Live Review: King King / Damn Truth – Leadmill, Sheffield 19.02.2022

I’m back at the Leadmill, my second time in seven days. A clear sign that Live music is definitely thriving in Sheffield and that I’ve spent far too much time at home with only my CD’s, Spotify and a bit of vinyl for company, musically speaking that is. I’ve missed this !

I’m really looking forward to this one, King King back on the road for an explosive European tour, supported by the much talked about and highly rated Damn Truth.Leaving their native shores of Canada to support the King, Damn Truth travel with their message of peace and love, delivering this in a hard rock /rock and roll style to the great people of Sheffield and Europe. With them opening tours for the likes of ZZ top and with Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith) producing some of their tracks, this felt like it was going to be more of a double A-side of a Saturday night.

It was. Damn Truth launched into their set, with powerful vocals from Lee-la, punching those still getting their coats off squarely between the ears and blew us away with lead guitar from Tom Shemer, totally deftly playing tracks from their latest album ‘Now or Nowhere’, as well as tracks from a discography covering nearly ten years. This band is one to look out for and at least half the reason to check out this tour.

On came the main event. I‘d heard a lot about King King and tried to see them back in 2019, B.C.
The first thing I noticed was the sound and how tight musically the band and the engineering of the five piece came across. With a great lighting theme too this is a real polished group but with plenty of edge. Originating from Glasgow and with Alan (vocals/ guitar) sporting traditional Scottish attire, King King spent almost two hours entertaining the Leadmill crowd, now with the second Nimmo brother also in the line up.

King King are Blues-Rock, sometimes straight Blues, sometimes a bit more Rock and Roll. Hypnotising ballads like the ‘A Long History of Love’, the lengthened version with blues guitar solos from Alan and his brother creating a ten minute epic. Another bonus for me throughout was Andrew Scott on the drums, fantastic.

With several albums under their belts the band have many great tracks some hitting the mainstream, many more staying less well known. They have large and loyal following and already millions of streams, so I doubt they will be playing venues this intimate for long.
Overall a powerful, brilliant performance from start to finish, go see it if you get chance.