Andrew Combs

Tuesday 9th May. The Borderline, London. Andrew Combs. Flying solo tonight at the newly refurbished Borderline.
Before the gig review some observations about the renovations.
The Borderline is a small iconic London music venue that has played host to most major bands over the past forty years. Its cosy environment led to some amazing gigs and it is one of my most visited haunts. The tiny cramped stage with its famous western style logo (recently covered with velvet curtain!) on the back wall led to intimate performances with the tightly packed crowd. So, the positives, the floor has been opened out creating more space with the clumsy raised area also gone, the toilets have improved 1000% if that’s such a thing, the bar has been lengthened and moved to the left side as you walk down the stairs, at last some decent beer, the opening of a funky secret entrance on the right of the stage and it’s all had a good lick of albeit black paint. The negatives, its lost all its character and heritage. The Borderline logo has been painted over, all the framed lists of bands that played there have been removed from the entrance and stairs airbrushing all this venue’s history in one foul swoop. Maybe I’m just being sentimental but at a time when so many classic London venues have closed in recent years we are probably just left with the 100 Club as a living memorial to musical history. I understand the need to renew and modernise but surely there’s room to reflect the history of the venue too. All that said overall the refurbishment makes visiting the venue a more pleasurable experience but I can’t help feeling that a little part of my musical DNA has died.
Onto the gig. I arrived a little late as neither the Borderline or DHP Family feel inclined to share stage times on Twitter, just using their social media for advertising new events and not helping the punters with some actual useful information. Caught the tail end of Paul Cauthen though who looks like a real talent. Great voice.
I have been a fan of Andrew Combs for some time and he is constantly name checked by other artists I have seen. I first saw him live last year, solo acoustic supporting Margo Price and his short set then was a real treat.
Combs is a magnificent songwriter switching between storytelling, observational and groove based tunes with a bit of politics thrown in for good measure. There’s a shout out for Trump with reference to walls etc. I place him in the highest echelons of songwriters around at the moment in the same company as Isbell, Simpson, Moreland, Stapleton, etc.
Primarily here in support of his excellent new album ‘Canyons of my mind’ the set draws from all three of his albums. He has a relaxed, engaging style that endears him to an already rapt audience and is comfortable with those sometime awkward between song interludes. The three-piece band are good and understated and provide a beautiful backdrop to the front man lending delicate harmonies throughout the set. Its only for the final twenty minutes that they really let rip.
It’s a set of three halves with Combs on acoustic for the bulk, then solo for a short spell with the excellent cowrite with Brent Cobb ‘Rainy Day Music’ and finally strapping on the Stratocaster for the finale building the sound as the evening progressed, especially so on the singalong ‘Emily’. He has a great vocal range demonstrated superbly on the haunting ‘Hazel’, his wife’s favourite song and set closer tonight.
The crowd are enthusiastic and a very British heckle of ’Outstanding’ after one track brings a smile to Combs. It neatly sums up the evening. A faultless ninety minutes played with no frills or gimmicks, just quality all the way.

Andrew Combs is always terrific, regardless of the band he has with him or the venue. For my money, he is the best singer-songwriter out there now, and, if there were any sense of justice in the world, he would be headlining tours instead of opening for other (lesser) talents.
One of the great things about seeing him live is the diversity of sounds he pulls off. The albums are great, but in concert, he tends to draw from unrecorded (or at least unreleased) songs as much as he does the songs on Tennessee Time or Worried Man. Andrew Combs does everything from heartfelt ballads to hard blues to country funk to things that frankly just f*cking rock. It makes for a surreal experience, but a good one. This particular show was the weirdest one I've yet seen. It was on a boat! He started playing while it was still light out, and I could see the East River behind him and the band. As the boat careened (not literally of course) and the audience seemed to lose its footing, the band found theirs. Andrew Combs did a short set before handing over the reins to Joe Fletcher (who was also good). Afterwards, I went up to the ship's deck and enjoyed the rest of the boat cruise around the Statue of Liberty, so it was a win-win: a great show on a fun boat tour!

Such a powerful show. Andrew Combs really writes the most wonderful songs and performs them beautifully.

I saw him in Brighton, in a fairly intimate venue - I'd estimate about 60 people there - and it was a blissful experience.

He managed to get someone in the crowd to buy him a whisky, that was then passed from the back of the audience to the stage!

He performed material from all his albums and shared a couple of new songs that - to my ears - sounded brilliant.

So glad I got to see him live. If you're a fan of his music, you won't be disappointed.

Andrew backed up by Charlie Whitten was great. Excellent singing and guitar playing. Good selection of songs played spiced up with relaxed short story telling in between. Especially the one introducing the new song "Firestarter" and the "driving Norwegian winter roads with summer tyres" story.
Charlie's solo pre-set was great too. "Balance" and "Virginia", what beautiful songs those are. Good whisteling too.
Andrew and Charlie, please come back to Stockholm soon. Why not on the bill for "Stockholm Americana" on June 15, 2019?

Saw Andrew Combs at the Glee Club in Birmingham UK earlier this week. It was the first time that I'd seen him and his band. I was most impressed with their music. The rearranged layout of the venue was ideal: it appears smaller and well suited to bands wanting a more intimate contact with their audience. Their bass player particularly impressed me with his skill. I would like to see more of this band.

One of the best singer-songwriters in the game at one of the most intimate venues in the area. You'd think it would be a can't miss and you'd be right. Fantastic across the board.