice, long 45-minute set, “so we can get to loving each other”, he comments to the audience as he slips into ‘Nashville’ With two songs left of this lengthy support slot, which is something not many headlining bands allow, but worked really well tonight mainly due to the talent of Bergman for entertaining an audience. Speaking of that talent, his interesting cover of My Chemical Romance’s ‘Helena’ was a surprise to the point many people didn’t click till the chorus. Yet his version was hugely enjoyable, giving a different vibe from the original.
Ending on the epic ‘Into My Arms’ is a huge number on his album, but here was a burning arpeggio number featuring plenty of flying lungfuls and impressive vocals. This man can sing and write many a cracking tune or nine.
There was a nice full crowd in the wonderful wardrobe venue for Amigo The Devil, who took to the stage to a very warm Leeds welcome. Opening with ‘Small Stone’ off his Born Against album, the stage was set for a fantastic night of truly brilliant music from Danny Kiranos and his band.
The second track, ‘Murder At The Bingo Hall,’ immediately received appreciation from the crowd, who were not afraid to sing along in full voice, much to the joy of Kiranos, who, along with pounding drums, got the night started setting the stage for a fantastic night of truly brilliant music.
The drummer and keyboardist’s floor-tom pounding of ‘It’s All Gone’ had a huge impact; the band sounded awesome in this intimate venue, which is somewhat cleverly named The Wardrobe. Kiranos commented on being in a closet.
ATD is well known for his thoughtful, intelligent, relatable lyrics, as well as the hilarious ones, but with ‘The Cannibal Within’, he ended with an almost preacher-like ending urging people to live their lives fully. Clearly a man comfortable on stage, there was plenty of banter between the singer and audience, such as introducing ‘Once Upon A Time In Texaco Pt1’ as a song for a bad boy named Christopher. Short for Chris,
At times, his backing band—guitarist David Talley, bassist Jason Deitz, drummer Carson Kehrer, and keyboardist Katerina Kiranos—passionate, almost manic performance was a credit to the magic of ATD’s music. There were smiles all around and a comfortable, jokey atmosphere on stage that was projected onto the audience, who were clearly all in agreement that tonight was one of the best of the year.
A personal highlight of the show was the intimate versions of ‘Another Man’s Grave’, which caused a notable silence in the venue. For once, the people at the rear quit their conversations. This was followed up by ‘Cocaine And Abel,’ another emotionally filled track. Kiranos performed both on his own, picked out by the spotlight, as he masterfully delivered these quieter tracks without losing the power of both tracks within the live arena.
The audience was treated to a new song tonight, ‘My Body Is A Dive Bar,’ written about a month ago. It is a track that the audience got behind and fits nicely with his previous material and tonight’s setlist. It is very much an ATD song and a demonstration of his ability to capture an audience.
Another new song, written from his dog’s perspective, is about Kiranos leaving on tour for weeks on end. It is a beautiful tale made all the more as the dog was put to sleep just a few weeks ago. It was an important lesson about not taking for granted the wonderful friends, humans and animals we make in this life.
‘Home Depot Theme’ saw the band jam an instrumental reworking of the American institution as Kiarons, turning band leader, breaks out the dancing. Even this engaged the audience, with many laughing, as Kiranos mentioned, “Thanks for coming to the band practice”.
The night was marked by how many songs the audience was happy to along with, which was made a point of with ‘Hungover In Jonestown’ and the repeated ending ‘Life is a joke and death is the punchline’ before launching into ‘Hell And You’ which brought huge applause from the crowd.
Encore saw Kiranos come into the crowd with banjo and microphone for ‘Dahmer In Hollywood’ and a brief campfire rendition of ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down Me’. The final and much-demanded track, ‘Perfect Wife’, was met with huge applause. The Rest of the band joined in with stomps and claps from the audience until the end. Tonight was magical, made all the more so because of the band’s performance and the brilliance of ATD’s songs.
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