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The Levellers, Leicester, 11 July 2018

For this gig, the collective numbered ten – old stagers Mark Chadwick (guitar and vocals), Charlie Heather (drums), Jon Sevink (violin), Simon Friend (guitar) and Matt Savage (keys), along with four sessionists who brought even more depth to the their sound. Jeremy sat this one out, sadly, due to illness.

They opened the set with ‘Exodus’ from their fourth album Zeitgeist and just one song in, Chadwick and co immediately had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands.

Folk punk classic ‘England My Home’, taken from their debut A Weapon Called the Word, followed and got the crowd singing along, as did one of my personal favourites ‘Liberty Song’.

However, the best part of the evening was the many unexpected surprises from their lesser-known albums, particularly their sixth effort, Hello Pig and seventh, Green Blade Rising.

Not content with ten musicians, Levellers became an 11-piece an hour in, as they introduced long time touring musician Stephen Boakes to play the Didgeridoo on ‘Elation’ from Mouth To Mouth.

Very few bands are still at their peak after 30 years of existence, and even fewer can keep a crowd entertained without playing their greatest hits or tracks from their best-known album (in Levellers’ case, that’s Levelling The Land, which they have performed in its entirely in the past).

Although the audience were satisfied three quarters into the concert, the place really came alive three songs from the end when Chadwick and the band treated fans to new arrangements of signature tunes ‘Fifteen Years’, ‘One Way’ and ‘Just The One’.

‘Beautiful Day’ took a backseat tonight in light of the football final (Chadwick said it wasn’t a Beautiful Day after the penalty shoot outs).

Every member of the crowd was on their feet, with many rushing to the stage to dance along in front of the seated ensemble.

If you’d have said to the young revolutionary Levellers 30 years ago that they’d be playing this sort of intimate classical-folk gig they would probably have laughed at you. And the same might even be said of their fans who, when attending their electric gigs, know exactly what to expect – and love every second.

However, this evening showed me a different side to Levellers, a band who I thought I knew ‘Outside Inside’. According to their biggest hit, there may be “One Way Of Life”, but this acoustic masterclass proved there’s more than one way to keep the punters happy.

Editor
Editor of LLR since 2005

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