The Music of Dave Sharp

A.O.R. at Rockers, Glasgow, 18th April 2008

A.O.R. certainly rocked in Glasgow on Friday evening.

In what was an emotional experience for the assembled fans and musicians alike, Dave Sharp played a full set entirely composed of songs from The Alarm's catalogue, including a number rarely played by The Alarm themselves.
It's been seventeen years since Dave's musical journey took him away from those songs, but from the opening bars of Permanence In Change you would have thought there had been no gap. Dave's guitar work was fabulous throughout, wih all the intricacies of the recorded versions played live with a passion that could only have come from the heart. But this was no solo performance. A.O.R. showed themselves to be accomplished musicians throughout.

With perhaps the hardest job of all, lead singer Wayne Parry made no attempt to impersonate Mike Peters but instead gave his own unique interpretation of the lyrics. Faced with an audience who have known every word by heart for 20 years or more, he could have been forgiven for a degree of nerves, but he showed few. Occasional references to lyric sheets only served to endear him to the audience who willingly helped out with the singing throughout.

Bassist Dave Black shared backing harmony duties with Dave S, while providing the heartbeat of the band. With Dave S playing out of his skin, and longtime Alarm fan (and former Hard Traveller) Simon "SciFi" Smith naturally in sync on the drum kit, Dave B fitted in to make the link seamlessly. The line up was completed with keyboards & genuine Hammond Organ provided by Tom Szakaly, the soaring sounds of the Hammond the perfect complement to the guitar mastery of Dave Sharp.

The set list Dave had selected included enough of the hits such as Knife Edge and Rescue Me to keep the more casual fan happy, but the real highlights were the rarer songs. The Road, only released in the UK as the new track on the Standards compilation is a much overlooked gem. The Change era of the band was arguably when Dave Sharp reached the pinnacle of his guitar skills and Friday's versions of Black Sun, Devolution Working Man Blues and Prison Without Prison Bars did nothing to counter this argument. However, if anything showed just how much Dave has rekindled his love for the music of The Alarm in the build up to this show, it was the inclusion of tracks that followers of Dave during the intervening years would never have imagined being included - Rain In The Summertime & Strength were surprises but could anybody have predicted the stripped down guitar & vocal adagio version of 68 Guns?

All in all, it was a special night and certainly one that this fan hopes will be repeated at some point in the future. Far too magical to be a one-off.

John

Posted by: John OD (Registered User) on Monday, April 21, 2008 06:25 GMT

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