Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Dawn Storey enjoys a full band show from the masterful musician
Image: Ian Prowse by Richard Storey
Liverpool legend Ian Prowse has covered a lot of miles this year. Alongside his own tours, he’s put in extra shifts supporting Damien Dempsey and Elvis Costello, and now ends 2024 with a handful of Mersey Hymns shows bolstered by a full band.
Support act The Gleeman apologises for the number of “death-oriented songs” in his set. After acoustic tunes about his parents’ dementia, a friend lost to a terminal illness and the admittedly timely subject of dignity in dying there’s an ode to his home county of Cornwall, but in truth after some hard-going topics it’s something of a relief when Amsterdam arrive to take things more up-tempo.
Back in February, Prowse blew me away with a show in Sunderland accompanied only by the Fiddle of Fire. Here, on his fifth visit to Hartlepool, it’s a delight to hear his songs fully fleshed out with piano, percussion and guitars too. Tour staples like the excellent Fireworks and the rousing My Name Is Dessie Warren were always going to be spectacular, but Maybe There Is A God and Raid The Palace shine especially brightly with such vivid instrumentation. The set lasts for almost two hours yet the band’s energy never drops and, as ever, it’s a joy to see Prowse and violinist Nico playing off each other at full pelt.
Ian Prowse & Amsterdam’s tour continues throughout the UK this month.
