Review: Spear of Destiny – The 1865, Southampton, 2nd June 2018
Having recently appeared fronting Spear of Destiny at the 1865 in Southampton last weekend, Kirk Brandon is a busy man. It was the penultimate show of a month-long batch of dates with Spear of Destiny. Prior to which, Kirk Brandon played a handful of acoustic gigs, but it doesn’t stop there either. Kirk will soon be back on the road with his other band, Theatre of Hate.
As for appearing at the 1865, Southampton Kirk was in great voice – despite suffering a bit with a soar throat. The singer/guitarist explained that the majority of the nights set would pull from just 2 of the bands back catalogue. Their 1983 debut “Grapes of Wrath” and the up to date “Tontine”, having been released some 35 years later.
In a recent interview with Mr Teeth, Kirk Brandon described Spear of Destiny as being a more professional band than Theatre of Hate. So it really has to be acknowledged, they certainly are a tight bunch of musicians. In particular guitarist Adrian Portas (formerly of New Model Army and Sex Gang Children). Every solo nailed perfectly, with style pouring out his fingertips. It wasn’t just down to Portas either, for the Spears roadie was getting in on the action too – albeit only through air guitar.
Mr Livingstone, I Presume?
When bands are out celebrating a 35-year existence, it can often be the new material that gets overlooked by the fans, but that certainly wasn’t the case tonight. New release “Tontine” by Spear of Destiny has been well received by the music press, with the crowd clearly ready to hear it live.
Several tracks from the album came with a anecdotes courtesy of Kirk Brandon, who happily turned storyteller as well as frontman. During the mournful keyboards introducing “Enigma” we gained an insight into Brandon’s father, while “Mr Livingstone” a touching tribute to an old friend.
Looking around the venue, despite being larger than needed for the occasion, you could see there were a lot of faces reliving their youth. As such, while the newer material sounded great it was tracks such as the “Wheel” that became highlights in the latter part of the set.
While it may largely have been about “Grapes of Wrath”, there was always going to be time for a couple of familiar tracks from elsewhere. The bands biggest hit “Take me Alive” may have been missing but with “Liberator” towards the end of the night, I’d be surprised if anyone noticed.
